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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
Kind of all over the place thematically and chronologically, found myself struggling to keep track of all of the names. Interesting subject matter but not that engaging.
Loved it the first time; loved it the second time! Krakauer is simply an amazing writer and compelling storyteller. He does his research, and it’s a pleasure to read. I really enjoy books that center around places in the West, especially if those places are where I live or have lived, so that’s a bonus of this book.
Incredibly informative and thought provoking, but definitely a heavy read.
I read this one years ago--apparently before I was on Goodreads--so I can just go by what I still remember now here.
1) This is, definitely, a compelling true crime story. But...
2) ...Krakauer, as per usual, veers away from his main story with numerous *other* story tangents way too often (sure! Give us background of the Mormon religion. But perhaps we don't need quite so much in-depth detail here? It wasn't as bad as in [b:Into the Wild|1845|Into the Wild|Jon Krakauer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1634587789l/1845._SY75_.jpg|3284484], but it was close). And also...
3) ...the origins of Mormonism? Just whoa. I guess all religions' origins sound pretty out there when you really look into them, but maybe we're just too close to this one timewise for it to really seem realistic? Add in the "fundamental" portion and just...wow.
So. I guess I would have liked this one better if it focused more on the crime itself, giving us the religious background information in the background instead of frequently treating it as the main focus. I like Krakauer; his writing is interesting, but I just wish he could pick a story and stick with it all the way through. Yes, it kept me turning the pages, but some of those pages were turning more so I could finally get back to the main story, not because what was actually written on them was particularly compelling.
Rating: 3 stars / C+
Print book borrowed from the library.
ETA: re-read (July 2022) comments:
Original thoughts still stand, for the most part. Way too much straying off of the original stated topic. Yes, we need some LDS history and FDLS background to understand why Ron and Dan would be motivated to commit the crime. However, we do not need NEARLY as much as Krakauer gives us here. All of the child bride stories, for example--interesting, but not really relevant to the stated purpose of the book (though it was gratifying to realize that I'd seen later information for some of them--especially Ruby Jessop, who at the time of publication had "disappeared" into Warren Jeff's group but has since managed to permanently escape with her kids and was featured on Keep Sweet, Pray and Obey). I still feel like a lot of what the author put in the book was put there for titillation purposes more than anything else, and that bothers me.
Honestly, I'm amazed that the miniseries based on the book managed to have as much of a story as it did, given the source material. I 100% understand why they needed to add in the detectives as characters, because there really isn't a whole lot of "detecting" happening in this so-called true crime book.
I'm also amazed at how much about LDS and FDLS I'd forgotten from my first read through. Makes me almost wish I hadn't done a re-read after all...
Rating: still 3 stars / C+
Listened to audiobook from Audible.
1) This is, definitely, a compelling true crime story. But...
2) ...Krakauer, as per usual, veers away from his main story with numerous *other* story tangents way too often (sure! Give us background of the Mormon religion. But perhaps we don't need quite so much in-depth detail here? It wasn't as bad as in [b:Into the Wild|1845|Into the Wild|Jon Krakauer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1634587789l/1845._SY75_.jpg|3284484], but it was close). And also...
3) ...the origins of Mormonism? Just whoa. I guess all religions' origins sound pretty out there when you really look into them, but maybe we're just too close to this one timewise for it to really seem realistic? Add in the "fundamental" portion and just...wow.
So. I guess I would have liked this one better if it focused more on the crime itself, giving us the religious background information in the background instead of frequently treating it as the main focus. I like Krakauer; his writing is interesting, but I just wish he could pick a story and stick with it all the way through. Yes, it kept me turning the pages, but some of those pages were turning more so I could finally get back to the main story, not because what was actually written on them was particularly compelling.
Rating: 3 stars / C+
Print book borrowed from the library.
ETA: re-read (July 2022) comments:
Original thoughts still stand, for the most part. Way too much straying off of the original stated topic. Yes, we need some LDS history and FDLS background to understand why Ron and Dan would be motivated to commit the crime. However, we do not need NEARLY as much as Krakauer gives us here. All of the child bride stories, for example--interesting, but not really relevant to the stated purpose of the book (though it was gratifying to realize that I'd seen later information for some of them--especially Ruby Jessop, who at the time of publication had "disappeared" into Warren Jeff's group but has since managed to permanently escape with her kids and was featured on Keep Sweet, Pray and Obey). I still feel like a lot of what the author put in the book was put there for titillation purposes more than anything else, and that bothers me.
Honestly, I'm amazed that the miniseries based on the book managed to have as much of a story as it did, given the source material. I 100% understand why they needed to add in the detectives as characters, because there really isn't a whole lot of "detecting" happening in this so-called true crime book.
I'm also amazed at how much about LDS and FDLS I'd forgotten from my first read through. Makes me almost wish I hadn't done a re-read after all...
Rating: still 3 stars / C+
Listened to audiobook from Audible.
informative
reflective
sad
I think I would have liked this better had I not listened to it on audio. Parts of the history were extremely in depth and I got bored but probably could have just skimmed if I read the physical book.
TL;DR: hours of my life wasted. Wish I'd known about Elder Turley's review first.
I bet this was the author's thought process: hey, I just heard this news story about some crazy Mormon murders, and apparently they left their religion to be fundamentalist wackos, so here's my perfect opportunity to find everything negative about all iterations of that religion and mash 'em all up together into a whole book of mixed up, at-times-deliberately-misleading, misinformation. If his thesis that Mormon-adjacent and original Latter-day Saint religions breed violence and indoctrination is true, you’d see way more evidence, but the fact that he has to do so much reaching back into history and looking at things through a clearly biased lens as he writes smear campaigns is pretty telling that he’s just angry, mean, confused, etc. and doesn’t care to learn or believe anything good about the religions for whatever reason. Of course there will be bad eggs; there are in any group, and even the best leaders make bad decisions and at times horrible mistakes, but it’s unfair to talk about whole groups as if they’re as evil and stupid as the worst thing someone has done. The point is how they react, change, and grow. This book took me so long to get through because it was just so annoying wading through the bias, wrong things stated as fact, cherry-picked quotes, and dramatic-sounding historical events often discussed without the context of their history or citations.
He got a bunch of not-insignificant details wrong, plus there are a few updates needed since the writing in 2003. There were WAY too many to fit here, so I put them on my blog. What a slog.
I bet this was the author's thought process: hey, I just heard this news story about some crazy Mormon murders, and apparently they left their religion to be fundamentalist wackos, so here's my perfect opportunity to find everything negative about all iterations of that religion and mash 'em all up together into a whole book of mixed up, at-times-deliberately-misleading, misinformation. If his thesis that Mormon-adjacent and original Latter-day Saint religions breed violence and indoctrination is true, you’d see way more evidence, but the fact that he has to do so much reaching back into history and looking at things through a clearly biased lens as he writes smear campaigns is pretty telling that he’s just angry, mean, confused, etc. and doesn’t care to learn or believe anything good about the religions for whatever reason. Of course there will be bad eggs; there are in any group, and even the best leaders make bad decisions and at times horrible mistakes, but it’s unfair to talk about whole groups as if they’re as evil and stupid as the worst thing someone has done. The point is how they react, change, and grow. This book took me so long to get through because it was just so annoying wading through the bias, wrong things stated as fact, cherry-picked quotes, and dramatic-sounding historical events often discussed without the context of their history or citations.
He got a bunch of not-insignificant details wrong, plus there are a few updates needed since the writing in 2003. There were WAY too many to fit here, so I put them on my blog. What a slog.
A fascinating look into religious extremism through the lens of a murder attributed to religious fundamentalism.