pupsandpancakes's review

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adventurous sad tense fast-paced

4.0


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sandysawmill's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

I’ve started this book several times and it finally clicked. Such an interesting dive into a piece of chicago and architectural history, as well as one of the first serial killers in the US. My favorite parts were about early unions and capitalists and the parallels to today; the description of new inventions that came out at the fair such as the Ferris wheel and shredded wheat; and the history of urban architecture and city planning like how the first skyscrapers were created and how much architecture can shape people’s lives and dreams. Architecture as “frozen music.”

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siu_rose's review

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challenging dark medium-paced

5.0

I thought this was extremely well written and vivid.  The author wove together strands of different stories quite well.  The scale encompasses details and the big picture.  I definitely plan to read more of his books. 

The creepy factor of the serial killer meant that I read this slowly because sometimes I just didn’t want to read it. But it was a good read overall.

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amriherd's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

3.75

Not my favorite Larson, but for my add brain it was great. Murder chapter, fair chapter, murder chapter, fair chapter.  Never left you in one place long enough to get bored. Enjoyed the fair aspects the most, but didn't love the way the Holmes chapters were organized and presented. Great narrator on the audio though.

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mmp1002's review against another edition

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dark informative tense slow-paced

3.5

Larson does an excellent job in making the reader feel as the architects and engineers do. Perhaps too good of a job, as the first two-thirds dragged. 

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elg1105's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

5.0


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bring_me_a_book's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0


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theabee's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

4.0


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itsjadenbaby's review against another edition

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Every single time I forced myself to listen to this audiobook, I just needed up bored and zoned out. Some of the H.H. Holmes stuff was interesting, but for the most part this was a snooze fest for me.

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pagesfromhome's review

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dark informative slow-paced

2.75

This was my first dive into Erik Larson's writing, and while I loved his style (lots of details that really put you in a moment), I think this fell a little bit flat for me. It felt like he just wanted to write a book about the World's Fair, but decided to throw in the story of H.H. Holmes to make it a bit more interesting. From what the book tells, there's essentially no connection between Holmes and the Fair, so pushing them into a book together doesn't make sense.

That said, I loved the sections about the fair and genuinely wish that had been the entirety of the book rather than being pulled between the two different stories. Even though there are times when Larson dives into characters with no real conclusion on them until the last part of the book, he does such a vivid job of building them that you kind of forgive it. All in all, not a waste of a read, but I doubt I'll be reading it again or thinking too much about it.

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