I finally picked up Missoula just as the #metoo revelations started to pick up steam. As someone who’s had a lifetime full of #metoo moments, I was both eager and hesitant to dive into this read about multiple rape accusations in the college town of Missoula, Montana (home of the University of Montana Grizzlies!), and the school, and/or police investigations, (or lack thereof) and trials, (or lack thereof) which resulted from those accusations. This is not a good choice for the faint-hearted, or anyone who has been […]
An ugly, ugly book
I’ll open this review by saying I have a very low tolerance for books or movies that feature torture. I just don’t want those images in my head. I don’t want to think about the fact that human beings do such depraved and terrible things to other human beings. I don’t want to think about the fact that people’s last hours have been filled with pain and horror initiated by the whims of another person. I don’t even want to think about how an author […]
To my great surprise and delight, the dog lives!
So spoiler alert, there’s an awesome dog in this book, and he doesn’t die! To me, that is very important information to have when reading a book. If it’s not important to you, then I really don’t want to know you 😁. A dog dying in a book really sours the whole experience for me. This book is about a serial killer and rapist who everyone thinks is dead. However, obviously he’s not. His last victim survived months and months of rape and torture. She […]
What I feel is relief. It wasn’t me.
Welp, I just picked up The Handmaid’s Tale this afternoon, and finished it in one sitting. Not because I couldn’t put it down, but because I absolutely refused to stop, let it percolate, and dare to wonder at what could be coming. Honestly, it’s too believable. I knew that it would be; you can’t avoid talk of the story these days. But it’s strikingly real, and for that reason, downright horrifying. I never caught myself picking apart the believability, or the potential. This is dystopian fiction […]
A thriller with a very dark theme
This review/book requires a trigger warning: Graphic depictions of sexual assault, rape, domestic violence and stalking This…is a tough book to recommend to anyone. And yes, you’ll see the high star rating I gave it and wonder how that jives, but my reluctance is purely over the subject matter and not the writing or characters or plot development. The novel follows Catherine Bailey, a British woman who we see alternately in her late twenties and then a few years later (depending on the chapter). […]
Believe women.
There was no way this was going to be an easy read; listening to it on audiobook was downright chilling. I’ve gotta hand it to Krakauer for treating this topic and these women with the consideration and respect they deserve. This book is meticulously researched, and Krakauer’s forthright prose style works tremendously well when examining the testimony and transcripts that make up the evidence in the presented cases. Krakauer himself must needs very little editorializing to get the point across, because the documents speak for […]