Reviews with content warning for Mass/school shootings - Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession

Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession by Rachel Monroe

20 reviews

alliereads_'s review against another edition

dark informative

2.5

I really struggled to see how each story fit in with each others or with any overarching theme of true crime. The first chapter felt more like a historical lesson on forensics than a story about a woman obsessed with acting as a detective in a singular compelling case. This continues into the third and fourth parts with diatribes on immigration and Ayn Rand; neither were uninteresting or unimportant to me, but were not even close to what I would expect from a book labeled to be about true crime and the predominantly female obsession with it.

Everything feels so disjointed; jumping within each chapter from character to character and story to story without ever drawing a clear thread between them.

I also wasn’t expected so much of the book, within chapters dedicated to specific women, to be anecdotal to Monroe’s life. While she was clearly influenced to write this book because of her relationship to true crime, I was disappointed that all of the reflection didn’t lead her to a thesis on its impact by the end. It wasn’t until the end of part four, where Monroe self-reflected on her part in the true crime community and on mean world syndrome, that I felt like the book had any purpose.

I would describe this book more as personal essay-meets-historical nonfiction than I would as an exploration of the true crime genre. Not a bad read necessarily, but incredibly different than how it was marketed.

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catriona176's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

This is a nuanced and thoughtful examination of four real women and their relationships to crime, from very different angles. I tried to listen to this years ago but couldn’t get into it, but was inspired to revisit it as it was acknowledged in Penance by Eliza Clark which I loved. This time I sailed through it and would strongly recommend to anyone who’s found a guilty pleasure in true crime and wondered why.

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aileron's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective fast-paced

3.5

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.25

Narrator Rating: 4.5 stars

A look into women's relationship with true crime from four perspectives. The author looks into four points of contact with true crime and obsession.
This book had a lot of social commentary which I enjoyed and made me think about my relationship with true crime. Luckily for me, I don't seem to be obsessed. I listen to many podcasts but avoid rabbit holes and obsessive searches into cases.
Overall, it is a great reflection on women's relationship to true crime and how it affects women and society overall.

Extra ratings: Fluff - NA Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful-2/5 Horror -NA Inspiration -0/5 Love aka Romance- NA Mystery - NA Predictability - NA Spice - NA Suspense - NA Tear- 3.5/5 Thrill - NA Humor-0/5

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shadereads's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.0

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sakisreads's review

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.5

This came to my attention on BookTok I think (as many things do). With our rising obsession with darkness and gore, this was an apt read 😳

There are 4 ‘perspectives’ or ‘stories’ to be shared: the detective, the victim (faux friend?), the defender and the killer. The ways in which Rachel Monroe navigated this was intriguing and worthwhile I thought 👏🏼
There are definitely peaks and troughs in this book, but I suppose that was only expected.

All of the research leaning towards NOT sharing killers’ details and pictures was something I’d previously discussed with a colleague and was solidified by this book’s writing.

3.5 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ✨

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