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Reviews tagging 'Torture'
The Devil in the White City (Abridged): Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
43 reviews
salome_esteves's review
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
4.0
I love to read true stories written like fiction, and this book is a brilliant example of that. Erik Larson's writing is perfect for this genre. His depiction of Holmes' murder is thorough but not graphic. I am always on the fence of stories about serial killers, out of fear they will be too gruesome. But "The Devil in the White City" has the perfect balance of perfectly clear and somewhat suspenseful narration.
When it comes to the overall story, I think this book tried to do too much. I always thought that these murders had occurred in the fair, but the correlation between the events is almost non-existent. That's why I believe the story around the fair was too long. Although some facts were very interesting and I felt it was quite enjoyable, I don't think it was particularly necessary.
But I highly, highly recommend it, specially if, like me, you enjoy true crime stories and murder mysteries.
When it comes to the overall story, I think this book tried to do too much. I always thought that these murders had occurred in the fair, but the correlation between the events is almost non-existent. That's why I believe the story around the fair was too long. Although some facts were very interesting and I felt it was quite enjoyable, I don't think it was particularly necessary.
But I highly, highly recommend it, specially if, like me, you enjoy true crime stories and murder mysteries.
Moderate: Murder, Death, Child death, and Torture
Minor: Suicide
swinsword's review
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Torture, Death, and Child death
cassieyorke's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Erik Larson is one of the most talented popular historians of our age, and he has one tremendous strength and one glaring flaw. His strength is the breathtaking beauty he injects into every line he can, and his settings are often so realistic that he puts you in the past, whether you want to be or not. But his one glaring weakness is his tendency to get lost in the mundane, filling half of his books with things he himself might find interesting - like architecture or naval engineering - while coming up just short of making these things palatable for the average reader.
Still, White City is one book I'll happily give four stars, since it does such a fantastic job of sweeping you away to Gilded Age Chicago. It immerses you, familiarizes you with lovely details of daily life, introduces you to key players and average people alike, then leaving you to marvel at the unspeakable lost beauty of the World's Fair. He does the best that a twenty-first century author possibly can at conjuring a bit of that long-forgotten enchantment and romance, and I found myself putting the book down and dreaming a bit about what it would have been like at night. He gave me a glimpse of one of those spellbound moments long ago, and put me next to long-gone people when they were still drawing breath - or holding it, like I was. The fact that I had to wade through chapters of engineering and architectural details to get there felt a bit like Burnham must have - building this enchanting vision out of plain old steel and glass and finally getting to see it, just for a little while. Maybe that was the point; I'm not sure. If it was, I'd rather have had just a little more adventure getting there.
The sections about H.H. Holmes were more interesting, if horrifically disturbing. Most people enjoying this book have probably been true crime fans, hoping for a glimpse into the depraved mind of an early serial killer. Maybe they weren't quite as disturbed as I was, or didn't feel quite the same sympathy for his unfortunate victims. It speaks to Larson's talent as an author that he made those young women as real as anyone else, forcing you to care for them like any other living person. So those chapters were exceptionally well-written, if difficult to endure.
Larson has improved his craft since White City, like all authors do, and his later work shows more talent at making the mundane more interesting, blending it better with the substance of the overall book. Anyway, I did love this book and I'd happily recommend it to anyone who wanted to journey back in time to the Gilded Age, to see what life was like in the 1890s. Larson is second to none at transporting his readers back in time.
Still, White City is one book I'll happily give four stars, since it does such a fantastic job of sweeping you away to Gilded Age Chicago. It immerses you, familiarizes you with lovely details of daily life, introduces you to key players and average people alike, then leaving you to marvel at the unspeakable lost beauty of the World's Fair. He does the best that a twenty-first century author possibly can at conjuring a bit of that long-forgotten enchantment and romance, and I found myself putting the book down and dreaming a bit about what it would have been like at night. He gave me a glimpse of one of those spellbound moments long ago, and put me next to long-gone people when they were still drawing breath - or holding it, like I was. The fact that I had to wade through chapters of engineering and architectural details to get there felt a bit like Burnham must have - building this enchanting vision out of plain old steel and glass and finally getting to see it, just for a little while. Maybe that was the point; I'm not sure. If it was, I'd rather have had just a little more adventure getting there.
The sections about H.H. Holmes were more interesting, if horrifically disturbing. Most people enjoying this book have probably been true crime fans, hoping for a glimpse into the depraved mind of an early serial killer. Maybe they weren't quite as disturbed as I was, or didn't feel quite the same sympathy for his unfortunate victims. It speaks to Larson's talent as an author that he made those young women as real as anyone else, forcing you to care for them like any other living person. So those chapters were exceptionally well-written, if difficult to endure.
Larson has improved his craft since White City, like all authors do, and his later work shows more talent at making the mundane more interesting, blending it better with the substance of the overall book. Anyway, I did love this book and I'd happily recommend it to anyone who wanted to journey back in time to the Gilded Age, to see what life was like in the 1890s. Larson is second to none at transporting his readers back in time.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy and Terminal illness
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