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A review by rbruehlman
Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls by Kathleen Hale
3.0
Some people watch guilty trash TV; this was my reading version thereof.
If you're curious about the details around the Slenderman case, this book will do the trick well enough; it explores the prodromal phases of Morgan's schizophrenia, the tumultuous childhood of Anissa, their complicated friendship with Bella, and the ensuing aftermath. The book openly acknowledges that many people involved in the case (Bella, Anissa, teachers, police, etc.) refused to speak with the author, so much of the book centers on Morgan, whose family was the only one open to interviewing.
However, that's not really the book's failing; it's that the book feels like a play-by-play of events, with little analysis or meaningful prose. The writing isn't bad, per se, but it feels somewhat impoverished and overly simplistic. Storytelling is a bit jerky and at times disjointed, especially early in the book. The author clearly wanted to get certain points across, but often lacked smooth transitions, making certain parts of the book feel like long, disconnected bullet points, just without the bullets. The book doesn't explore childhood schizophrenia or shared delusional disorder especially, despite both diagnoses impacting Morgan and Anissa significantly. It's literally just a straight retelling of events--you won't learn much of anything about the underlying disorders, the history of Slenderman himself, the criminal system, or things like that. There is a lot more this book could have explored, but didn't.
If you're curious about the details around the Slenderman case, this book will do the trick well enough; it explores the prodromal phases of Morgan's schizophrenia, the tumultuous childhood of Anissa, their complicated friendship with Bella, and the ensuing aftermath. The book openly acknowledges that many people involved in the case (Bella, Anissa, teachers, police, etc.) refused to speak with the author, so much of the book centers on Morgan, whose family was the only one open to interviewing.
However, that's not really the book's failing; it's that the book feels like a play-by-play of events, with little analysis or meaningful prose. The writing isn't bad, per se, but it feels somewhat impoverished and overly simplistic. Storytelling is a bit jerky and at times disjointed, especially early in the book. The author clearly wanted to get certain points across, but often lacked smooth transitions, making certain parts of the book feel like long, disconnected bullet points, just without the bullets. The book doesn't explore childhood schizophrenia or shared delusional disorder especially, despite both diagnoses impacting Morgan and Anissa significantly. It's literally just a straight retelling of events--you won't learn much of anything about the underlying disorders, the history of Slenderman himself, the criminal system, or things like that. There is a lot more this book could have explored, but didn't.