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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I ended up liking this much more than I thought I would.
It places a very heavy emphasis on the legal proceedings, which I thought were fascinating, but it's probably not for everyone. My biggest critique for this book is one that a lot of books in true crime are guilty of (especially older ones, like this): the focus on the victims is pretty slim. It's already a long book, but I wish we learned more about the victims' humanity, especially those in the second half of the book who weren't given much discussion at all.
It places a very heavy emphasis on the legal proceedings, which I thought were fascinating, but it's probably not for everyone. My biggest critique for this book is one that a lot of books in true crime are guilty of (especially older ones, like this): the focus on the victims is pretty slim. It's already a long book, but I wish we learned more about the victims' humanity, especially those in the second half of the book who weren't given much discussion at all.
challenging
dark
informative
tense
FINALLY I finished this one, but it was painful. When I told several people I was reading this they said I would have nightmares. The closest I got to that was being put to sleep. So many details, so many footnotes and subscripts foretelling events. I don't think I ever realized when I ran across one of those foretold events. I appreciate the endless hours and research the author had to go through to effectively prosecute the case, but for me it did not make for good storytelling. I was hoping to leave this with a sense of why Manson reached such acclaim and was able to wield power over his "family" to commit such heinous acts, but I never quite got there.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This would be a tremendously better -- and shorter -- book if Bugliosi didn't spend so much time patting himself on the back. I really could've done with a lot less of the self-aggrandizing BS from Bugliosi. He's surrounded by idiots! The LAPD and the Coroner and the investigators -- all idiots! If not for Vincent Bugliosi and his working UNTIL 2 A.M. EVERY DAY rooting through tubs that everyone just ignored because they weren't president of their law school class at UCLA, Charles Manson would be out there menacing all of us today! When I finally finished, I felt mostly relief to finally be done with Bugliosi's insufferable arrogance, self-promotion, and self-mythologizing.
It's incredible! Bugliosi never made one mistake or error of judgment in dealing with "the worst and most heinous crime in the recorded annals of crime," stared down Charles Manson and made his hands shake, and scared off some punk kids who tried to threaten him because Vincent Bugliosi, by his own account, was a genius and the toughest man in the world! He was not, however, the humblest.
The book is gripping in many parts because of the bizarre subject matter. Bugliosi's massive error is in believing that anyone cares about Vincent Bugliosi when they are reading a book about the Manson Family. There are plenty of incredible, fascinating details here. It's just that Bugliosi's monumental ego and need to demonstrate that he SINGLE-HANDEDLY cracked the Manson case and saved Western Civilization sometimes get in the way.
It's incredible! Bugliosi never made one mistake or error of judgment in dealing with "the worst and most heinous crime in the recorded annals of crime," stared down Charles Manson and made his hands shake, and scared off some punk kids who tried to threaten him because Vincent Bugliosi, by his own account, was a genius and the toughest man in the world! He was not, however, the humblest.
The book is gripping in many parts because of the bizarre subject matter. Bugliosi's massive error is in believing that anyone cares about Vincent Bugliosi when they are reading a book about the Manson Family. There are plenty of incredible, fascinating details here. It's just that Bugliosi's monumental ego and need to demonstrate that he SINGLE-HANDEDLY cracked the Manson case and saved Western Civilization sometimes get in the way.
i was pleasantly surprised at the quality of writing here.
this isn't a cult book for manson nuts, it is a fantastic look into how the criminal justice system worked [and didn't] and how that differs from what is pushed onto viewers from the media. i would highly recommend this book to almost anyone.
this isn't a cult book for manson nuts, it is a fantastic look into how the criminal justice system worked [and didn't] and how that differs from what is pushed onto viewers from the media. i would highly recommend this book to almost anyone.
3.5 stars. This book starts fairly matter-of-fact and dry (yet gruesome), so I expected not to like it all that much. But by the end I was surprisingly engrossed in the story of the trial.
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced