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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Murder
Minor: Addiction, Antisemitism, Alcohol
This is probably a great book, but the narration of this is absolutely horrendous. It is so monotone and boring that I couldn’t even get past part one. I don’t think I’ve ever not finished a book, but I just couldn’t do this one.
dark
informative
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
dark
informative
slow-paced
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
This book is a beast in terms of length but it was so comprehensive and so good...I totally understand why it's the GOAT of true crime narrative nonfiction. Here are some random thoughts that came up for me while reading (many of them incredibly inconsequential):
-you can die from an ear infection?! My health anxiety just peaked.
-For the most part Bugliosi, who as the prosecutor of the case obviously has a specific point of view, does a good job of balancing his beliefs with the facts of the case. However, there is one moment when he calls a Black woman who's incarcerated "pathetic" for seemingly no reason, which made me side eye him.
-I read somewhere that Angela Landsbury's daughter tried to join The Family and her mama said (paraphrasing what I envision the convo was like), "the fuck you are! have you lost your mind?! get back in this house" haha
-LAPD and LASO were TERRIBLE at their jobs. Like truly criminal. Not Bugliosi writing the original ACAB narrative! aaahaha.
-I literally gasped when (this feels like a spoiler so...) the author brought up speculation that Manson's father was Black! Truth be told I kinda screamed because that was WILD. But it does kinda align with his obsession with Black people taking over the world
-Relatedly, I honestly had no idea how much of Manson's cult had to do with race and with a potential race war. Charles Manson is a name I've known most of my life but reading this book made me realize how little I actually knew about the context of his beliefs.
-In the afterward, written 25 years later, it was interested that everyone got a Where Are They Now except for Roman Polanski *awkward cough and look away*
-Speaking of the afterward, that was an...interesting read. The main question of the section was why does Manson stay in the zeitgeist even after all this time and Bugliosi makes some interesting points related to far-right extremism, etc. but then he starts comparing Mason to other cult leaders such as David Karesh and Jim Jones and it kind of devolves into a "my serial killer is better than your serial killer," which felt...strange.
-Last I was surprised but not shocked that so many of the former Family members are now hardcore Christians. Much could be said about the cult of Christianity but I'll save that for someone else...
-you can die from an ear infection?! My health anxiety just peaked.
-For the most part Bugliosi, who as the prosecutor of the case obviously has a specific point of view, does a good job of balancing his beliefs with the facts of the case. However, there is one moment when he calls a Black woman who's incarcerated "pathetic" for seemingly no reason, which made me side eye him.
-I read somewhere that Angela Landsbury's daughter tried to join The Family and her mama said (paraphrasing what I envision the convo was like), "the fuck you are! have you lost your mind?! get back in this house" haha
-LAPD and LASO were TERRIBLE at their jobs. Like truly criminal. Not Bugliosi writing the original ACAB narrative! aaahaha.
-I literally gasped when (this feels like a spoiler so...)
-Relatedly, I honestly had no idea how much of Manson's cult had to do with race and with a potential race war. Charles Manson is a name I've known most of my life but reading this book made me realize how little I actually knew about the context of his beliefs.
-In the afterward, written 25 years later, it was interested that everyone got a Where Are They Now except for Roman Polanski *awkward cough and look away*
-Speaking of the afterward, that was an...interesting read. The main question of the section was why does Manson stay in the zeitgeist even after all this time and Bugliosi makes some interesting points related to far-right extremism, etc. but then he starts comparing Mason to other cult leaders such as David Karesh and Jim Jones and it kind of devolves into a "my serial killer is better than your serial killer," which felt...strange.
-Last I was surprised but not shocked that so many of the former Family members are now hardcore Christians. Much could be said about the cult of Christianity but I'll save that for someone else...
dark
informative
slow-paced
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
I felt at times it was very drawn out and repetitive, though that was probably purposeful. The tone and voice of Bugliosi was factual and to the point which I greatly appreciated in regards to the material. All in all I enjoyed the experience but wouldn’t recommend reading to most people. It did the job, which horrified and angered me, all at once. Bugliosi also seems like an honest and candid person and I feel like he was probably the best person for this job.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced