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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
It was interesting and decently captivating, but also doesn't seem to accomplish anything.
An exceptionally well written three part true story of a serial killer, the trial that resulted from his actions and Harper Lee. A strange combination, but it works.
There isn't much that's "furious" or fast-paced about Furious Hours, a set of three semi-connected nonfiction accounts: the true crime story of the Rev. Willie Mays, an alleged life-insurance-seeking serial killer, and his own very public murder; the truncated political career of his lawyer (and his killer's lawyer), the "Alabama Democrat;" and a biography of Harper Lee, who at one time attempted to write her own book based on her on-the-scene reporting at the trial of Mays' killer and in its aftermath.
All three are stories without a solid ending ... each central figure eventually dies, so there's that, but little resolution can be found to the prevailing themes the book gives their lives. Mays dies unconvicted, his murders never ultimately proven and the details murky. Radley, the lawyer, certainly never succeeds at turning Alabama blue, and drops out of political life to eventually profit off the likely insurance frauds of a likely murderer, before successfully defending that murderer's own killer in spite of the 300+ witnesses to his shooting. And Lee ... never publishes another book after To Kill A Mockingbird (I am not counting Go Set A Watchman); her best-known later attempt, the true crime narrative, dwindles away to nothing without admission or fanfare. She spends much of her life dodging the inquisitiveness of the public on all talk of her work and her personal life ... and would-be biographers. I can’t help but wonder what Lee would think of this book.
Real life does not come to tidy conclusions, and Cep does a perfectly competent job of telling these three stories with respect and care ... but ultimately, the book feels superfluous. Three articles for the New Yorker would have done just as well. Or perhaps better. I would feel less inclined to question the motives of the author than I am now ... I’m left with a lingering sense of uncertainty over what Cep’s POINT was in doing this, and neither the structure, nor the epilogue, of her work gives me much to go on.
All three are stories without a solid ending ... each central figure eventually dies, so there's that, but little resolution can be found to the prevailing themes the book gives their lives. Mays dies unconvicted, his murders never ultimately proven and the details murky. Radley, the lawyer, certainly never succeeds at turning Alabama blue, and drops out of political life to eventually profit off the likely insurance frauds of a likely murderer, before successfully defending that murderer's own killer in spite of the 300+ witnesses to his shooting. And Lee ... never publishes another book after To Kill A Mockingbird (I am not counting Go Set A Watchman); her best-known later attempt, the true crime narrative, dwindles away to nothing without admission or fanfare. She spends much of her life dodging the inquisitiveness of the public on all talk of her work and her personal life ... and would-be biographers. I can’t help but wonder what Lee would think of this book.
Real life does not come to tidy conclusions, and Cep does a perfectly competent job of telling these three stories with respect and care ... but ultimately, the book feels superfluous. Three articles for the New Yorker would have done just as well. Or perhaps better. I would feel less inclined to question the motives of the author than I am now ... I’m left with a lingering sense of uncertainty over what Cep’s POINT was in doing this, and neither the structure, nor the epilogue, of her work gives me much to go on.
A true story told in three parts: a string of apparent murders followed by a murder of the presumed murderer (with the same lawyer getting both alleged murderers off), Harper Lee accompanying Truman Capote to Kansas to research “In Cold Blood”, and Lee’s writing up the part 1 murders in a book that was never published. I honestly don’t know why this book was written. It did not hold my interest.
One of my “lit chat” friends from the Bookshop recommended this after I said that I had been avoiding reading Go Set a Watchmen because I love To Kill a Mockingbird. The books feels like two books with the first half focused on the stranger-than-fiction story of the Reverend Willie Maxwell and the second half focused on the mystery of why Harper Lee never wrote anything after Mockingbird and how she followed the trial over the Reverend’s murder. It is well written and well researched and moves at a fast clip, but still leaves a lot to mystery because Lee was so private.
I think I feel better about the possibility of reading Watchmen after learning more about it here—I don’t think the Atticus character there is really Atticus, it’s a different character and a different portrait of a southern town. That being said, it still feels like an icky read given that the evidence suggests Lee didn’t want it published and was taken advantage of.
I think I feel better about the possibility of reading Watchmen after learning more about it here—I don’t think the Atticus character there is really Atticus, it’s a different character and a different portrait of a southern town. That being said, it still feels like an icky read given that the evidence suggests Lee didn’t want it published and was taken advantage of.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
True crime + Harper Lee? YES PLEASE.
***
Here's the thing: the title is a bit misleading--it suggests more of a who-done-it, or at least more intersection between Harper Lee and the subject matter. But taken on their own, the different parts of the story are each compelling: a murderer who took out life insurance policies on his victims before dispatching them; a writer whose first novel became so beloved she could simply never top it.
I was most interested in the portions about Harper Lee (although the Maxwell murders were quite compelling). There's great insight into Lee's role in another masterpiece, In Cold Blood, and more information about Go Set a Watchman. I never read that book; it felt like something that Lee didn't intend to publish, and I wanted to respect that. But it was interesting to see that Lee wanted to tell a more complicated story about race, and that while Mockingbird succeeds on so many levels, it's ultimately a simplification of her intended topic.
***
Here's the thing: the title is a bit misleading--it suggests more of a who-done-it, or at least more intersection between Harper Lee and the subject matter. But taken on their own, the different parts of the story are each compelling: a murderer who took out life insurance policies on his victims before dispatching them; a writer whose first novel became so beloved she could simply never top it.
I was most interested in the portions about Harper Lee (although the Maxwell murders were quite compelling). There's great insight into Lee's role in another masterpiece, In Cold Blood, and more information about Go Set a Watchman. I never read that book; it felt like something that Lee didn't intend to publish, and I wanted to respect that. But it was interesting to see that Lee wanted to tell a more complicated story about race, and that while Mockingbird succeeds on so many levels, it's ultimately a simplification of her intended topic.
A good read for people who are obsessed with Harper Lee.
Do what you want, but this is a book for people who are interested in interesting things. If you are looking for a traditional true crime story, this is not it. If you are looking for the complete history of Alabama, this is not it. If you are looking for Harper Lee’s unwritten book, this is also not it. If you are interested in how all these things are related? You are going to learn a lot and have a good time.
informative
mysterious
slow-paced