xokristim's review against another edition
4.0
When I recieved this book to review I thought it was going to be different, and more about the killers than it was. I will say I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting this book actually was. It's not one I would have thought I'd feel so highly about.
lindagreen's review against another edition
4.0
I have not read other books on this trial so I can’t fairly compare this book to those previously published. I can, however, offer my review of this as a standalone title. From the beginning, the author paints the idyllic with lyric prose and then quickly gets to the brutality of the murder. This balance between beauty and violence seems to be the running theme throughout the entire book. For those that have trouble reading non-fiction and stick to novels, this would be a good book to get your feet wet. In many places it reads like that of a mainstream novel.
The author’s research into this appears quite thorough and the “cast of characters” and timeline of events at the beginning of the book are extremely helpful in following along with what occurred. As another reviewer mentioned, the author is “pro-defense” but, honestly, until the end I never felt like I was being pushed in one direction of the other. For the most part, the information was balanced and not overly biased for one side or the other. In fact, I think the author did quite well in restraining voicing an opinion so that the reader could assimilate the facts on their own and then make their own decision.
With the exception of going back and forth in time to better illustrate the story, the book moved forward at an expected pace allowing the reader to engage themselves as they so chose. I did not feel drawn to the writing like I have in so many other true crime works even though it was written with stunning detail. I think perhaps it is the balance of facts versus descriptions that seemed a bit off to me – in attempting to show us the beauty of the environ I was a reader was often drawn away from the crime itself. While this works to some degree, it also served to make this book easy to put down and, for many, once they put it down they may not bother to pick it back up. Not because it’s bad (far from it) but once that detachment from the plot of characters happens it’s often hard if not impossible to regain the reader’s attention.
ARC Galley Proof
The author’s research into this appears quite thorough and the “cast of characters” and timeline of events at the beginning of the book are extremely helpful in following along with what occurred. As another reviewer mentioned, the author is “pro-defense” but, honestly, until the end I never felt like I was being pushed in one direction of the other. For the most part, the information was balanced and not overly biased for one side or the other. In fact, I think the author did quite well in restraining voicing an opinion so that the reader could assimilate the facts on their own and then make their own decision.
With the exception of going back and forth in time to better illustrate the story, the book moved forward at an expected pace allowing the reader to engage themselves as they so chose. I did not feel drawn to the writing like I have in so many other true crime works even though it was written with stunning detail. I think perhaps it is the balance of facts versus descriptions that seemed a bit off to me – in attempting to show us the beauty of the environ I was a reader was often drawn away from the crime itself. While this works to some degree, it also served to make this book easy to put down and, for many, once they put it down they may not bother to pick it back up. Not because it’s bad (far from it) but once that detachment from the plot of characters happens it’s often hard if not impossible to regain the reader’s attention.
ARC Galley Proof
leighannsherwin's review against another edition
3.0
While overall it was a pretty good book, The Fatal Gift of Beauty was not my idea of a great true crime story. I like the story to start at the beginning. Talk about the victims, the accused find out where they came from what makes them tick. Then the crime itself, the investigation, the detectives, lawyers and investigators involved and the evidence, then the trial, then the aftermath. The appeals, what happened to those involved along the way. This book bounces around a lot and doesn't seem to follow any order. One minute they were giving closing arguments and the next without any warning the verdict was over and they were in jail. So much of the story was bogged down with tales of satanic cults, ancient witches that I found myself skimming pages. While you certainly got to know Amanda and her family, a little about Raffaele and his family, and plenty about Rudy Guede, once again the victim is left almost out of the picture. I learned more about prosecutor Mignini and the various other lawyers and police than I did about Meredith Kercher. This book had potential. It was easy to read, and maybe others will like the style it's written in but as for me I have to say the style is not for me. Cudos to Nina Burleigh for all the research and effort she put into writing this story, maybe next time she'll follow a more chronological style.
abookishaffair's review
3.0
I was very excited that I got to read this book. I've been very interested in this particular case. We all know the ending to the story by now but this book was still very interesting nonetheless.
This book is still a 'true crime' book but Burleigh really delves into so much more than the crime itself. She looks at Perugia and Italy and the factors in those environments that added to the fervor with which this case was watched from the very beginning. This was interesting in some places but in other places, it was hard to get through because it was just so much information and didn't seem to really be adding to the overall understanding of everything that happened.
Still this book did give a little insight into the various players in this murder case, which helped me to better understand some of the possible motives behind what happened with not only the accused but those for and against the accused.
This book is still a 'true crime' book but Burleigh really delves into so much more than the crime itself. She looks at Perugia and Italy and the factors in those environments that added to the fervor with which this case was watched from the very beginning. This was interesting in some places but in other places, it was hard to get through because it was just so much information and didn't seem to really be adding to the overall understanding of everything that happened.
Still this book did give a little insight into the various players in this murder case, which helped me to better understand some of the possible motives behind what happened with not only the accused but those for and against the accused.
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