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Reviews tagging 'Murder'
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
295 reviews
sixtimes's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Incredibly informative and powerful. The author was able to make his technical writing concise in a way that made it easier for me to understand than many nonfiction books I have tried to read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, and Murder
river23's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Murder, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Alcohol and Gun violence
Minor: Infidelity
kcup_espresso's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.5
I definitely wanted to like this book more than I did. I think this story is an important one, showing just a piece of the history in which white Americans brutalized and murdered what is suspected to be hundreds of Osage people. The beginning really had me hooked, being from Mollie’s POV. But once the POV shifted away from Mollie I had a harder time focusing. I didn’t think the parts that discussed the history of the FBI were as cohesive as I would have liked, I’m not sure. I did enjoy the last third of the book of the author talking to us directly about his research. My opinion of the narrative style of each section could possibly be swayed by the different audiobook narrators as well; I loved the first narrator but didn’t love the main narrator for part two. Overall I’m still glad I read the book and learned a lot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Murder, and Grief
lindsdavis's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Murder
burnourhistory's review against another edition
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Medical content, Colonisation, Death of parent, Violence, Genocide, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence
joshkiba13's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
4.0
What a tragic story---a real story. I studied and did a project on the Osage nation for school, then saw Scorcese's film Killers of the Flower Moon, which inspired me to read the book. There was so much information; the way Grann was able to stitch everything together into a cohesive story was impressive. Getting to the end and seeing how many people came together to cover up crimes was heartbreaking.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Terminal illness, Death, and Murder
lunamonica08's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism and Murder
amberspej's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, and Murder
simmonsj's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This review is for the audiobook.
The best non-fiction for me are the ones that teach me something while making it an interesting and engrossing story. David Grann does this very well with Killers of the Flower Moon. I knew nothing about the Osage reign of terror in the 1920s (I know there was a movie made as well but also never watched that). The history of the area and people as well as the chilling murders that permeated the reservation were well relayed and amazing to hear about - not in a good way. The racism, prejudices, and loose law keeping were rampant and the effects of that time are still felt today within that culture.
The story flowed well about 90% of the time. There were a few chapters that, while the information was important, I felt the chapters themselves were situated poorly in the book. For example, the story was moving along and then there was a sharp deviation to the history of the area. Wouldn't have been nice for these chapters to be a little earlier so the main events were not split in such an abrupt way.
I listened to the audiobook, and the three narrators were well picked. The first part of the book concerned the Osage - the narrator was a woman that gave weight to their history and present situation. The second part of the book followed a FBI agent, and the narrator really sounded like a seasoned law officer in between the wild west and the beginning of a more orderly law enforcement. The last part concerned Grann's research, and the narrator had an air of an older reporter about him.
Overall I think this is a very impactful, well told story and would recommend to anyone with a desire to learn more about historical events.
The best non-fiction for me are the ones that teach me something while making it an interesting and engrossing story. David Grann does this very well with Killers of the Flower Moon. I knew nothing about the Osage reign of terror in the 1920s (I know there was a movie made as well but also never watched that). The history of the area and people as well as the chilling murders that permeated the reservation were well relayed and amazing to hear about - not in a good way. The racism, prejudices, and loose law keeping were rampant and the effects of that time are still felt today within that culture.
The story flowed well about 90% of the time. There were a few chapters that, while the information was important, I felt the chapters themselves were situated poorly in the book. For example, the story was moving along and then there was a sharp deviation to the history of the area. Wouldn't have been nice for these chapters to be a little earlier so the main events were not split in such an abrupt way.
I listened to the audiobook, and the three narrators were well picked. The first part of the book concerned the Osage - the narrator was a woman that gave weight to their history and present situation. The second part of the book followed a FBI agent, and the narrator really sounded like a seasoned law officer in between the wild west and the beginning of a more orderly law enforcement. The last part concerned Grann's research, and the narrator had an air of an older reporter about him.
Overall I think this is a very impactful, well told story and would recommend to anyone with a desire to learn more about historical events.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Racism
m_liz's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Gaslighting