Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

88 reviews

clamduncan's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, and Murder

nick_00's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Suicide, and Torture

robinwritesallthethings's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

5.0

What It’s About: This is a dual narrative detailing the execution of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and the dealings of famous serial killer H. H. Holmes during the same time period. At first blush, the two topics don’t seem to go together, but it becomes clear throughout the story that Holmes likely wouldn’t have been able to accomplish everything he did in the city without the excitement and opportunities provided by the grand event.

Plot: Holmes is quite a well-known figure, but there is a lot of misinformation floating around about his exploits. This book is a very realistic accounting of his activities, leaving room for doubt where it’s necessary, but also speculating about moments no one possibly could have witnessed. While I thought I wouldn’t be as interested in the part about building the fair, I actually found it very compelling. Knowing all the facts, it’s shocking that there was ever a fair at all. It’s also apparent that Holmes’ portion by itself doesn’t actually take up much space. He was a consummate liar, so not a lot can be said about him that is verifiable. Adding the fair gives the history more weight and heft, and at the same time provides a necessary context for how Holmes escaped detection for so long. The advantage of combining both is also that they are complete, so there is resolution at the end of everything on all sides.

Research and Organization: The organization here is essentially chronological, and flips back and forth between the fair and Holmes when necessary to frame what he was doing while Chicago was focused elsewhere. Many primary sources are used and quoted, and when they are not available, copious research was used to recreate circumstances that were not observed.

Trigger Warnings: Because of the time that the book covers, you’ll encounter period-typical racism and sexism. There is a lot of poverty and general death, as well as the obvious murder because of one of the book’s subjects.

Final Thoughts: This was a more somber and less sensational true crime novel than others I’ve read, but ultimately, I feel like it worked. It was very informative, and sheds light on a crime spree that it’s likely just wouldn’t be possible today because of the way everything is connected.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Miscarriage

emk2008's review

4.25

Fascinating history, but there are definitely some slow parts that were hard to stay motivated through. Love the thorough research Larson does for his books and this one did not disappoint.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Murder

ottolee's review

dark informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation

oceanwriter's review

dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

Though this book has caught my eye in bookstores, I went into it somewhat blindly. I knew it involved H.H. Holmes, but I didn’t anticipate everything else it included. 

 

Rich with Chicago history, this book discusses the lives of H.H. Holmes and Daniel H. Burnham with a large focus on the World’s Fair. 

 

Honestly… this was a weird mix with only a slight element connecting the two along with the overall setting of Chicago. While, yes, I did find the book interesting, I was also overwhelmed with the amount of information coming at me. This was very much two separate books with one being more built on fact and the other built on a lot of speculation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

julziez's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Abortion, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

ewottrich's review

dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Sexual violence

mariakureads's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

3.5

I am so happy to say I finally finished this one!
It's been on my TBR since who knows when and after a few starts and stops, I'm done.

Larson wrote a very detailed, and I do mean very, account of the Chicago's World Fair, the atmosphere and history of the time, as well as the serial killer hiding amongst, the glitz, dirt, toils, glamour that the Fair brought to the city at the time.

The book involves a large set of people, all oddly enough interlocked in different ways and avenues and Larson explored and provided so many facts through his meticulous research that at different points were not only quotes provided, but newspaper clippings, menus, images, and witness accounts which some were interesting and others felt staid and dry and I lost interest at different parts of the book.

At times so factual that when the alternative chapters of the serial killer, H.H. Holmes, were introduced, it would sometimes grab my attention for a few pages but it felt odd as I was thrown off a few times by the pacing especially the further I read on to find that while the World's Fair and Holmes were in the same city, there was nothing concrete to tie them together since Holmes was adamant that he didn't do anything or was guilty of such killings—that the disappearances were a happenstance, surely, by his account.

Larson is a great researcher, this I'm sure of, and gave me so much new information specific to the fair and all the people, some later becoming famous in their own right, that all in all, while I had a few disconnects, the book is a solid read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Torture, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

andrewkerndc's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

Minor: Suicide