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A review by alliemikennareads
The Devil in the White City (Abridged): Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
The Devil in the White City was 10 hours of audio at 1.5 speed. I previously read it in physical format years ago and I must say I liked the audio format much better.
Bullet point review:
- I forgot how much the book discusses architecture; this got tedious at times.
- I loved the rich detail about the Chicago worlds fair and the way the book splices the fair, its history, and HH Holmes’ evil deeds together.
- I still found it a great form of true crime/ nonfiction that reads like fiction.
TW for some really graphic descriptions of a slaughterhouse, gas chambers, suicide, murder of women and children and dead body discovery.
If you can get past the graphic parts and like historical fiction, I’d definitely recommend this one!
Bullet point review:
- I forgot how much the book discusses architecture; this got tedious at times.
- I loved the rich detail about the Chicago worlds fair and the way the book splices the fair, its history, and HH Holmes’ evil deeds together.
- I still found it a great form of true crime/ nonfiction that reads like fiction.
TW for some really graphic descriptions of a slaughterhouse, gas chambers, suicide, murder of women and children and dead body discovery.
If you can get past the graphic parts and like historical fiction, I’d definitely recommend this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Child death, Child abuse, Body horror, Confinement, Death, and Medical trauma