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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
Couldn’t finish this. Tried multiple times. I realize why the author touched on some of the topics, like Robert’s penny dreadfuls but honestly even that felt like filler when it kept being brought up over and over again! I’m not sure this subject needed a 300+ pages book.
I'm glad I stumbled upon this - like the previous two books I read, it was awarded a 2017 Edgar Award, this one for Best Fact Crime Fiction. It was amazing how little of the author's own opinions were used to describe the events that happened without it feeling like a police report, and absolutely astounding how much detail was unearthed by the extensive research she completed.
I hate to call someone's life interesting insofar as it feels like entertainment, and this man's life was too harrowing to be reduced to a couple of anecdotes to tell at a party. But the experiences he had in London, with his parents, during WWI, and in Australia are the reasons novels should be written. I have no idea what made Kate Summerscale grab onto this story and write it, but I'm glad she did.
I hate to call someone's life interesting insofar as it feels like entertainment, and this man's life was too harrowing to be reduced to a couple of anecdotes to tell at a party. But the experiences he had in London, with his parents, during WWI, and in Australia are the reasons novels should be written. I have no idea what made Kate Summerscale grab onto this story and write it, but I'm glad she did.
dark
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
A truly interesting story that goes beyond the crime that originated it.
Yes, there is a very well research account of the crime and the trial, about the (for our modern times) preposterous theories about why Robert committed the crime, and the scandal fed by the press.
There is also a detailed account of Robert's life and his family; a comprehensive research about the Broadmoor Asylum and the life that Robert lead there. But the author also follows him after his release and we see him becoming a respected citizen, a commended soldier and the protector of an abused boy who was adopted by him.
It's really a fascinating tale of fall and redemption, well worth of your time.
Yes, there is a very well research account of the crime and the trial, about the (for our modern times) preposterous theories about why Robert committed the crime, and the scandal fed by the press.
There is also a detailed account of Robert's life and his family; a comprehensive research about the Broadmoor Asylum and the life that Robert lead there. But the author also follows him after his release and we see him becoming a respected citizen, a commended soldier and the protector of an abused boy who was adopted by him.
It's really a fascinating tale of fall and redemption, well worth of your time.
This is the second of Kate Summerscale's books that I have tried to read and the second that I have returned, unread, to the library. The subject matter sounds fascinating. In the late 1800's while their father is away at sea two young boys (11 and 12) murder their mother. They have a great time out on the town and even invite a friend of the family to stay with them. The fact that he is there for a few days and doesn't smell the rotting body is pretty bizarre.
Anyway, it should have been interesting but it wasn't. Instead it read like a dull police procedural. Sorry Ms. Sumemrscale but I won't be trying a third of your books.
Anyway, it should have been interesting but it wasn't. Instead it read like a dull police procedural. Sorry Ms. Sumemrscale but I won't be trying a third of your books.
A tribute to careful research. The epilogue makes the whole book - if it's not holding your interest, flip to that and read it.
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
dark
informative
slow-paced
Oh, this was a fascinating read. Summerscale provides a wonderful lens into the world of Victorian London, its court system, and its treatment of a teenage boy deemed insane. The story seems straightforward, but took surprising twists and turns that kept me unable to put the book down - and the end left me perfectly satisfied.