Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Deliberate or Cruel

Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century by Roseanne Montillo

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I think Roseanne Montillo is on to something when considering why Truman Capote disdained Anne Woodward so much: their similar backgrounds. Neither was born of upper class New York stock. Neither would have gotten anywhere if not for dint of relationship (Truman’s mom landing a Wall Street guy, Woodward apparently being hot enough to bag a Brahmin). Like the song Creep, they don’t belong here. And both took different, yet stylistically similar paths to get where they were. This is an incredibly readable book that […]

Fashionable People Doing Unfashionable Things

Deliberate Cruelty, Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century by Roseanne Montillo

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Content Warning: This book deals with murder, as the title suggests. The book also addresses spousal abuse and suicide. This review mentions the murder but does not touch on the other topics. The novel opens with a bit of snarky back-and-forth between Truman Capote and the Millionaire’s Wife of the title (Ann Woodward), establishing that the two are not on friendly terms. She allegedly uses a slur about his lifestyle (Truman Capote was openly gay) to describe him, and he calls her “Mrs. Bang Bang” […]

Terrible True Crime Book That Focuses on Everything but the Subject of the Book

The Wilderness of Ruin: A Tale of Madness, Fire, and the Hunt for America's Youngest Serial Killer by Roseanne Montillo

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Not too much to say except I echo the other readers who complained about this book being about everything except Jesse Pomeroy. Montillo seems to want to show her research into everything but him and we focus on the history of Boston, the Boston Great Fire, Herman freaking Melville, and honestly I think left a big question mark about whether Pomeroy was the person who murdered Katie Curran. “The Wilderness of Ruin” is a true crime book focusing on the United States youngest serial killer, […]



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