Reviews tagging 'Torture'

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

10 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

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

ohyayitsapril's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Rape, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Torture, and Violence

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

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

popsicleplease's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Child death, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Sexual harassment

bethboo's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

The things these children went through are so awful and horrid that it sounds fictional. It feels made up, because there's no way real life humans could treat real living children, right? Except, this book tells the tale of multiple orphanages from Australia, Canada, and the United States, majority run by the Catholic Church, and their victims. It tells the stories of children early as 1920s to the 1980s-1990s and the abuse they suffered at the hands of people that were tasked to care for them.

The stories were heartwrenching and graphic and hard to listen to at times. Half these kids didn't really even need to be in the orphanages, they were taken from their families or given to the church to give them a better chance at life. Instead they were beaten, threatened, humiliated, neglected, molested, confined, tortured, and in some cases murdered. So many people were haunted by their time there. There were suicides and self destructive addicts and others who fed the cycle of abuse. It was hard to hear and broke my view of humanity. You can't expect good from anyone. And humans are wretched creatures. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Torture, Grief, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Child death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Bullying, and Domestic abuse

pomeranian_poltergeist's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Torture

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

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