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philibin's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
3.0
(3 Stars)
This was well written, and a very interesting story. It didn't really paint EAP in a very good light, so now I want to read a biography about him. He comes off as petty, vindictive, entitled, and immature, yet a literary genius.
Mary, on the other hand, seems like a tragic victim of the times.
This was well written, and a very interesting story. It didn't really paint EAP in a very good light, so now I want to read a biography about him. He comes off as petty, vindictive, entitled, and immature, yet a literary genius.
Mary, on the other hand, seems like a tragic victim of the times.
duparker's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book, but never felt a connection to it. I think that the Poe story was interesting and that the cigar girl murder could have been interesting, but just wasn't. It wanted to be interesting, and it wanted to be Devil in the White City, but really couldn't get there. The plotting felt stale and the murder itself felt too drawn out and subdued for the overall story.
lconrad15's review against another edition
2.0
This book had the potential to be interesting, but alas, it just wasn't. I had to force myself to read it and then only skimmed through the last chapter. There was far too much paraphrasing and quotations from poe's stories and too little thought put into tying everything together. Very little detail was given on how this case shaped future murder investigations despite that being a basic premise of the plot. If you, like me, were confused by the title, don't bother reading it hoping enlightenment will follow in its pages.
lyrareadsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
A solid book, intriguing but the first half is stronger than the second.
mugglemom's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars for the audiobook version.
Interesting spin on the real life and quite unsolved murder of Mary Rogers, how EA Poe ties to the murder how it may or may not affected his life, tho his writing was affected by his imagination of solving the murder via the newspapers of the era. Love the author's steps to showed how bungle the police and newspapers were at the time in reporting the "facts".
Interesting spin on the real life and quite unsolved murder of Mary Rogers, how EA Poe ties to the murder how it may or may not affected his life, tho his writing was affected by his imagination of solving the murder via the newspapers of the era. Love the author's steps to showed how bungle the police and newspapers were at the time in reporting the "facts".
kellymarcella's review against another edition
2.0
I was intrigued by many of the issues and topics brought up in this book, but felt the writing was disjointed and at times repetitive.
gjmaupin's review against another edition
2.0
Not bad - fascinating story. The trouble is, as is a risk with non-fiction "true crime" (literary or no), it's never solved, so the suspense is kind of for naught; plus, Poe's life is forty years of the same self-destructive pattern, which is unfortunate for a biographer, because no matter how much research you do, only so much can make it interesting.
I wonder if this started as a Poe bio and the author figured the Mary Rogers story is more interesting.
Still, intriguing looks into daily life in the mid- and lower- tiers of urban America in them days.
I wonder if this started as a Poe bio and the author figured the Mary Rogers story is more interesting.
Still, intriguing looks into daily life in the mid- and lower- tiers of urban America in them days.
alundeberg's review against another edition
3.0
Overall Stashower presents interesting material about a grisly murder, the role of newspapers, and the life of Edgar Allan Poe. The real star of the story is his depiction of life in 1840s New York City-- when Lower Manhattan was the hub of all the action and 84th Street was surrounded by farm land. Much of this narrative is repetitive and the second half slogs through the finish.