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novelvisits's review against another edition
3.0
The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: May 16, 2017
Length: 336 pages
Original Review: http://www.novelvisits.com/fact-body-alexandria-marzano-lesnevich-review/
Single Sentence Summary: The anti-death penalty convictions of a law student are put to the test when the first case she interns on stirs memories of abuse in her own past.
Primary Characters: The Fact of a Body is a nonfiction investigation of murderer Ricky Langley’s life and crimes. It’s also a memoir of the largely hidden abuse suffered by the author at the hands of her grandfather.
From the Publisher: Before Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, she thinks her position is clear. The child of two lawyers, she is staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley’s face flashes on the screen as she reviews old tapes―the moment she hears him speak of his crimes — she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by her reaction, she digs deeper and deeper into the case. Despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.
Review: The Fact of a Body is really two very distinct stories tied together by sexual abuse. The bulk of this book focuses on Rickey Langley, a convicted murderer whose crimes against children impelled Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich to thoroughly investigate. Like many on death row, Ricky’s life had been difficult from his very conception. As Marzano-Lesnevich digs deeper, she sees a side of Ricky worthy of compassion, but still his crimes are horrific. Tried and convicted three times for the murder of a young boy, Ricky’s accounts of his crime were ever changing making the truth impossible to find. After the basics of Ricky’s life and crimes were presented once, I grew weary of the retellings and re-workings. For me, there were too many angles and too many opinions. I lost interest in Ricky, and by the end felt no compassion at all for him. I also had a hard time understanding Marzano-Lesnevich’s near obsession with his case.
The memoir portion of The Fact of a Body I found much more compelling. Alexandra and her sisters were abused by their grandfather as young girls. When discovered, his crimes were stopped, but never truly acknowledged. This left Alexandra haunted and hurt in fundamental ways. How could a family of lawyers ignore such a crime? Why was her grandfather not exiled from the family? As an adult, why does her sister disavow his abuse? These questions and their answers come into focus as the author is investigating Ricky and the life that led to his own abusive action.
“But how you tell the story has everything to do with how you judge. Begin Ricky’s story with the murder – and it means one thing. Begin it with the crash – and it means another. Begin with what my grandfather did to me and my sister. Or, begin when he was a boy, and someone did it to him.”
I’m not a reader of crime fiction, which may account for why I came to dislike all the investigating into Ricky’s crimes. It seemed to be too much attention given to a pedophile/murderer. For me, Alexandra’s memories of abuse and her journey toward healing were the real stars of The Fact of a Body. Grade: B-
Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: May 16, 2017
Length: 336 pages
Original Review: http://www.novelvisits.com/fact-body-alexandria-marzano-lesnevich-review/
Single Sentence Summary: The anti-death penalty convictions of a law student are put to the test when the first case she interns on stirs memories of abuse in her own past.
Primary Characters: The Fact of a Body is a nonfiction investigation of murderer Ricky Langley’s life and crimes. It’s also a memoir of the largely hidden abuse suffered by the author at the hands of her grandfather.
From the Publisher: Before Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, she thinks her position is clear. The child of two lawyers, she is staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley’s face flashes on the screen as she reviews old tapes―the moment she hears him speak of his crimes — she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by her reaction, she digs deeper and deeper into the case. Despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.
Review: The Fact of a Body is really two very distinct stories tied together by sexual abuse. The bulk of this book focuses on Rickey Langley, a convicted murderer whose crimes against children impelled Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich to thoroughly investigate. Like many on death row, Ricky’s life had been difficult from his very conception. As Marzano-Lesnevich digs deeper, she sees a side of Ricky worthy of compassion, but still his crimes are horrific. Tried and convicted three times for the murder of a young boy, Ricky’s accounts of his crime were ever changing making the truth impossible to find. After the basics of Ricky’s life and crimes were presented once, I grew weary of the retellings and re-workings. For me, there were too many angles and too many opinions. I lost interest in Ricky, and by the end felt no compassion at all for him. I also had a hard time understanding Marzano-Lesnevich’s near obsession with his case.
The memoir portion of The Fact of a Body I found much more compelling. Alexandra and her sisters were abused by their grandfather as young girls. When discovered, his crimes were stopped, but never truly acknowledged. This left Alexandra haunted and hurt in fundamental ways. How could a family of lawyers ignore such a crime? Why was her grandfather not exiled from the family? As an adult, why does her sister disavow his abuse? These questions and their answers come into focus as the author is investigating Ricky and the life that led to his own abusive action.
“But how you tell the story has everything to do with how you judge. Begin Ricky’s story with the murder – and it means one thing. Begin it with the crash – and it means another. Begin with what my grandfather did to me and my sister. Or, begin when he was a boy, and someone did it to him.”
I’m not a reader of crime fiction, which may account for why I came to dislike all the investigating into Ricky’s crimes. It seemed to be too much attention given to a pedophile/murderer. For me, Alexandra’s memories of abuse and her journey toward healing were the real stars of The Fact of a Body. Grade: B-
Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.
qu33nofbookz's review against another edition
2.0
Half fiction, 1/4 true crime story, 1/4 authors open therapy to those who will listen. The author who has been messed up and haunted for pretty much most of her life from sexual abuse by her own grandfather and her family's willingness to cover it up and not talk about it/or punish the guilty party and their own problems of depression and alcohol abuse mixed in with what she perceives as a close parallel to a man serving life in prison. The man is Ricky Langley and he was convicted of molesting and murdering a 6 year old boy. He was sentenced to death then after a retrial and second convection now serves life in prison. She bounces back and forth from Ricky's past, from shortly before he was conceived, how he grew up and his early years compared with her own early years and abuse. Ricky was abused and neglected growing up very poor. The author came from a good and upper-middle class to rich family. Then she relates her struggles of dealing with what happened to her as the family ignores it and her battle with lime disease which her family thinks she is faking, mixed with Ricky's problems with his emerging pedophilia and jail stints and mental health troubles for it. Last she goes over the three trials Ricky had and how with becoming obsessed with this case and writing about it and her past can she let everything go and you will see how her life and his are so similar (she must be mental for thinking so) and that is the end of it all.
In between what she finds out about Ricky's case, his history and her own past her spins fiction about what she doesn't know and just assumes was going on given the facts of his trial, jail history and parents history this is what most likely happened. I'd take most of this book with a huge grain of salt.
In between what she finds out about Ricky's case, his history and her own past her spins fiction about what she doesn't know and just assumes was going on given the facts of his trial, jail history and parents history this is what most likely happened. I'd take most of this book with a huge grain of salt.
cubaitlubin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
5.0
Masterful weaving of personal narrative reflecting true crime, cycles of abuse, and how a story is sold in court and in society. Reflections on the morality of the death penalty and humanizing criminals while calling for accountability. Gorgeously told and reflective, not all black and white. This is up there with Know My Name among my favorite audiobooks.
aprilcote's review against another edition
3.0
This book was very difficult for me due to the dark subject matter dealing with child molestation and murder. As I always tend to do, I didn't read the jacket copy, so went into this as a true crime novel, but quickly realized that the driving force behind the narrative is the personal experience of the author. I am not a huge fan of memoir and the dark ruminations that ran throughout honestly left me feeling depressed while reading this book. It is well researched, and well written, but as far as my taste goes, it was a two and half star read for me.
11corvus11's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing. I have a lot of feelings and will update when ive processed them.
shadowsmoon's review against another edition
5.0
Blown away by this book on so many levels I probably can’t even begin to explain very coherently just yet. Just awesome research, writing, living and working the process. A bow down in utter awe.
chrisburton's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
clurr_burr's review against another edition
4.0
I loved it, very thought provoking about death penalty, human connections, female empowerment.
Tough read and it is a true crime- but other than a few parts, most of it can be very crucial to perception and how we all deal with a criminal.
Tough read and it is a true crime- but other than a few parts, most of it can be very crucial to perception and how we all deal with a criminal.
lindseyslittlelibrary's review against another edition
4.0
I LOVE a book that makes me think and this one will stick with me for a while. I kept having to remind myself that these events actually happened. There were parts that the book was a little slow for me but over it was a great read!