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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
After murdering their mother, thirteen year old Robert Coombes and his younger brother spend the next ten days watching cricket matches, playing cards, and pawning their possessions. The party is cut short when a nosy relative insists on entering the house to investigate a noxious odor. Emily Coombes’ decomposing body is discovered and Robert confesses on the spot.
Robert’s story is meticulously researched and has a surprising outcome.
Robert’s story is meticulously researched and has a surprising outcome.
I had heard the rough outlines of this story before: Victorian child murders his mother and spends a week enjoying himself tremendously before his crime is discovered. I didn't know (or forgot) about the younger brother, who I think is an incredibly interesting character in all this. The details of the story add in more depth and raise questions about little Robert's motives throughout all the proceedings.
Overall the writing style was kind of dry and a bit repetitive. While I appreciated the information on Robert's life after the conviction, especially the section about life at Broadmoor, it sometimes felt like the book was being padded out with extraneous information, especially during the world war portions of the book. I don't need a blow by blow of every battle he served in, thanks. I liked this book, but it needed tightening up.
Spoiler
A thought I had while reading about the crime and the various testimonies given: did Robert kill his mother? Or did he confess to protect Nattie? Afterall, we're told that Nattie is the one who was beaten by his mother whereas Robert was the favorite son. Nattie is the one who flees when his aunt confronts them about the crime. Nattie is the one overcome with emotion at the court. At the time, people chocked it up to him being younger and more innocent, but Robert was only a year older. Furthermore, in Robert's initial confession to his aunt, it was Nattie's idea to kill their mother. It makes me wonder if the reason for Robert's confused and occasionally contradictory relays of the killing were for the simple reason that he wasn't there.Overall the writing style was kind of dry and a bit repetitive. While I appreciated the information on Robert's life after the conviction, especially the section about life at Broadmoor, it sometimes felt like the book was being padded out with extraneous information, especially during the world war portions of the book. I don't need a blow by blow of every battle he served in, thanks. I liked this book, but it needed tightening up.
This book has definitely left me thinking about how we judge people and who is redeemable. Are we the worst thing we've ever done or the best? Can someone be both good and evil, both sane and insane? At first it bothered me that I never really gained an understanding of all the hows and whys behind Robert Coombes's horrific act of violence, of his mental state, of how his life played out going forward, but maybe that is the point. Although I remain somewhat uncomfortable with all of my unanswered questions, I value this book for making me think.
3.5 stars. I had really been looking forward to reading this book. The first half covered the actual crime and trial, while the remaining two pieces covered Coombes' later life. There is a twist at the end that I wasn't expecting, and it seems the author was not expecting either. While it wasn't as good as I had hoped, it was very interesting from a psychological point of view.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
I had trouble deciding if this is a 3 or a 4 star book and wish that we could give half stars. I ultimately gave it the 3.
This book was very well researched. Kate Summerscale took her time in researching and giving us the details about a boy who killed his mother and then later rejoined society. Because the killing took place in Victorian London there aren't any details regarding the motive of the killing. At first I thought maybe he was a psychopath but then you can see that maybe he was abused or his mother had mental health issues. Once Robert is released from prison he ends up in Australia and is a soldier in World War 1. The book chronicles what Robert's life was like in all of the various stages of his life. It's also goes to show about redemption and how he was able to overcome his past.
I received this book from Penguin's First To Read for my honest review.
This book was very well researched. Kate Summerscale took her time in researching and giving us the details about a boy who killed his mother and then later rejoined society. Because the killing took place in Victorian London there aren't any details regarding the motive of the killing. At first I thought maybe he was a psychopath but then you can see that maybe he was abused or his mother had mental health issues. Once Robert is released from prison he ends up in Australia and is a soldier in World War 1. The book chronicles what Robert's life was like in all of the various stages of his life. It's also goes to show about redemption and how he was able to overcome his past.
I received this book from Penguin's First To Read for my honest review.
Interesting look at not only the life of this boy, but also the criminal justice system at this time.
I picked up this story because the subject was of interest to me and it met one of the challenges on the annual challenge sheet.
If the author had stuck to the story at hand, I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, it took me four library checkouts to complete the book. The parts telling the story were really good-and very interesting... but you would get a dribble of that and then a long bit about what average workers did at this job or that job, what the rules were to move to the next level at school, who the best cricket teams were, etc. That part would put me to sleep.
If the author had stuck to the story at hand, I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, it took me four library checkouts to complete the book. The parts telling the story were really good-and very interesting... but you would get a dribble of that and then a long bit about what average workers did at this job or that job, what the rules were to move to the next level at school, who the best cricket teams were, etc. That part would put me to sleep.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
tense