readers_block's review against another edition
2.0
2.5/5
It's so hard to adequately rate a book about someone else's trauma, especially one this difficult to read about.
I just did not like the premise of this book. There are two vastly different situatoins, one which happened to the author and another crime which she becomes involved in by nature of being a lawyer. Attempting to equate the two and find similarities, which the author does, seems a stretch.
I was also very much not in favor of the author's continuous imagining of scenes that actually took place. She paints pictures of these scenes that actually happened out of thin air. I understand what she is trying to do, which is explain that even though the law seeks to pursue the truth, it is not possible to do so. I just do not think it works.
It's so hard to adequately rate a book about someone else's trauma, especially one this difficult to read about.
I just did not like the premise of this book. There are two vastly different situatoins, one which happened to the author and another crime which she becomes involved in by nature of being a lawyer. Attempting to equate the two and find similarities, which the author does, seems a stretch.
I was also very much not in favor of the author's continuous imagining of scenes that actually took place. She paints pictures of these scenes that actually happened out of thin air. I understand what she is trying to do, which is explain that even though the law seeks to pursue the truth, it is not possible to do so. I just do not think it works.
rachaelpattinson's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
lindseybluher's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This book is DARK, read the trigger warnings left on other reviews
asiaklg's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of those books that feels like it was written by the exact right person. No one else could have written about this particular crime as well as Marzano-Lesnevich. It makes the readers ask important questions of themselves. Which crimes warrant the death penalty? Do any? Do the horrors endured by a murderer make their crimes any less heinous or reasonless? This book examines all of the conditions leading up to its subject’s crimes from before he was even born to the moment he commits the murder in question. This book is not only a great in-depth read for true crime fans, but also an empowering journey through understanding past trauma for survivors of sexual violence.
leahcatching's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Death, Child abuse, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, and Eating disorder
alliebray's review against another edition
5.0
A deeply affecting, highly personal true crime novel/memoir. The amount of herself that the author brings to this story of a crime and her journey to understand it it really awe inspiring. It is a rough crime to read about though. Trigger warnings for murder, sexual abuse of children, mental illness, suicide, eating disorders
carrix2's review against another edition
5.0
This was an incredibly powerful book, and for me, an incredibly personal journey. It tells the story of a woman, herself a victim of long-term sexual assault in childhood, who enters the practice of law, and is faced with a child molester and murderer on death row. She staunchly opposed the death penalty, but in the moment she sees this man, she immediately wants him to die. She leaves the law and never looks back, knowing that she cannot be impartial as she would need to be. Her past defines her in a very deep and unextractable way. Instead, she becomes obsessed with him story, his background, what drives him, who he is. And herein she tells his story as well as her own.
This book made me address my own trauma and the intricate, infinite ways in which I am molded by it. The abuse itself, the way my own family reacted to it, custody battles and subsequent step-parents, my issues with my parents and how that molded me as a mother. How I still can be triggered by PTSD 40 years later.
I had never heard of this book, but I chose it because of a reading challenge on Goodreads - to read a pair of books with opposite words in the titles. I was reading [b:A Beautiful Mind|13912|A Beautiful Mind|Sylvia Nasar|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347807703l/13912._SY75_.jpg|2561274] for a book club, so I planned to read [b:The Three-Body Problem|20518872|The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past #1)|Liu Cixin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1415428227l/20518872._SY75_.jpg|25696480] and use mind/body as my opposites. I listen to audiobooks at work, so I started the audio of The Three-Body Problem and was quickly lost in the complex narrative. I searched for other "body" books currently available from my library and began listening to [b:The Body Farm|6539|The Body Farm (Kay Scarpetta, #5)|Patricia Cornwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389834053l/6539._SY75_.jpg|1454964] by a favorite author of mine from long ago. Turns out that narrator was horrible and I couldn't get past the first five minutes. Feeling frustrated, I landed on this book because I love thrillers and crime dramas. I did not know the nature of the crime or that it was true. I spent the next three days at work in a bit of a fog created by trauma, grief, guilt, depression, and anxiety.
As difficult as this was to process, it 100% was something I needed. I feel the need to write down my own stories, my memories, and especially something touched on in this book - what is "real" and what is merely presented as truth. When faced with multiple conflicting recollections, which, if any, are accurate? Or do we each choose reality to be that which feels correct? My reality is what I remember, whether it it accurate or not. My memories are what make me.
I think anyone interested in true crime will enjoy this book. Just be prepared for an intimate, detailed account of horrific abuse. It was hard for me to absorb. But it's an important story to tell.
This book made me address my own trauma and the intricate, infinite ways in which I am molded by it. The abuse itself, the way my own family reacted to it, custody battles and subsequent step-parents, my issues with my parents and how that molded me as a mother. How I still can be triggered by PTSD 40 years later.
I had never heard of this book, but I chose it because of a reading challenge on Goodreads - to read a pair of books with opposite words in the titles. I was reading [b:A Beautiful Mind|13912|A Beautiful Mind|Sylvia Nasar|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347807703l/13912._SY75_.jpg|2561274] for a book club, so I planned to read [b:The Three-Body Problem|20518872|The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past #1)|Liu Cixin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1415428227l/20518872._SY75_.jpg|25696480] and use mind/body as my opposites. I listen to audiobooks at work, so I started the audio of The Three-Body Problem and was quickly lost in the complex narrative. I searched for other "body" books currently available from my library and began listening to [b:The Body Farm|6539|The Body Farm (Kay Scarpetta, #5)|Patricia Cornwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389834053l/6539._SY75_.jpg|1454964] by a favorite author of mine from long ago. Turns out that narrator was horrible and I couldn't get past the first five minutes. Feeling frustrated, I landed on this book because I love thrillers and crime dramas. I did not know the nature of the crime or that it was true. I spent the next three days at work in a bit of a fog created by trauma, grief, guilt, depression, and anxiety.
As difficult as this was to process, it 100% was something I needed. I feel the need to write down my own stories, my memories, and especially something touched on in this book - what is "real" and what is merely presented as truth. When faced with multiple conflicting recollections, which, if any, are accurate? Or do we each choose reality to be that which feels correct? My reality is what I remember, whether it it accurate or not. My memories are what make me.
I think anyone interested in true crime will enjoy this book. Just be prepared for an intimate, detailed account of horrific abuse. It was hard for me to absorb. But it's an important story to tell.