Much like the wheel, the boat, and the telephone, the axe is a transformative piece of technology—one that has been with us since prehistory. (I did not know we had telephones in prehistory, but hey-you learn something new everyday.) And to this day, even if its everyday use has been supplanted by newer technology, the axe is used as a murder weapon. From the first axe over a half a million years ago, to Lizzie Borden, to So I Married An Axe Murderer, Rachel McCarthy James traces the long history of people taking sharp pieces of metal attached to sticks and dispatching people with them.
This was an enjoyable book to read, even if it was more of a surface-level informational source rather than a deep dive. Did teach me some things I never knew (like Erik the Red having other famous children, or that Egyptian royalty were sometimes buried with axes as status symbols). Will take off points for slapdash editing at times, though that is more a mark against the editor/publishing company than the author.
Also, I have to question James’s taste that she believes that Stanley Kubrick (and Jack Nicholson) understood The Shining better than Stephen King; a (in my opinion) egotistical director and a hack actor understand a story better than its creator? I suppose it’s agree to disagree.
The book seemed to want to have it both ways in regards to theories about the Borden murders; she has that it could be possible that Lizzie committed the murders, but then again there’s no way she could have. Someone else could have committed the murders, but then again the timing wouldn’t have made sense. Lizzie could have gotten around getting blood on her dress by committing the crimes while naked (as shown in Kirsten Stewart’s Lizzie), but why would she do that? In my opinion, James seems to be backing herself into the corner of saying it’s either ghosts or the oddest murder/suicide that ever existed.
I did not know there were really that many different types of axes over the centuries. Also mentions/alludes to Nat Turner and an axe, and then goes into exactly no additional details. That, in fact, sums up the entire book: everything felt like it could benefit by her going into more detail. Did not know (and am truly disgusted and disturbed by) that back in the 1940’s and ’50’s the biggest reaction to child molestation was “”just ignore it and it will go away. Besides, it’s better for the children that way, they might be called filthy little liars if not.” Always knew Frank Lloyd Wright was scum; this book just goes into further detail how.
It was a highly enjoyable, well-researched book, albeit a cursory one. If you want something that might spark your interest in either axes or axe murders, I’d pick it up. But if you’re looking for an intensively detailed deep dive, go elsewhere. Because this is a skimming on the surface type of read. But I, for one, enjoyed being that pebble on the lake.
