Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence, and a Search for Justice by Christine Kenneally

9 reviews

carrie_wallace's review

dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Vomit, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Torture, and Sexual assault

creativerunnings's review

medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Ableism, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Bullying, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Violence, Vomit, Body shaming, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

armysoldier33's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Vomit, Child death, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

librarymouse's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

I had known that the Catholic church was far-reaching and thorough in its efforts to hide the startling volume of violence committed by its clergy, but I hadn't realized how universal violence at the hands of clergy had been for children raised in church-run institutions in the 19th and 20th centuries. Like most people, I have become aware of the atrocities committed by the church in Native American residential schools, but I think I hadn't quite considered the possibility that the church would allow such horrible acts to be perpetuated against the white children in their care, to the extent that they were. The continued lack of accountability taken by the Catholic church, while not unexpected, is surprising in how the legal and justice systems continue to allow the violence perpetuated by Catholic clergy to avoid punishment. I hope to see further change in the coming years, and to be completely honest, I hope to see a major loss of power for the Catholic church. It's chokehold on history is an atrocity that needs to be rectified.
The care Christine Kenneally takes in telling these stories is admirable. She does not gloss over the gore and horror of what the former orphanage residents endured, but makes sure to avoid sensationalizing by rooting their stories within reminders that the atrocities happened to real people who are still suffering with the consequences, decades later.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Gore, Confinement, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Torture, Vomit, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, and Pregnancy

Minor: Fatphobia, Ableism, and Cancer

jos17's review

4.75

Hard to read due to the subject matter, but incredibly important nonetheless. 

I remember when the Buzzfeed News article on this topic was posted. I probably would have read it regardless, but the fact that it was about an orphanage in Vermont caught my attention. I was too young to have heard about/understood the 1990s legal fights and had never heard about it after. I was familiar with residential schools, but it was still a shock to me to learn the same types of abuse were happening right across the state from me.

Reading this book, it was initially hard to believe that people didn’t believe the survivors’ stories of abuse. Knowing what I know now about orphanages, residential schools, and the Catholic Church my reaction was “Well, duh. Of course this was prevalent and covered up.” But as the end of the book highlights, the Catholic Church and related organizations are to this day working overtime to obfuscate documentation and reporting of abuse.

I’m incredibly proud of the hard work the survivors put in to get their story out there and I’m glad so much of the information is compiled into one place.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Rape

entropydoc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Vomit, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Torture, and Trafficking

mondovertigo's review

dark emotional informative mysterious sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, Vomit, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Death

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Death of parent

vickimarie2002's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

4.0

 This book broke my heart. I obviously knew that orphanages weren't the most wonderful places for children, but these stories are horrifying! And the fact that the churches just covered everything up and no one believed the children for so long is so horrific. With all the abuse Catholic Churches are accused of, it's not so surprising that their orphanages would be abusive as well, but it wasn't just the priests doing the abusing, it was the nuns and all the other staff working there. Mental, physical and sexual abuse along with murdering children. Incredibly infuriating and heartbreaking. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Vomit, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, and Murder

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Abandonment, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Confinement, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Child death, Violence, Pedophilia, and Vomit