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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
dark
informative
fast-paced
“… the press is as much part of our democracy as Congress or the executive branch or the judicial branch. It has to keep things in check. And when the powerful control the press, the people lose.”
“Now when I go to a restaurant or to an event, people are going to know that this happened to me. They’re gonna look at me and they’re gonna know.”
“After journalism, drama and being late were my great passions.”
“Now when I go to a restaurant or to an event, people are going to know that this happened to me. They’re gonna look at me and they’re gonna know.”
“After journalism, drama and being late were my great passions.”
**Possible trigger warning**
An excellently written book that was so difficult to put down. Ronan Farrow does a brilliant job of rolling back the curtains that hide the predatory behaviour existent in the entertainment industry. It's evident that his investigative journalism took many years and crossed several hurdles before getting to the truth, all signs that there are severe faults in the modern-day justice system. Everyone has heard of Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement, but the sheer amount of barriers that protected him is astounding. Without spoiling the book, it's almost like reading a spy thriller until you realize that this actually happened just a couple years ago.
The system which grants the people in power their money also grants them a significant advantage in escaping (and in this case, simply burying) justice. So many of the people that came out to ostracize Weinstein knew about the rapes and sexual assaults, but did nothing at the time. This obviously extends past Hollywood, outlined by NBC's disgusting attempt to help Weinstein by repressing the evidence. This is one of the reasons why news outlets are so mistrusted and, frankly, for good reason.
Catch and Kill was a difficult, but enlightening, book to read and I would implore others to give it a shot.
An excellently written book that was so difficult to put down. Ronan Farrow does a brilliant job of rolling back the curtains that hide the predatory behaviour existent in the entertainment industry. It's evident that his investigative journalism took many years and crossed several hurdles before getting to the truth, all signs that there are severe faults in the modern-day justice system. Everyone has heard of Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement, but the sheer amount of barriers that protected him is astounding. Without spoiling the book, it's almost like reading a spy thriller until you realize that this actually happened just a couple years ago.
The system which grants the people in power their money also grants them a significant advantage in escaping (and in this case, simply burying) justice. So many of the people that came out to ostracize Weinstein knew about the rapes and sexual assaults, but did nothing at the time. This obviously extends past Hollywood, outlined by NBC's disgusting attempt to help Weinstein by repressing the evidence. This is one of the reasons why news outlets are so mistrusted and, frankly, for good reason.
Catch and Kill was a difficult, but enlightening, book to read and I would implore others to give it a shot.
informative
medium-paced
dark
fast-paced
Great piece of investigative journalism. Fans of John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup will be just as riveted here. The focus is on the process of researching and slowly deciphering the labyrinth of media protection around Harvey Weinstein, and Farrow’s connections with other men also brought down by the same movement (Matt Lauer, Tom Brokaw, etc) make the story all the more haunting. It truly does read like an espionage thriller, and it’ll definitely be on my favorites of the year.
As other reviewers have discussed, there’s certain limitations to Farrow’s reporting, which can be made all the more obvious when you read similar pieces by female reporters. Farrow’s dedication to the story and the witnesses is obvious, but there’s a certain lack of analysis of in-depth power structures and their history that I often find in pieces by women. But not everything can be everything to everybody, and the book is a superb piece all on its own.
I listened to this on audiobook, which the author narrated. He was a fine narrator, but his insistence on mimicking the accent of every single person involved was startling at first, then comedic, which I'm not sure was the intent. They even put his voice through a vocoder to signal the writing of an anonymous source. And there was all this weird production--music ending some chapters but not others, choppy cutting of the audio segments. Felt like I was listening to a book that wanted to be a podcast. Didn't tank the overall value of the book though, it just made me roll my eyes.
As other reviewers have discussed, there’s certain limitations to Farrow’s reporting, which can be made all the more obvious when you read similar pieces by female reporters. Farrow’s dedication to the story and the witnesses is obvious, but there’s a certain lack of analysis of in-depth power structures and their history that I often find in pieces by women. But not everything can be everything to everybody, and the book is a superb piece all on its own.
I listened to this on audiobook, which the author narrated. He was a fine narrator, but his insistence on mimicking the accent of every single person involved was startling at first, then comedic, which I'm not sure was the intent. They even put his voice through a vocoder to signal the writing of an anonymous source. And there was all this weird production--music ending some chapters but not others, choppy cutting of the audio segments. Felt like I was listening to a book that wanted to be a podcast. Didn't tank the overall value of the book though, it just made me roll my eyes.
This book is a true tale of the underdog coming out on top. What Harvey did was despicable, but the ones who protected him from punishment are just as bad.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
dark
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Tough read, but well worth it for the in depth, lengthy investigation that was never boring at any point.
Farrow's account of his difficult, harrowing investigation into Weinstein's reign of terror never shied away from "imperfect" victims, villains, or sources. He was very honest and open about his own wrongdoing naïveté, and conflict over his job at NBC. The storytelling was all encompassing in such a a way that the attitude around guys like Weinstein in showbusiness was conveyed frighteningly well.
This was as much an in depth look into how monsters like Trump, Weinstein, and Lauer cover up their wrongdoing with help from an inner circle of conspirators they've paid for. Admittedly, I found myself more upset at women like "Anna" and Lisa Bloom for betraying women and getting behind ruining, threatening, and discrediting rape victims. I'm never surprised at men being terrible, but the women that help them in those endeavors sicken me even more.
Of course, at the heart of the story is the pain these women suffered and had to live in silence with for decades. It was so sad to read how many of them still blamed themselves years later. It wasn't about them speaking up; there were always people willing to step in and shut them up. Honestly, I hate thinking about how easily something like this could get buried just as easily today with the political state of this country.
The part about Dylan Farrow thinking about how she didn't have the same rallying force behind her story of abuse broke my heart. My heart hurts for all the victims like her who had to wait (and are still waiting) to get any sort of justice.
Farrow's account of his difficult, harrowing investigation into Weinstein's reign of terror never shied away from "imperfect" victims, villains, or sources. He was very honest and open about his own wrongdoing naïveté, and conflict over his job at NBC. The storytelling was all encompassing in such a a way that the attitude around guys like Weinstein in showbusiness was conveyed frighteningly well.
This was as much an in depth look into how monsters like Trump, Weinstein, and Lauer cover up their wrongdoing with help from an inner circle of conspirators they've paid for. Admittedly, I found myself more upset at women like "Anna" and Lisa Bloom for betraying women and getting behind ruining, threatening, and discrediting rape victims. I'm never surprised at men being terrible, but the women that help them in those endeavors sicken me even more.
Of course, at the heart of the story is the pain these women suffered and had to live in silence with for decades. It was so sad to read how many of them still blamed themselves years later. It wasn't about them speaking up; there were always people willing to step in and shut them up. Honestly, I hate thinking about how easily something like this could get buried just as easily today with the political state of this country.
The part about Dylan Farrow thinking about how she didn't have the same rallying force behind her story of abuse broke my heart. My heart hurts for all the victims like her who had to wait (and are still waiting) to get any sort of justice.