Scan barcode
phil266's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
This is probably one of the most difficult books I read, but the most important one. This book highlight's an important moment in history and reporting on the courage of the first whistleblowers of the #MeToo movement. Well done and worthy of the Pulitzer Prize. Great piece of journalism.
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol
ariellehs's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
r4chelreading's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
jessies's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.25
caroline77's review against another edition
5.0
***NO SPOILERS***
“Catch and kill” is a term from the tabloid world that refers to tabloids’ purchase of scandalous stories with the express intent of burying them. Ronan Farrow used the term more generally here as he detailed the accusations of abuse surrounding Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, and Donald Trump.* Countless people “caught and killed” to protect these men.
This book does three things well, pulling them together to paint a complete picture of what happened behind the scenes: It details the stories of abuse; it illustrates how power is abused and how common that is; and it highlights the extensive protections afforded those who are powerful, beloved, influential, or a combination of these. Had these men been regular joes, they would have been caught earlier (although not necessarily punished accordingly, or at all). They are just three of many famous figures accused of hideous crimes, but what happened with them can be applied to so many of the others. With great power comes the benefit of the doubt, denial, and protection.
Throughout my reading, what stood out to me was Harvey Weinstein’s bizarrely wide reach; the man had friends and supporters everywhere. He was involved in politics, charities, and a large percentage of movies made. He had many contacts in the legal world and even the fashion world. Farrow was double-crossed more than once because he confided in someone he assumed didn’t know Weinstein, or knew him but didn’t support him. Weinstein’s contacts everywhere most definitely helped protect him—directly and indirectly.
On the greater level, I was struck by how much those close to Weinstein, Lauer, and Trump bent over backward to protect them. This is where the subtitle of Catch and Kill comes in. Spies scared victims into silence (and attempted to with Farrow); endless lies from lawyers and coworkers protected the perpetrators; and a huge network of people conspired to suppress the stories. The litigation teams were stunningly ruthless, terrorizing victims and doing everything in their power to thwart Farrow’s investigation.
Ironclad non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) figured prominently in these stories as they were used liberally to shut up victims forever. I’ve been frustrated over the years to note that many people think that when victims are “paid off,” it’s proof that victims were blackmailing the perpetrator. This book explains how this reasoning is wrong. The NDA preserves the perpetrator’s reputation while allowing for continued abuse.
Readers who think they already know all about the abuses need to think again. Behind the scenes, so much happened that news outlets wouldn’t have the space to report on, if they even wanted to. It took this meticulous 448-page book to do that. Additionally, as a (now former) employee of NBC, Farrow was in the unusual position to be able to speak from an insider’s point of view. He interacted with Matt Lauer, who was a kind of mentor, and was close to the bigwigs protecting him. His characterization went a long way toward making Catch and Kill page-turning.
I do have one criticism that concerns crucial word choice. At least two times, Farrow used the word “consent” or “consensual,” saying something along the lines of, “The interactions eventually became consensual…” Given the power differential in the encounters, the perpetrator’s harassing persistence, and the victim’s fear of extensive retribution, she never consented. He means she relented. She resigned herself to the situation. She surrendered.
Nevertheless, Catch and Kill is superb, thorough, dedicated to the truth. I admire Farrow’s courage and greatly respect his personal ethics. He worked to exhaustion every day for months to expose these scandals, eventually getting the story published in The New Yorker. And although The New York Times broke the story before The New Yorker, Farrow was the one who began investigating first and refused to back down despite significant obstacles. Really, given the numerous roadblocks, it’s astonishing these accusations ever came to light.
Anyone with the slightest interest in these cases will want to read Catch and Kill. This may be the definitive work on what happened.
*Focused on in that order. Farrow devoted most attention to Weinstein, then Lauer, then Trump.
Read-alike: [b:She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement|44767249|She Said Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement|Jodi Kantor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573830483l/44767249._SY75_.jpg|69397793]
Complementary viewing: The documentary "Untouchable"
Update, March 4, 2020: Shame on Hachette. Ronan Farrow Cuts Ties With Publisher Hachette Over Woody Allen Memoir
“Catch and kill” is a term from the tabloid world that refers to tabloids’ purchase of scandalous stories with the express intent of burying them. Ronan Farrow used the term more generally here as he detailed the accusations of abuse surrounding Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, and Donald Trump.* Countless people “caught and killed” to protect these men.
This book does three things well, pulling them together to paint a complete picture of what happened behind the scenes: It details the stories of abuse; it illustrates how power is abused and how common that is; and it highlights the extensive protections afforded those who are powerful, beloved, influential, or a combination of these. Had these men been regular joes, they would have been caught earlier (although not necessarily punished accordingly, or at all). They are just three of many famous figures accused of hideous crimes, but what happened with them can be applied to so many of the others. With great power comes the benefit of the doubt, denial, and protection.
Throughout my reading, what stood out to me was Harvey Weinstein’s bizarrely wide reach; the man had friends and supporters everywhere. He was involved in politics, charities, and a large percentage of movies made. He had many contacts in the legal world and even the fashion world. Farrow was double-crossed more than once because he confided in someone he assumed didn’t know Weinstein, or knew him but didn’t support him. Weinstein’s contacts everywhere most definitely helped protect him—directly and indirectly.
On the greater level, I was struck by how much those close to Weinstein, Lauer, and Trump bent over backward to protect them. This is where the subtitle of Catch and Kill comes in. Spies scared victims into silence (and attempted to with Farrow); endless lies from lawyers and coworkers protected the perpetrators; and a huge network of people conspired to suppress the stories. The litigation teams were stunningly ruthless, terrorizing victims and doing everything in their power to thwart Farrow’s investigation.
Ironclad non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) figured prominently in these stories as they were used liberally to shut up victims forever. I’ve been frustrated over the years to note that many people think that when victims are “paid off,” it’s proof that victims were blackmailing the perpetrator. This book explains how this reasoning is wrong. The NDA preserves the perpetrator’s reputation while allowing for continued abuse.
Readers who think they already know all about the abuses need to think again. Behind the scenes, so much happened that news outlets wouldn’t have the space to report on, if they even wanted to. It took this meticulous 448-page book to do that. Additionally, as a (now former) employee of NBC, Farrow was in the unusual position to be able to speak from an insider’s point of view. He interacted with Matt Lauer, who was a kind of mentor, and was close to the bigwigs protecting him. His characterization went a long way toward making Catch and Kill page-turning.
I do have one criticism that concerns crucial word choice. At least two times, Farrow used the word “consent” or “consensual,” saying something along the lines of, “The interactions eventually became consensual…” Given the power differential in the encounters, the perpetrator’s harassing persistence, and the victim’s fear of extensive retribution, she never consented. He means she relented. She resigned herself to the situation. She surrendered.
Nevertheless, Catch and Kill is superb, thorough, dedicated to the truth. I admire Farrow’s courage and greatly respect his personal ethics. He worked to exhaustion every day for months to expose these scandals, eventually getting the story published in The New Yorker. And although The New York Times broke the story before The New Yorker, Farrow was the one who began investigating first and refused to back down despite significant obstacles. Really, given the numerous roadblocks, it’s astonishing these accusations ever came to light.
Anyone with the slightest interest in these cases will want to read Catch and Kill. This may be the definitive work on what happened.
*Focused on in that order. Farrow devoted most attention to Weinstein, then Lauer, then Trump.
Read-alike: [b:She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement|44767249|She Said Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement|Jodi Kantor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573830483l/44767249._SY75_.jpg|69397793]
Complementary viewing: The documentary "Untouchable"
Update, March 4, 2020: Shame on Hachette. Ronan Farrow Cuts Ties With Publisher Hachette Over Woody Allen Memoir
bex_knighthunter's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.25
An incredible story of the effort involved in getting the story out about Harvey Weinstein and the media conspiracy that got in it's way. Note: dark subject matter and many first hand accounts of sexual assault and rape. I listened to the audio of this in only a few days and found the story slightly addictive. I usually steer very clear of true crime, but I do love reading about larger scandals and conspiracies and how they are uncovered and brought down. It did interest me slightly less towards the end when it felt like attention was diverted to other sexual predators in the media involved in squashing the case, but not people I've heard of and I think the fact I'm from the UK meant so many of the company names didn't mean anything to me and so I started to get a few confused. I also struggled to keep all the people's names straight throughout, which I was mostly able to infer through context which side they were on, but maybe meant I missed some significant things. My only other criticism was that some of the accents on the audiobook (read by the author) didn't sound right to me - especially the British journalist, but then maybe he did really sound like that! However, being able to hear one of the clips within the audiobook was really powerful, and generally audio felt like a good fit for this kind of story (there is a reason true crime podcasts are popular!). I did find this story pretty enthralling and definitely anger-inducing throughout (in a good way). I'd remember seeing the story break at the time, but I hadn't realised quite how much resistance there was to this story within the media, threats and interference from Weinstein, and legal pressure on the women coming forward. All this meant it required a lot of personal sacrifice and risk from the side of the author and of course heaps of selflessness and bravery from the women who told their stories. It's very scary to think how easily this could have never come to light, and how the #MeToo movement may have missed it's spark that set it all off. An important story - showing really how much more there is to know about behind the scenes/press.