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Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'
The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg
2 reviews
henrygravesprince's review against another edition
This author has officially made it onto my permanent “never read again” list, for not only handling the true crime genre in an incredibly unethical way, but also for being a self-admitted animal abuser and for often speaking about Appalachia in a pretentious, voyeuristic manner. All three of these things bloat the book and take attention away from the murder at its center and the injustices that followed it. Overall, I’m going to echo a lot of other negative reviews and say this is far more memoir than true crime, to its detriment.
True crime authors, take this book as a lesson I didn’t know people needed to learn: when writing a book about a very real tragedy that had nothing to do with you, don’t make the book more about yourself than the people actually involved in the case. And, while you’re at it, don’t randomly recount stories of yourself abusing vulnerable animals in the middle of your book. What a disappointment, and how utterly disrespectful to the victims, to the wrongly accused, and to the people of Pocahontas county, who the author seems to think of herself as a savior of.
Also, the amount of times in which she says the N word in this book—completely uncensored in the audiobook as well—feels irresponsible for a white author to do; she could have talked about the word being used without using it herself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Sexual violence
Moderate: Racial slurs, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Classism and Sexual harassment
dunningsk's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
A mixed bag, but I don’t regret reading it. I found the author’s prose very strong and liked her writing style in general. That said, I had a few fundamental problems with the book. They were interesting choices on the part of the author, and I respect what she was trying to do, but it didn’t work for me.
Cons:
A little self-indulgent. I’m glad I went into this book knowing that the author spent quite a bit of time talking about herself. I didn’t read a word of those chapters and my reading experience was all the better for it. It rubs me the wrong way, a little, that this crime is practically in known with very little information about it online, and the author took so much time to talk about herself.
She gives away the whole thing at the beginning. I’m a little more neutral on this. I think it would have been a better reading experience if I didn’t know up front that Beard was released from prison and someone else confessed. Note that I didn’t say “that Beard was innocent” because the author is a little wobbly on this. . But, not every true crime book has to be an “edge of your seat” thriller. This was a slow burn.
Finally, I truly truly truly don’t understand what she was doing with the name of the book. Even at the very start, she says something like “Whenever I think of this case, I think of her.” Really? Cause you barely write about her. You could probably fill 5-10 pages with everything about her. It’s a catchy title IMO but it just doesn’t make sense in any other way.
All of that being said- I enjoyed reading the chapters focused on how the crime, investigation, and trial played out. She could have taken the issue of wrongful imprisonment a little further but honestly the way she did interweave things like “Thinking, Fast and Slow” was very well done. I think she’s a very strong writer and would absolutely read something else by her, especially if it were a little less memoir-y.
Cons:
A little self-indulgent. I’m glad I went into this book knowing that the author spent quite a bit of time talking about herself. I didn’t read a word of those chapters and my reading experience was all the better for it. It rubs me the wrong way, a little, that this crime is practically in known with very little information about it online, and the author took so much time to talk about herself.
She gives away the whole thing at the beginning. I’m a little more neutral on this. I think it would have been a better reading experience if
Finally, I truly truly truly don’t understand what she was doing with the name of the book. Even at the very start, she says something like “Whenever I think of this case, I think of her.” Really? Cause you barely write about her. You could probably fill 5-10 pages with everything about her. It’s a catchy title IMO but it just doesn’t make sense in any other way.
All of that being said- I enjoyed reading the chapters focused on how the crime, investigation, and trial played out. She could have taken the issue of wrongful imprisonment a little further but honestly the way she did interweave things like “Thinking, Fast and Slow” was very well done. I think she’s a very strong writer and would absolutely read something else by her, especially if it were a little less memoir-y.
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
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