Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Devil in the White City (Abridged): Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

131 reviews

pagesfromhome's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping

dobermaier's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Child death

Minor: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

sophialib's review against another edition

dark informative tense slow-paced

4.5

love the way this book was written but a little bit hard to get through bc there is so much information

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

dark funny informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Dementia, Child abuse, Racism, Child death, Murder, and Mental illness

psdarlin's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Child death, Mental illness, Colonisation, Death, Racial slurs, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Medical content, Chronic illness, and Homophobia

cheypreston's review against another edition

dark informative tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual violence, Murder, Violence, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

mysterious_and_spooky's review against another edition

Bro, the author kept on waxing poetic about both the murderers and architects eyes being blue in every chapter, (author also has blue eyes soooo that might just be his own weird vanity too).  And also it was very much a white mans book, vibes were icky. Tldr: Vibes were weird, and I’m not interested in finishing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

irb0red's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

alicelalicon's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Child death, Death, and Murder

annabunce's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.0

Meh. I probably should have just read the wikipedia article about H.H. Holmes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Gore, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Stalking, Murder, Child death, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Blood, and Drug abuse