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1.5k reviews for:
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders
Curt Gentry, Vincent Bugliosi
4.05 AVERAGE
1.5k reviews for:
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders
Curt Gentry, Vincent Bugliosi
4.05 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
After a recent stretch of crime fiction novels, I thought I would branch out to this classic in the true crime genre. For me, this book was simply mediocre. Yes, the Manson Family murders were brutal; however, this book equates to reading a newspaper article that never seemed to end. Due to the dated nature of the content, I was disengaged by the lack of technology and skills surrounding the prosecution. Obviously this crime was captivating in its day, but with the sad reality of our society's continued moral regression, there are numerous heinous murders making headlines daily. In my opinion, school shootings are equivalent to the brutal murders portrayed in this book. I think my reading participation in the true crime genre has reached its conclusion!
Wow. I started reading this book in the summer of 2022. I am just now finishing it in December of 2o23. This book is a *lot* to take in.
Charles Manson has always piqued my interest due to his control and the guiding hand of others. I have been fascinated with his psyche and the kind of power he held. The fear he could instill in others and the uniquely fashioned belief system he lived by.
This book gives *every little detail* of this case. In my opinion, some of the court stuff could have been left out or cut down. There was a LOT of legal jargon or information about the system that the everyday reader either doesn't know about or, to be honest, doesn't care about. That could totally just be a personal complaint but I was so wrapped up in this book until I made it about halfway into the court information. At that point, I got bored and took a 4-month break from the book.
HOWEVER - this book was amazing. Im so grateful I read it (even if it took me a year and half). It was beyond information-packed.
Charles Manson has always piqued my interest due to his control and the guiding hand of others. I have been fascinated with his psyche and the kind of power he held. The fear he could instill in others and the uniquely fashioned belief system he lived by.
This book gives *every little detail* of this case. In my opinion, some of the court stuff could have been left out or cut down. There was a LOT of legal jargon or information about the system that the everyday reader either doesn't know about or, to be honest, doesn't care about. That could totally just be a personal complaint but I was so wrapped up in this book until I made it about halfway into the court information. At that point, I got bored and took a 4-month break from the book.
HOWEVER - this book was amazing. Im so grateful I read it (even if it took me a year and half). It was beyond information-packed.
4.5 stars. Well-written for the most part. Pretty self-serving and surprisingly throws a number of cops under the bus.
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
oh wow
dark
informative
tense
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
dark
informative
medium-paced
I'm a fan of true crime and thus used to a certain level of uncomfortableness in books and documentaries, and I have a pretty high tolerance for most things, but I was not prepared for this book.
I think it's because Vincent Bugliosi, who was the prosecutor who tried Manson and most of his followers, takes you through everything in unbelievable detail (a couple members of the Family had a separate trial for murders committed before the Tate-LaBianca crimes, and Bugliosi was only a witness in that trial). This is the thing that gives the book its power, but it's also kind of overwhelming, and I'm not entirely sure it was necessary. This book is 700 pages long! I guess it depends on what you think the purpose of the book was. If you are just looking for a good story, with a beginning, middle, and end, this will probably strike you as excessive and perhaps boring in parts (even despite the gory details and outlandish incidents). If, as I think Bugliosi would see it, you see this book as a thorough documentation of not only the murders themselves, but the entire investigation, trial, and fallout then the 700 pages is probably warranted. Bugliosi documented the shit out of everything.
Even fifty years later, the Manson murders and the Manson Family loom large in our cultural landscape (see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Girls, for two very recent examples). This book makes it very clear why that is. Also, about a quarter of the way through, the book goes from being an impersonal third person narrative to a first person account, and Bugliosi doesn't shy away from detailing his own feelings about the case, or encounters or conversations he had with the defendants or witnesses. That lends the narrative an extra oomph. This isn't a book written from the distance of history by someone tangentially involved, if involved at all. Bugliosi was just about as involved as you could be, shy of being at the murder scene itself.
This version, released in 2001, includes on top of the original epilogue a thirty-page retrospective Bugliosi wrote in 1994, and some footnotes from the perspective of 2001. I guess a third epilogue was too much for the guy, but I wouldn't have minded it.
Honestly, probably a must-read for fans of true crime, and worth reading for the cultural and historical relevance even if true crime normally isn't your thing.
Worth noting: This book was published in 1974, and it shows. Bugliosi makes casually sexist and racist comments on occasion (i.e. calling the Polanski's housekeeper "a black", and constantly mentioning whether any young-ish woman he mentions is attractive or not). Ultimately, this didn't detract from the experience of reading for me, but I did wonder why neither the 1994 or 2001 versions didn't edit the more egregious examples out.
I think it's because Vincent Bugliosi, who was the prosecutor who tried Manson and most of his followers, takes you through everything in unbelievable detail (a couple members of the Family had a separate trial for murders committed before the Tate-LaBianca crimes, and Bugliosi was only a witness in that trial). This is the thing that gives the book its power, but it's also kind of overwhelming, and I'm not entirely sure it was necessary. This book is 700 pages long! I guess it depends on what you think the purpose of the book was. If you are just looking for a good story, with a beginning, middle, and end, this will probably strike you as excessive and perhaps boring in parts (even despite the gory details and outlandish incidents). If, as I think Bugliosi would see it, you see this book as a thorough documentation of not only the murders themselves, but the entire investigation, trial, and fallout then the 700 pages is probably warranted. Bugliosi documented the shit out of everything.
Even fifty years later, the Manson murders and the Manson Family loom large in our cultural landscape (see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Girls, for two very recent examples). This book makes it very clear why that is. Also, about a quarter of the way through, the book goes from being an impersonal third person narrative to a first person account, and Bugliosi doesn't shy away from detailing his own feelings about the case, or encounters or conversations he had with the defendants or witnesses. That lends the narrative an extra oomph. This isn't a book written from the distance of history by someone tangentially involved, if involved at all. Bugliosi was just about as involved as you could be, shy of being at the murder scene itself.
This version, released in 2001, includes on top of the original epilogue a thirty-page retrospective Bugliosi wrote in 1994, and some footnotes from the perspective of 2001. I guess a third epilogue was too much for the guy, but I wouldn't have minded it.
Honestly, probably a must-read for fans of true crime, and worth reading for the cultural and historical relevance even if true crime normally isn't your thing.
Worth noting: This book was published in 1974, and it shows. Bugliosi makes casually sexist and racist comments on occasion (i.e. calling the Polanski's housekeeper "a black", and constantly mentioning whether any young-ish woman he mentions is attractive or not). Ultimately, this didn't detract from the experience of reading for me, but I did wonder why neither the 1994 or 2001 versions didn't edit the more egregious examples out.