Scan barcode
gilroi's reviews
534 reviews
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.25
Recently, I watched American Graffiti with a friend. Afterward, both us found the film dissatisfying for a number of reasons. Discussing it, my friend pointed out that it had been released not long after the date it takes place in-universe; the action happens in 1962, and the film was released in 1973. Ten years feels like a very short period of time to hang a nostalgia picture on. What changed so much between the early 60s and the early 70s?
I posited: not much in reality, but the intervening decade required white people to reckon with the idea that America was not pure, and politics were inherent to every action one takes. Of course, this lesson is hard to stick with; isn't it easier to pretend there was a mythical time when the world was innocent, and nothing was political? To misquote a peddler of this misery: A softer, gentler time.
If you want to read a book that will tell you what really happened in the Manson murders, or the secret truth of the Manson trial, this book will not help you. Tom O'Neill refuses to twist facts to suit theories, and this is to his credit. His research is in-depth, he doesn't make definitive connections where he lacks the evidence, and he doesn't make knowing assertations to the very notable coincidences and connections he uncovers, either. O'Neill does his best to humbly and without bias report what his findings uncover, and he mostly succeeds where matters of humility and bias are concerned. He succeeds completely in his in-depth research of anything and everything related to the Manson Family before and after the murders, regardless of where his research takes him.
There is a nonzero chance that the Warren Commission, the Manson trial, and MK Ultra, have some limbs in common in a centipede of government corruption happily swept up and hidden by the US Government. There is a nonzero chance Manson was some kind of government informant, and this was actively covered up during the trial. There is a nonzero chance Manson was not actually some kind of master puppeteer, and really just drugged his followers to the gills to get their compliance and manufacture their consent. There is a nonzero chance that Charles Manson was actually a competent musician and / or lyricist. There is a nonzero chance Vincent Bugliosi is a lying sack of shit.
But can the book prove these things definitively? Tom O'Neill wisely admits that no, he can't prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. He shows us his research-- his incredibly in-depth and informative research-- and ultimately lets us decide. (Well, he can and does prove that Vincent Bugliosi is a lying sack of shit, but those are my words, not his.)
So what does this book definitively prove? It proves that America before 1970 was not a world of innocence and dreams. Things were neither softer nor gentler. The CIA was a deeply corrupt organization that seems to have spent half its time covering up its own villainy; the FBI was just as bad; police forces were happy to help them when they weren't busy falling over their own shoelaces in displays of staggering incompetence. People in power knew they were in power, and would do whatever they liked to hide that fact.
This book will teach you about the horrifying abuses of the 60s, and how they interlocked because government was an atrocious boy's club that would not have blinked an eye at the murder, rape and abuse Manson trucked in, if he'd only been a government employee.
I posited: not much in reality, but the intervening decade required white people to reckon with the idea that America was not pure, and politics were inherent to every action one takes. Of course, this lesson is hard to stick with; isn't it easier to pretend there was a mythical time when the world was innocent, and nothing was political? To misquote a peddler of this misery: A softer, gentler time.
If you want to read a book that will tell you what really happened in the Manson murders, or the secret truth of the Manson trial, this book will not help you. Tom O'Neill refuses to twist facts to suit theories, and this is to his credit. His research is in-depth, he doesn't make definitive connections where he lacks the evidence, and he doesn't make knowing assertations to the very notable coincidences and connections he uncovers, either. O'Neill does his best to humbly and without bias report what his findings uncover, and he mostly succeeds where matters of humility and bias are concerned. He succeeds completely in his in-depth research of anything and everything related to the Manson Family before and after the murders, regardless of where his research takes him.
There is a nonzero chance that the Warren Commission, the Manson trial, and MK Ultra, have some limbs in common in a centipede of government corruption happily swept up and hidden by the US Government. There is a nonzero chance Manson was some kind of government informant, and this was actively covered up during the trial. There is a nonzero chance Manson was not actually some kind of master puppeteer, and really just drugged his followers to the gills to get their compliance and manufacture their consent. There is a nonzero chance that Charles Manson was actually a competent musician and / or lyricist. There is a nonzero chance Vincent Bugliosi is a lying sack of shit.
But can the book prove these things definitively? Tom O'Neill wisely admits that no, he can't prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. He shows us his research-- his incredibly in-depth and informative research-- and ultimately lets us decide. (Well, he can and does prove that Vincent Bugliosi is a lying sack of shit, but those are my words, not his.)
So what does this book definitively prove? It proves that America before 1970 was not a world of innocence and dreams. Things were neither softer nor gentler. The CIA was a deeply corrupt organization that seems to have spent half its time covering up its own villainy; the FBI was just as bad; police forces were happy to help them when they weren't busy falling over their own shoelaces in displays of staggering incompetence. People in power knew they were in power, and would do whatever they liked to hide that fact.
This book will teach you about the horrifying abuses of the 60s, and how they interlocked because government was an atrocious boy's club that would not have blinked an eye at the murder, rape and abuse Manson trucked in, if he'd only been a government employee.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
This book had the bad manners to take a hard turn into Christianity while an edible kicking in, which was an experience I'm not sure I'm coming back from.
Leech by Hiron Ennes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I feel strange for not having more to say about this book, other than it's genuinely some of the best speculative fiction / fantasy / scifi / horror (pick one) I've read in years. It's a smooth, sleek little novel that knows exactly what it's doing and does it. While it's not perfect, I can't think of any flaw great enough to bring up in this review.
I think what I appreciate most about this novel is how much it trusts its readers, how confident it is with what it's trying to do. The twists aren't mindfucks, all reveals are telegraphed well in advance. Every change seems earned, all the dread is meaningful, and in the last sliver of the novel it goes from genre to literary, elegantly straddling both qualifiers to say something interesting, detailed, new, and worthwhile about identity, colonialism, gender, and medicine.
I cannot recommend it enough if you like a story bright with darkness, full of intention, inventive prose, lush worldbuilding, and smart narration.
I think what I appreciate most about this novel is how much it trusts its readers, how confident it is with what it's trying to do. The twists aren't mindfucks, all reveals are telegraphed well in advance. Every change seems earned, all the dread is meaningful, and in the last sliver of the novel it goes from genre to literary, elegantly straddling both qualifiers to say something interesting, detailed, new, and worthwhile about identity, colonialism, gender, and medicine.
I cannot recommend it enough if you like a story bright with darkness, full of intention, inventive prose, lush worldbuilding, and smart narration.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Colonisation
Minor: Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, and War
The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I don't go for most media about slavery, for the same reason I don't touch the Holocaust. When I was little, as one of the only Jewish children in my elementary and middle school, atrocity was shoved down my throat. I was expected to be okay with it. It was my history, after all. When I watched narratives about slavery (inevitably written and directed by white people), I saw the same lurid fascination with martyrdom and pain that I saw in Holocaust movies, in Holocaust books. Atrocity was entertainment for people, and I didn't want to see its implications: that to be as good and worthy as WASPs, people had to come from a legacy of torture. The torture needed to be replayed endlessly. See the bad go down again.
This book dispenses with those themes quickly and easily. People are not 'good' for their suffering. There is horror, and that is never shied away from. But its depiction is not the point. What cruelty does to someone, how it twists them inside, that's far more important. Cora is not a smiling martyr, she does not exist to make us all feel better about the present moment. She has her moments of selfishness, of unsmiling wrath, of twisted bitterness and uncharitableness. And who could blame her? Certainly not me.
This book asks: Who built America? We know who stole it, but who built it? Who put their labor into it? We know who stole the labor, but <i>who made America</i>?
People like Cora, who were never perfect, who never had any responsibility to serve as a model, whose existence is not to educate. She-- and by extension, this book-- is not here to make anyone feel better about themselves. And for that, the book made me feel, just slightly, at peace with history. Pain is not a model, so we should not rely on it to teach.
Finally among other free blacks, Cora learns to enjoy living, to fight against fear. Pain taught her nothing. Cora's kindness is not for the benefit of white people, so they can be forgiven by the dead. Her kindness is hard-won, something she fought for, something she had to make room for within herself. Her kindness for herself.
This book dispenses with those themes quickly and easily. People are not 'good' for their suffering. There is horror, and that is never shied away from. But its depiction is not the point. What cruelty does to someone, how it twists them inside, that's far more important. Cora is not a smiling martyr, she does not exist to make us all feel better about the present moment. She has her moments of selfishness, of unsmiling wrath, of twisted bitterness and uncharitableness. And who could blame her? Certainly not me.
This book asks: Who built America? We know who stole it, but who built it? Who put their labor into it? We know who stole the labor, but <i>who made America</i>?
People like Cora, who were never perfect, who never had any responsibility to serve as a model, whose existence is not to educate. She-- and by extension, this book-- is not here to make anyone feel better about themselves. And for that, the book made me feel, just slightly, at peace with history. Pain is not a model, so we should not rely on it to teach.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Gallows Thief: A Novel by Bernard Cornwell
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
It's a Bernard Cornwell novel (narrated by Jonathan Keeble, which automatically makes it one of Cornwell's best novels) and knows exactly what it wants to do, and it does it. Yet it's not really boilerplate Cornwell-- it's notable as a Cornwell novel because it speaks to his skill as a writer, at knowing exactly what his goals are and accomplishing them.
Notably, this is a murder mystery with political themes and a keen interest in sports. There are some action scenes, but no battle scenes, which (as I've said in previous reviews of Cornwell's novels) are some of his strongest and most able writing. No one writes huge battles like Bernard Cornwell. Comparitively, this novel is borderline Austen-- but not really. The romance is actually mostly offscreen, another unusual choice for Cornwell, who loves to make his leading heroes writhe and pine (or lust) over the women they desire. The political animus of the novel is surprising as well; it goes out of its way to be about the evils of capital punishment, and how government-sanctioned death is abhorrent.
And it all totally, completely works, because Bernard Cornwell knows exactly what his strengths are, and he plays on them without hesitation. The historical research is lovely and vibrant, the characters are interesting and their interactions are fun and frequently funny. The main character is an ex-soldier with financial problems and a temper, something that's not altogether unheard of for Cornwell or fiction in general, but the way that he fights against his worse nature creates fascinating tension. I'll read a book about a man fighting against his own internal toxic masculinity any day.
If you like Cornwell, you'll like this book. If you like murder mysteries, you'll like this book. If you'd like a less marriage-and-tea-parties focus on the Regency Era, you'll like this book. If you like cricket, you'll like this book. And if you hate the death penalty, you'll like this book. I couldn't recommend it to everyone, but if you want a nice, lush bit of historical fiction that is relatively light (though very much not a comfort read, it's not cozy by any stretch of the imagination), this is an excellent choice.
Notably, this is a murder mystery with political themes and a keen interest in sports. There are some action scenes, but no battle scenes, which (as I've said in previous reviews of Cornwell's novels) are some of his strongest and most able writing. No one writes huge battles like Bernard Cornwell. Comparitively, this novel is borderline Austen-- but not really. The romance is actually mostly offscreen, another unusual choice for Cornwell, who loves to make his leading heroes writhe and pine (or lust) over the women they desire. The political animus of the novel is surprising as well; it goes out of its way to be about the evils of capital punishment, and how government-sanctioned death is abhorrent.
And it all totally, completely works, because Bernard Cornwell knows exactly what his strengths are, and he plays on them without hesitation. The historical research is lovely and vibrant, the characters are interesting and their interactions are fun and frequently funny. The main character is an ex-soldier with financial problems and a temper, something that's not altogether unheard of for Cornwell or fiction in general, but the way that he fights against his worse nature creates fascinating tension. I'll read a book about a man fighting against his own internal toxic masculinity any day.
If you like Cornwell, you'll like this book. If you like murder mysteries, you'll like this book. If you'd like a less marriage-and-tea-parties focus on the Regency Era, you'll like this book. If you like cricket, you'll like this book. And if you hate the death penalty, you'll like this book. I couldn't recommend it to everyone, but if you want a nice, lush bit of historical fiction that is relatively light (though very much not a comfort read, it's not cozy by any stretch of the imagination), this is an excellent choice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, and Excrement
Moderate: Ableism, Sexism, Kidnapping, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Torture and War
Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
While this novel is searingly raw, absolutely none of it is undercooked. A testament to the work, considering how many incredible risks the writing takes, not just with form, but with content. This is a very specific book, about a very specific time, and a very specific experience. I don't know how people will understand this book if they're unfamiliar with how the internet treats trans people-- the TERF 'movement', mumsnet and #IStandWithMaya and trans widows and 4chan Nazis and sissy hypno. All of these things are real. All of these things are not parody. The book is about these things. Which is to say, fascism.
This book is a slap in the face from someone who loves you. Maybe you can forgive the violence. Maybe you can't. That's your choice. It might be the only choice you have.
This book is a slap in the face from someone who loves you. Maybe you can forgive the violence. Maybe you can't. That's your choice. It might be the only choice you have.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Excrement, Islamophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Gaslighting