gogowhatwhat's review against another edition
4.0
Selection for May/June non-fiction book club at the Townsend Public Library.
rosemaryandrue's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
DNF at 87%
David Grann, a long-time writer at the New Yorker, compiles in this a series of essays about the stories of strange crimes and strange people.
I am going to swear off reading Grann I think - it's really not fair to either of us! He's an author with a knack for nosing out fascinating stories, and so I am lured in like a moth to a flame repeatedly. Yet his writing style really does not gel with me for some reason, and I cannot stay invested. While I was curious to see how the stories in this book would conclude, I figured it was time to get out when listening really started to feel like drudgery.
David Grann, a long-time writer at the New Yorker, compiles in this a series of essays about the stories of strange crimes and strange people.
I am going to swear off reading Grann I think - it's really not fair to either of us! He's an author with a knack for nosing out fascinating stories, and so I am lured in like a moth to a flame repeatedly. Yet his writing style really does not gel with me for some reason, and I cannot stay invested. While I was curious to see how the stories in this book would conclude, I figured it was time to get out when listening really started to feel like drudgery.
mandyherbet's review against another edition
3.0
The first part was really interesting and baffling but then it turned into a collection of random articles Grann had written and as much as he tried to connect them to the idea of 'tales of murder, madness, and obession', it didn't work.
marpesea's review against another edition
3.0
This collection of stories and essays (many of them previously published elsewhere) varies in theme-- from murder to literature to giant squids.
lsoucy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
A collection of fascinating—and I mean fascinating—tales of the most obsessive and extreme persons, all written at just the right level of depth and style (i.e., not TOO journalistic). By the end, I found myself wanting a little less miserable failure, but then I shouldn’t really blame David Grann that you can’t do a post-mortem before something is dead.
kellyroberson's review against another edition
4.0
Some good stories but an ultimately uneven collection.