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Reviews tagging 'Death'
Catch the Sparrow: A Search for a Sister and the Truth of her Murder by Rachel Rear
2 reviews
thehappylittleelf's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
3.5
This is a well-written true crime book that will keep your attention. It covers a variety of topics surrounding the murder of Stephanie kupchynsky, including domestic violence and the corruption of police in Greece, NY. It’s well-constructed and engaging. I liked how Stephanie as a victim got to be represented as a full human in the book. Too many true crime books either don’t address the victim at all, or treat them as saintly martyrs. “Her smile lit up the room” is the cliche on any true crime story, and that’s about as much depth as you get. But we get to know Stephanie in this book as a wonderful flawed individual — as we all are! We shouldn’t have to be perfect angels for our deaths to be tragic. She struggled in life, which made her story relatable.
The memoir aspect of the book might turn off readers. Rachel Rear has a very personal connection to this case, and sometimes may project herself onto Stephanie. It does sometimes make you wonder if what’s being told about Stephanie is actually just Rachel’s using Stephanie as a mouthpiece almost. The author really tries hard to convince you of a spiritual connection between the two even if they’d never actually met. However, I do believe there is a connection — how do you live with the family through their greatest tragedy and there *not* be? — so I don’t think it’s insincere, but it might be off-putting to a lot of readers, especially since the author openly admitted to disrespecting Stephanie’s bio-sister’s wishes.Stephanie’s sister Melanie did not want the details of her murder to be published, but Rachel said she was going to do it anyway.
I really would love to hear Melanie’s (Stephanie’s bio-sister) side of the story.
The memoir aspect of the book might turn off readers. Rachel Rear has a very personal connection to this case, and sometimes may project herself onto Stephanie. It does sometimes make you wonder if what’s being told about Stephanie is actually just Rachel’s using Stephanie as a mouthpiece almost. The author really tries hard to convince you of a spiritual connection between the two even if they’d never actually met. However, I do believe there is a connection — how do you live with the family through their greatest tragedy and there *not* be? — so I don’t think it’s insincere, but it might be off-putting to a lot of readers, especially since the author openly admitted to disrespecting Stephanie’s bio-sister’s wishes.
I really would love to hear Melanie’s (Stephanie’s bio-sister) side of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death of parent and Drug abuse
Minor: Abortion, Chronic illness, and Suicidal thoughts
queerreadss's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
An incredibly unique blend of personal and objective. Rear does a phenomenal job walking through the timeline of her step sisters murder. Each suspect and person involved in the case is laid out with extreme attention to detail and a thorough investigation.
The amount of factors that tie into how Stephanie's murder went unsolved for so long is sadly not unique. Even so, the journey and historical breakdown of this town and a few others that Stephanie inhabited were extremely interesting. The amount of interviews and people included in the novel really emphasized how one person can impact so many and created a better big picture.
Rear did not shy away from showing the full truth, the good and the bad, of each person revolving around Stephanie and including Stephanie herself and Rear's late stepfather. Rear highlights the true complexity of each person and does justice to the full story of Stephanie's life and death.
While I was fully engrossed in this book from the beginning, there is some extremely ableist sentiment near the end of the book regarding the person who is talked about then which did not sit well and in fact cheapened the integrity of that part of the book for me. If I understood it correctly, it was not even necessarily the opinions of Rear but those of the officers involved in the case but there was some nuance that needed to be added after the fact to balance that. Many other places Rear adds the nuance, this instance was a large hole to miss for me.
The amount of factors that tie into how Stephanie's murder went unsolved for so long is sadly not unique. Even so, the journey and historical breakdown of this town and a few others that Stephanie inhabited were extremely interesting. The amount of interviews and people included in the novel really emphasized how one person can impact so many and created a better big picture.
Rear did not shy away from showing the full truth, the good and the bad, of each person revolving around Stephanie and including Stephanie herself and Rear's late stepfather. Rear highlights the true complexity of each person and does justice to the full story of Stephanie's life and death.
While I was fully engrossed in this book from the beginning, there is some extremely ableist sentiment near the end of the book regarding the person who is talked about then which did not sit well and in fact cheapened the integrity of that part of the book for me. If I understood it correctly, it was not even necessarily the opinions of Rear but those of the officers involved in the case but there was some nuance that needed to be added after the fact to balance that. Many other places Rear adds the nuance, this instance was a large hole to miss for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexual assault
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