stephen_reads's review
2.75
This fast-paced scattered narrative follows 4 distinct and unrelated women who were involved in true crime in some way.
Although the author tries to link the 4 narratives with an overarching moralistic message about women and their relationship to violent media, the book feels disjointed and haphazard.
The author also fails completely in her task to be objective. She even has a friendly relationship with one of the women, describing her in the acknowledgements as warm and generous, leading to her profile being uncritical and positive. This is the woman who married Damian Echols, one of the West Memphis 3, while he was awaiting execution on death row. Everything this woman says is taken at face value, her flaws and strange behaviour completely glossed over, any sense of ambiguity destroyed. It comes across as flat, disingenuous, and deceptive. The narrative doesn’t want to ask questions or be curious, it lacks objectivity, it’s frustrating.
The conclusions drawn about the four women are vague. An attempt is made to discuss the whiteness of true crime fanaticism and the inherent racism of the community, but it never goes deep enough and intersectional victims are relegated firmly in the background.
A positive I can say about this book is that it’s fast-paced, the author has wit and writes fairly charmingly, if condescendingly at times. I easily finished it in an afternoon and didn’t consider it entirely wasted time.
Although the author tries to link the 4 narratives with an overarching moralistic message about women and their relationship to violent media, the book feels disjointed and haphazard.
The author also fails completely in her task to be objective. She even has a friendly relationship with one of the women, describing her in the acknowledgements as warm and generous, leading to her profile being uncritical and positive. This is the woman who married Damian Echols, one of the West Memphis 3, while he was awaiting execution on death row. Everything this woman says is taken at face value, her flaws and strange behaviour completely glossed over, any sense of ambiguity destroyed. It comes across as flat, disingenuous, and deceptive. The narrative doesn’t want to ask questions or be curious, it lacks objectivity, it’s frustrating.
The conclusions drawn about the four women are vague. An attempt is made to discuss the whiteness of true crime fanaticism and the inherent racism of the community, but it never goes deep enough and intersectional victims are relegated firmly in the background.
A positive I can say about this book is that it’s fast-paced, the author has wit and writes fairly charmingly, if condescendingly at times. I easily finished it in an afternoon and didn’t consider it entirely wasted time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Child death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Racism, Antisemitism, and Self harm
jennanicolereid's review
I almost NEVER dnf a book, it’s almost obsessive really but this one. Woof. It quite literally put me to sleep twice before I completely gave up on it.
bru_reads's review
2.0
1.5 - I didn't like this book and I can't pinpoint why. Maybe it was how disjointed it felt, how judgemental some portions of it were or how underwhelmed I was. It wasn't as much of an analysis of why women enjoy true crime but more of a report about how four women were involved with crime in different capacities.
It wasn't insightful, groundbreaking or even interesting; just a book about women written with a judgemental tone that I don't enjoy in my nonfiction.
It wasn't insightful, groundbreaking or even interesting; just a book about women written with a judgemental tone that I don't enjoy in my nonfiction.
marzipanbabies's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
emma_ekb's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
i think a lot about the ethics of true. crime and what it means to be a fan of true crime so this book was right up my alley. the author tells the stories of these four different women which such depth and care and kindness (even when some might argue they don’t deserve it). it’s also an interesting blend of historical context + political/sociological research + true crime
some critiques of this book have called it too political or said that they didn’t like how the author inserted herself, but i actually LOVED that. it made the material easy to read and digest.
some critiques of this book have called it too political or said that they didn’t like how the author inserted herself, but i actually LOVED that. it made the material easy to read and digest.
_kaylinconn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
I actually really appreciate this book! Nowadays, I’ve been a little more apprehensive to dive into true crime, for a variety of reasons - the biggest being not wanted to exploit horrific deaths, but this was different. We learned about many different things, addressing the issues with the genre of true crime without an air of judgment from the author. Some great questions posed, some amazing thoughts, and I really think the way Monroe communicated her thoughts spoke to the modern woman. I appreciate this novel!!
lizco's review
5.0
Incredibly well-researched and compelling! We should all unpack our relationship with true crime
miloulou's review
3.0
A creepy look at true crime, something I personally have never been invested in, but have known many others to be. Really enjoyed the background of forensic science in the States, learning about the changes to the judicial system over the years (and how victim families were a part of this), and found hope in getting justice for the innocent people who have been incarcerated. It was extremely uncomfortable reading about people who've planned/thought of/engage in fangirling of actual murders though. It's crazy how we can all use the same social media sites (looking at YouTube and Tumblr) and have such different experiences.