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A review by pocketclown
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
4.0
Maybe I didn’t catch it or read the blurb properly but I didn’t realise that this was based on Ted Bundy and I’m really glad I didn’t realise until about 20% of the way through. I really liked going through the book, knowing the reference and using my own knowledge, to experience an approach that is uncommon when it comes to serial killers. I loved the victim focused approach to the narrative, I loved that everything wasn’t wrapped necessarily about the defendant and the grisly details. I wanted to know about these women and their lives away from murder. I really enjoyed how Knoll covered what it meant to be a woman in a tragedy, she touched on familiar feelings, experiences and thought processes: the incessant need to be polite, the hyper awareness of how you’re are being construed as uptight or weak (etc, etc…) in the minds of men.
When the story did cover the defendant, he was not construed as some cold, calculated killer. It really opened my eyes to how much credit we gave Ted Bundy, how much meaning we ascribed to his bumbling actions. I suppose it’s a tougher pill to swallow for the investigators that they were bested by an idiot on several occasions.
With the media aspect of the book, I liked how some characters served to highlight how ridiculous and disgusting these true crime cash grabs can be, how exploitative and hurtful and dangerous they can be. I did wish there was a scene where Pamela rips into true crime podcasts because those armchair detectives regurgitating skimmed Wikipedia entries really piss me off. maybe I’m just projecting my desire to take down true crime podcasts.
Overall, I really really enjoyed this book, I liked how it made me think about how victims of tragedy are treated, women in particular, and I’m really interested in reading another book by Jessica Knoll in the future!
When the story did cover the defendant, he was not construed as some cold, calculated killer. It really opened my eyes to how much credit we gave Ted Bundy, how much meaning we ascribed to his bumbling actions. I suppose it’s a tougher pill to swallow for the investigators that they were bested by an idiot on several occasions.
With the media aspect of the book, I liked how some characters served to highlight how ridiculous and disgusting these true crime cash grabs can be, how exploitative and hurtful and dangerous they can be. I did wish there was a scene where Pamela rips into true crime podcasts because those armchair detectives regurgitating skimmed Wikipedia entries really piss me off. maybe I’m just projecting my desire to take down true crime podcasts.
Overall, I really really enjoyed this book, I liked how it made me think about how victims of tragedy are treated, women in particular, and I’m really interested in reading another book by Jessica Knoll in the future!