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awesomebrandi's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed the depth and breadth that this book covered. It's about murder, but it's also about entertainment, news, the police, and everyday life in the 1800s. It's really chock full of history, and it's written in a very witty way. I giggled more than once; and it's a book about murder! I feel like this book reminded me that humans haven't changed all that much. It's really just technology that has changed the most.
elenasteeler's review against another edition
2.0
This book seemed to do the impossible: it made murder boring.
The book seemed to start off strong but as you read it, it reads like how you see a stereotypical professor in a lecture hall: it drones on and on, goes off on random tangents with random facts, and drowns the main points with so many examples you lose track of what the point was.
I have read textbooks more engaging than this. And that’s sad.
The book seemed to start off strong but as you read it, it reads like how you see a stereotypical professor in a lecture hall: it drones on and on, goes off on random tangents with random facts, and drowns the main points with so many examples you lose track of what the point was.
I have read textbooks more engaging than this. And that’s sad.
ahenry2319's review against another edition
It was really slow, and honestly I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had gotten the audio book. I am also in college right now and I just don't have the bandwidth to read something so detailed and bland.
readinginspace3's review against another edition
3.0
The marketing for this book is particularly bad (and I have a high bar for that specific metric). But it’s important to note that this is not a true crime book. This is a book of literary criticism. And I, luckily, LOVE literary criticism. I was endlessly fascinated by the close look at “true crime” plays, penny dreadfuls, and the birth of the novel in Victorian England and what they had to say about British folks from all socioeconomic backgrounds at the time. Particularly interesting was the reflection on who was allowed to read and enjoy crime novels (gentry, aristocracy, and the middle class) and who was not for fear they would see the works as instructional (those living in poverty and workhouses). Another particularly interesting facet was the connection between public sentiments about policework and the development of the “detective” role. This reminded me of a class I took in undergrad focused on literary works that were popular in their own time but haven’t “ascended” as part of the “canon.” That said, though British racism against Romani people is well documented and, therefore, is going to show up in historical documents, I found it irresponsible to just reprint slurs and hate speech with no attempt to position the racism as vile and dangerous.
tizo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
eetresch's review against another edition
4.0
I love murder mysteries and I love history. This book was pretty scattershot and at times, a little hard to follow. However, based on my interests, I stuck with it and I enjoyed it.