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Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'
Hell's Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, a Serial Killer Family on the American Frontier by Susan Jonusas
1 review
jhbandcats's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
4.5
I had never heard of the Bender family before encountering this book. I suppose I should have focused on their being brutal murderers but instead I kept noticing how filthy they were. This has nothing to do with the murders - it was just their way of life - but it made an impression on me.
I was equally appalled at the crowds of gawkers who showed up to get mementos of the crimes. Everything within the cabin and stable was stolen by excited murder-tourists. Some even dismantled the cabin to take home bits of wood. Others jumped in the graves to see if the people recovering bodies had forgotten anything.
In addition to the information on the murders, the book gives an in-depth look at prairie life in the second half of the 19th C. The location of the nascent railroad could literally put a town on the map. The desolate areas in between towns had few spots offering food or lodging. In an area known for its outlaws, a glimmer of a lantern was welcome, and travelers were tired enough and trusting enough that they let down their guard.
I appreciate learning about this period and this area of the country. The author is mostly straightforward in telling the story of these people and this time. There’s slight literary license - fog in an alley - *was* there fog in an alley? Had the author looked at the weather reports for that area on that day? But there’s so much other solid research that I’m quibbling.
I’m looking forward to the author writing more.
I was equally appalled at the crowds of gawkers who showed up to get mementos of the crimes. Everything within the cabin and stable was stolen by excited murder-tourists. Some even dismantled the cabin to take home bits of wood. Others jumped in the graves to see if the people recovering bodies had forgotten anything.
In addition to the information on the murders, the book gives an in-depth look at prairie life in the second half of the 19th C. The location of the nascent railroad could literally put a town on the map. The desolate areas in between towns had few spots offering food or lodging. In an area known for its outlaws, a glimmer of a lantern was welcome, and travelers were tired enough and trusting enough that they let down their guard.
I appreciate learning about this period and this area of the country. The author is mostly straightforward in telling the story of these people and this time. There’s slight literary license - fog in an alley - *was* there fog in an alley? Had the author looked at the weather reports for that area on that day? But there’s so much other solid research that I’m quibbling.
I’m looking forward to the author writing more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Violence
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