The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was like 2 or 3 stories put into one. I don't think the title was very descriptive. A better title would've been "Chicago's White City: The World's Fair that was Almost a Disaster, and the Men Who Made a Miracle Happen. . . Oh Yeah and There was a Psycho who Killed People Right Around the Same Time who Lived Right Next Door."
Yes, I like my title better.
I did like the talk about the world's fair. It's amazing that back in 1891 they would tell Chicago that they could have a world's fair and that it should be up and ready to go in 26 months. It's like the Olympics!! they needed years to plan and build. The story of how these men came together and fought through red tape to make it happen is crazy. The story of the Ferris Wheel is mind-boggling. Just trying to imagine how big it really was that each car could hold 100 people and there were 36 cars each! And how they fired it up the first time bolts and screw were popping off and falling down to the ground. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!? It's awesome
The parts about the "Devil" are heartbreaking. How was it possible that women could just disappear? I mean, he was like the CENTER POINT for all these women leaving, the last to see them alive, and yet he could convince their fathers, brothers, wives, etc that the women had just traveled away and would come back. Talk about less effective police work!
I gave this book 4 stars because it kept me interested. Even though it felt like there were 3 stories meshed into 1, each one of the stories was interesting, captivating and could've stood on it's own.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Book Review: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Posted by Ali at 1:37 PM
Labels: Book Review
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6 comments:
I agree with your star rating. I really thought both stories were interesting but would have liked to have a little more info on both. I can see why they author would like to keep the stories together with the time line but I wanted more of the murder story. Does that make me a bad person?
NO!! Because I am the same! Every time it got back to the story of the mass murderer I was like "ohh, good!! Back to the good part!"
I'm so sick and twisted that way.
This has been on my to-read list for awhile, so I'll have to look into it.
I'm reading your Young Women and the Sea recommendation and it is fabulous so far! What a well-told story (that's TRUE!) So many interesting vignettes! I let my mom borrow this while she was here for a couple days last week (she has me trained to pick out some reading material for her vacation; I guess she trusts me, 'cause I wouldn't do that), and since she's a swimmer, she was IN LOVE with it. She's picking up a copy in her library to finish it (which is rare -- usually she just asks me how it ends!)
I felt the same way. It got better when they talked about the murder stuff, that sounds so bad. But it took me awhile to read it bc some parts could be so boring, even though it was interesting.
Sheesh! Between you and Beth, I give up trying to keep up. I'm working on the Young Woman and the Sea, too, and from page ONE it captured me.
I'll have to add this one to my TO DO list. Great recommendations, Alicia!
BTW, the deleted comment was ME--I had a typo that had to be fixed. There, doesn't that satisfy the curiosity!?
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