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Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion by Tori Telfer
4 reviews
chronicallyplotting's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
5.0
I really enjoyed this audiobook. Not only the content written by the author but the powerful storytelling style of the author. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys history, powerful women and true crime.
Content Warnings
Minor: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Pregnancy
mags_reads_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
We’ve all seen Wolf of Wall Street and heard of a “Ponzi scheme” named after the infamous Charles Ponzi. As a society, we’re pretty familiar with conmen, but what about con-women??? Tori Tefler’s “Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion” piques society’s natural “curiosity” around cons while retelling darkly humorous and wildly entertaining collections of history’s most notorious women, past and present.
OH DID I LOVE THIS BOOK. Recently, I read Tori Tefler’s other book, Lady Killers, and I think I love Confident Women more. Unlike “Lady Killers”, Tefler shares more current, wild tales of grifters, swindlers, and con-women who would do whatever it took to make an extra dollar (or millions).
Being under 300 pages and each chapter being a standalone story, you can read each chapter in succession or jump around to meet each of these devious women. Some stories I found to be intriguing and wild, while others showed how truly wicked a woman can be. I absolutely loved the variation in this book more than “Lady Killers”, which started to get more repetitive.
Things I enjoyed:
🌟 The variety of different cons spanned out across different decades and continents kept each story feeling different from the next.
🌟 It’s such a quick read being under 300 pages AND you can jump around since each chapter is a standalone recollection.
🌟 I loved seeing the “how”— how each woman got away with it; how each woman lied and manipulated; how crazy and absolutely absurd some of these cons and swindles were
I’d recommend Confident Women to readers who love true crime, but not Ted Bundy or other serial killer true crime. Rather, for those who enjoy watching “Inventing Anna” and followed the Elizabeth Holmes fraud case.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Cultural appropriation
rini's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Racial slurs
horizonous's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.0
I can't say I will remember a lot of details about these women - to be honest, I already had trouble remembering who was who while reading the acknowledgments - but I also can't say I didn't enjoy this book, even though enjoyment might me de wrong word in some cases discussed.
I'm mostly glad I picked it up during a time when I was struggeling with reading, because Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion was so easy to get through. It kind of reads like a series of short(ish) podcast episodes. In the four categories Tori Telfer chose to cover there are stories of at least three con women, sometimes even more when they are bundled together due to their similair schemes, each story averaging at around 16 pages, so it's very easy to read a couple of chapters and then put the book down.
The narrative tone is very casual, at times attempting to be humorous even, which worked better in some cases than others. For example, the nonchalant hints at alleged trauma in these women's lives or in some instances the back and forth between conversational anecdotes and gruesome details felt very inappropriate to me. Overall it's a pretty superficial look at these women without going too deep into societal or gender biases they faced in the historical times they lived. Contrary to some reviews I read that wasn't a problem for me though, because I didn't expect it to go there.. I mean, how would that be possible given the length of this book and the amount of women covered in it?
Like I said in the beginning, I picked this book up at the right time, I also didn't go into it thinking I would get in-depth psychological analysis of these con women and (besides the issues i mentioned above) that's why this was perfectly fine for me.
I'm mostly glad I picked it up during a time when I was struggeling with reading, because Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion was so easy to get through. It kind of reads like a series of short(ish) podcast episodes. In the four categories Tori Telfer chose to cover there are stories of at least three con women, sometimes even more when they are bundled together due to their similair schemes, each story averaging at around 16 pages, so it's very easy to read a couple of chapters and then put the book down.
The narrative tone is very casual, at times attempting to be humorous even, which worked better in some cases than others. For example, the nonchalant hints at alleged trauma in these women's lives or in some instances the back and forth between conversational anecdotes and gruesome details felt very inappropriate to me. Overall it's a pretty superficial look at these women without going too deep into societal or gender biases they faced in the historical times they lived. Contrary to some reviews I read that wasn't a problem for me though, because I didn't expect it to go there.. I mean, how would that be possible given the length of this book and the amount of women covered in it?
Like I said in the beginning, I picked this book up at the right time, I also didn't go into it thinking I would get in-depth psychological analysis of these con women and (besides the issues i mentioned above) that's why this was perfectly fine for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, and Car accident
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Torture
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