Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

It is clear throughout this book that Ronan Farrow respects and has great admiration for survivors, and the profession of journalism alike. I credit him for his work bringing these stories to light, and for his perseverance through the events described in this book. It is a monstrous feat in itself to unravel the web of conspiracy spun between these institutions in the first place, let alone to then make it make sense for the reader. A world that allows this

sexual commodification of its female workforce

after all, is hard to make sense of.

There are innumerable players involved in these events, and I found it difficult to keep track of everyone's roles. I'm sure this is at least in part by design, if not by the author than by the institutions themselves. I would have benefitted from an organizational chart in many cases. The fragmented telling of this story, while more digestible in its format (and perhaps an indication of the varied articles, segments, and posts that started it all), felt like a choice rather than a necessity. There were times I wished these pieces were brought together differently for a more cohesive work. In terms of the structure, there were times timeline was favoured over subject matter, though this was inconsistent. It was a story in 59 parts. Sorry, 5 parts, 59 chapters, and subdivided further from there. Digestible, mentally helpful, a bit unearned.

All in all, this is an important read. Farrow wasn't afraid to drive the point home in many passages in a way that felt like some small justice in itself during such reeling events. The spark of resistance brought some comfort. He called it like it was in a way that is reminiscent of Chanel Miller. Calling a spade a spade, calling people on their bullshit, staring the message between the lines in the eyes, and yelling it back at them. Engraving it on the record.

It feels good knowing there's someone like Ronan Farrow helping to bear the weight of this crushing patriarchy for us all.

Shoutout

McHugh. Best dad ever.

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

I didn’t expect to be as captivated by this book as I was. Farrow narrates this true story with incredible seriousness and attention to details. The first half of the book builds up Farrows reporting of the Weinstein story, kind of a slow burn about all the obstacles they face. The second half of the book is like an avalanche, everything comes together quickly and devastatingly sudden. It takes the breaking news items you vaguely remember from a few years ago and rebreaks them. You realize the depth and reach of power, and how law, media and politics are tools for power. It’s uncanny how the topic of abuse of power in media/Hollywood has developed since the publishing of this book (Farrows prediction) as more worms come out of the apple.

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