harpistvanessa's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
Very informative and well written, just not my personal taste.
gracekatreads's review against another edition
dark
3.0
A well-written book that doesn’t achieve its ultimate aims in contrasting HH Holmes and the implications of the Chicago’s Fair.
justjoshinreads's review against another edition
4.0
I was inspired by an post on Instagram encouraging reading books that have been on your shelf a long time. This one has probably been unread on my shelf the longest, seriously years and years. I was vaguely familiar with the HH Holmes story because it came up in a crime literature class in college, but I wanted to know more, plus this book has been hyped forever.
I’m glad I read it but I can’t say it’s a favorite. I found it very slow for the first 2/3 and it almost seems like two books, the story of Burnham and building the world’s fair and the HH Holmes creepy hotel of horror have very little overlap and each could stand alone. (Though tbh the building of the fair portions of the book weren’t that interesting to me and read more like a history textbook than I would like for a recreational read.) The history of Chicago was enjoyable
The last 50 or so pages redeemed the slowness of the bulk of the novel and increased my opinion of it. The whole book is incredibly well researched and intelligent, but there were so many peripheral characters in the architecture portion I just wanted to fast forward through some of those chapters.
I will definitely look forward to checking out Jackson park next time we are in Chicago, I didn’t realize the museum of science and industry is built on the north end of the park where the world’s fair took place, we’ve visited that museum dozens of times and had no idea.
I feel like I am the last person on earth to read this book so there’s nothing new in this review, but I’m happy to have one book no longer languishing on my shelf. 3.5/5 stars ⭐️
I’m glad I read it but I can’t say it’s a favorite. I found it very slow for the first 2/3 and it almost seems like two books, the story of Burnham and building the world’s fair and the HH Holmes creepy hotel of horror have very little overlap and each could stand alone. (Though tbh the building of the fair portions of the book weren’t that interesting to me and read more like a history textbook than I would like for a recreational read.) The history of Chicago was enjoyable
The last 50 or so pages redeemed the slowness of the bulk of the novel and increased my opinion of it. The whole book is incredibly well researched and intelligent, but there were so many peripheral characters in the architecture portion I just wanted to fast forward through some of those chapters.
I will definitely look forward to checking out Jackson park next time we are in Chicago, I didn’t realize the museum of science and industry is built on the north end of the park where the world’s fair took place, we’ve visited that museum dozens of times and had no idea.
I feel like I am the last person on earth to read this book so there’s nothing new in this review, but I’m happy to have one book no longer languishing on my shelf. 3.5/5 stars ⭐️
mccleark's review against another edition
5.0
I have to say, I'm not normally one for non-fiction, but this book absolutely blew me away. Larson winds the seemingly unrelated stories of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and a cunning murderer stalking the city together perfectly. Impeccably researched and artfully written, you'll feel as if you're standing in the room with the characters.
kellyofcali's review against another edition
dark
informative
slow-paced
3.75
This is a well written book that crosses two related subjects - one, the world's fair, and two, a serial killer. I found both interesting, which means he did a good job, though I did find it dragged on a little long towards the denouement of both storylines. It's also a little confusing what is real vs. not, though I know that bothers some people more than others.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Child death
Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Confinement, and Grief
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Sexism
aleoreading's review against another edition
5.0
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐BOOK REVIEW!!
5 OUT OF 5 STARS
"It was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge, so very easy in the smoke and din to mask that something dark had taken root. This was Chicago, on the eve of the greatest fair in history."
-The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson.
The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson
is a terrifying and incredible exploration of the 1890s Chicago. Following the two stories of the Chicago world fair and the murders of H. H. HOLMES, Erik Larson delivers a lavishly written biography.
The novel is gruesome, terrifying, funny, enlightening, and jaw droppingly surprising.
The amount of times I genuinely gasped was ridiculous.
The story of Holmes is genuinely terrifying and chilling.
And the entire story of the Chicago World Fair is fascinating and kept me on the edge of my seat.
While most biographies can be dry and boring, there are others like Devil In the White City by Erik Larson; (and) Chernobyl: The History of A Nuclear Catastrophe by Serhill Plokhy. That truly give you a cinematic and hauntingly memorable experience.
I highly recommend this novel if your love history and not drunk boring books.
5 OUT OF 5 STARS
"It was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge, so very easy in the smoke and din to mask that something dark had taken root. This was Chicago, on the eve of the greatest fair in history."
-The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson.
The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson
is a terrifying and incredible exploration of the 1890s Chicago. Following the two stories of the Chicago world fair and the murders of H. H. HOLMES, Erik Larson delivers a lavishly written biography.
The novel is gruesome, terrifying, funny, enlightening, and jaw droppingly surprising.
The amount of times I genuinely gasped was ridiculous.
The story of Holmes is genuinely terrifying and chilling.
And the entire story of the Chicago World Fair is fascinating and kept me on the edge of my seat.
While most biographies can be dry and boring, there are others like Devil In the White City by Erik Larson; (and) Chernobyl: The History of A Nuclear Catastrophe by Serhill Plokhy. That truly give you a cinematic and hauntingly memorable experience.
I highly recommend this novel if your love history and not drunk boring books.
nutmeg205's review against another edition
2.0
true crime book for read harder book riot challenge 2018
caitala's review against another edition
3.0
3 1/2⭐️
The passages on Holmes’ depravity kept me on the edge of my seat but I found the amount of detail into the architecture to be a bit boring at times. Also, the longs lists of what they ate and the constant mention of Holmes “blue eyes” got repetitive.
With that being said, I didn’t hate this book and will still recommend it to others! I feel like I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it and maybe should have read it instead of listening to it.
The passages on Holmes’ depravity kept me on the edge of my seat but I found the amount of detail into the architecture to be a bit boring at times. Also, the longs lists of what they ate and the constant mention of Holmes “blue eyes” got repetitive.
With that being said, I didn’t hate this book and will still recommend it to others! I feel like I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it and maybe should have read it instead of listening to it.