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antrapp1026 's review for:
The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer
by Kate Summerscale
This book explores a fascinating case of matricide by a 13-year-old boy in Victorian London. It features surprisingly compassionate attitudes among late-19th-century asylum workers, retrograde attitudes among lawyers and judges, and doesn’t provide any easy answers regarding why some children enact horrible crimes.
However, so much of the writing is so incredibly dry and bland as to make a lot of the narrative read like an extended court transcript. I can imagine that when an author approaches telling a true story, there is a concern not to leap to conclusions or inject opinions, but I do think there’s some room for a bit more artistry and personality to be present in the prose.
This is only my second-ever delving into true-crime literature, and I’m still waiting to be truly swept away by my reading experience in this genre.
However, so much of the writing is so incredibly dry and bland as to make a lot of the narrative read like an extended court transcript. I can imagine that when an author approaches telling a true story, there is a concern not to leap to conclusions or inject opinions, but I do think there’s some room for a bit more artistry and personality to be present in the prose.
This is only my second-ever delving into true-crime literature, and I’m still waiting to be truly swept away by my reading experience in this genre.