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juushikaTitle: The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
Author: Kate Summerscale
Narrator: Simon Vance
Published: Highbridge Company, 2008
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 370
Total Page Count: 323,365
Text Number: 1137
Read Because: reviewed bytruepenny, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Viewing a murder case through a pop culture lens provides an unexpectedly robust historical context: the rise of the detective in both fact and fiction also becomes exploration of evolving criminology, class and gender, and the private and public relationship with murder. It's a clever framework, and leaning into crime novel trappings makes for a smooth read despite the narrative distance and profusion of info dumping (particularly in the conclusion) which are endemic to true crime.
The audiobook is narrated by Simon Vance, who could read anything* to me and it would be comforting, even if it were child-murder and child-murderers and the broken emotional landscape of British upper class.
* Except that surprise!sex scene in the last book of Temeraire series, which was incredible and unwelcome tonal whiplash.
Title: The Future of Another Timeline
Author: Annalee Newitz
Published: Tor Books, 2019
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 350
Total Page Count: 323,715
Text Number: 1138
Read Because: fan of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: The Daughters of Harriet (Tubman) engage in a time-traveling edit war over reproductive issues. "The darkest timeline" is a perpetual early-21st-century mood, and looking into that void can be clarifying and cathartic, but this "even darker timeline" doesn't have that effect. It's strongly issue-driven in a way that sounds a bit like a Twitter tread, intersectional but limited, buzzwordy and echo-chambery, and it steamrolls characterization: everyone is on-issue, all the time, with little room for organic complexity. The elements that inspire the book all are interesting (the punk aesthetic of feminist movements throughout history doesn't personally appeal, but the inexplicable time machines are unique and applied Great Man vs Collective Action theory is a smart idea), but, like the flaws in characterization, there isn't enough space between the issues for the inspirations to gel into a coherent whole. I so loved Autonomous! I wish I'd liked this, too, but I found it readable but unsatisfying.
Title: Blood & Ivy: The 1849 Murder That Scandalized Harvard
Author: Paul Collins
Narrator: Kevin Kenerly
Published: Blackstone Audio, 2018
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 370
Total Page Count: 324,340
Text Number: 1141
Read Because: reading all the true crime while playing Animal Crossing, as one does; audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: It feels circumspect to call a murder case "boring" because it implies that a death (or, as this was a capital case: two deaths) must be interesting to have weight—which is untrue. And there's meaningful sociocultural elements to this case, particularly of class but also of the law, of reasonable doubt and the death penalty. But the narrative is slavishly chronological and focuses on droll historical niceties and courtroom drama at the cost of a psychological approach, shunting even a confession to the epilogue. The murder is unremarkable in motive and, without a psychological approach, even in act; social criticism and historical relevance comes too little and late. (The audio narrator is also underwhelming.*) It's not awful, but it's the first true crime to leave little impression on me.
* This isn't the reason why, as Simon Vance does it too in The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, but there's something bizarre about character voices in true crime audiobooks. As soon as the voice falters, the conceit comes to feel ... affected, mocking, stylized, disrespectful. In fiction, this flaw reads as silly or caricatured; I suppose it's applying those descriptors to "srs nonfiction about murdertime" which feels particularly bad.
Author: Kate Summerscale
Narrator: Simon Vance
Published: Highbridge Company, 2008
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 370
Total Page Count: 323,365
Text Number: 1137
Read Because: reviewed by
truepenny, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: Viewing a murder case through a pop culture lens provides an unexpectedly robust historical context: the rise of the detective in both fact and fiction also becomes exploration of evolving criminology, class and gender, and the private and public relationship with murder. It's a clever framework, and leaning into crime novel trappings makes for a smooth read despite the narrative distance and profusion of info dumping (particularly in the conclusion) which are endemic to true crime.
The audiobook is narrated by Simon Vance, who could read anything* to me and it would be comforting, even if it were child-murder and child-murderers and the broken emotional landscape of British upper class.
* Except that surprise!sex scene in the last book of Temeraire series, which was incredible and unwelcome tonal whiplash.
Title: The Future of Another Timeline
Author: Annalee Newitz
Published: Tor Books, 2019
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 350
Total Page Count: 323,715
Text Number: 1138
Read Because: fan of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: The Daughters of Harriet (Tubman) engage in a time-traveling edit war over reproductive issues. "The darkest timeline" is a perpetual early-21st-century mood, and looking into that void can be clarifying and cathartic, but this "even darker timeline" doesn't have that effect. It's strongly issue-driven in a way that sounds a bit like a Twitter tread, intersectional but limited, buzzwordy and echo-chambery, and it steamrolls characterization: everyone is on-issue, all the time, with little room for organic complexity. The elements that inspire the book all are interesting (the punk aesthetic of feminist movements throughout history doesn't personally appeal, but the inexplicable time machines are unique and applied Great Man vs Collective Action theory is a smart idea), but, like the flaws in characterization, there isn't enough space between the issues for the inspirations to gel into a coherent whole. I so loved Autonomous! I wish I'd liked this, too, but I found it readable but unsatisfying.
Title: Blood & Ivy: The 1849 Murder That Scandalized Harvard
Author: Paul Collins
Narrator: Kevin Kenerly
Published: Blackstone Audio, 2018
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 370
Total Page Count: 324,340
Text Number: 1141
Read Because: reading all the true crime while playing Animal Crossing, as one does; audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: It feels circumspect to call a murder case "boring" because it implies that a death (or, as this was a capital case: two deaths) must be interesting to have weight—which is untrue. And there's meaningful sociocultural elements to this case, particularly of class but also of the law, of reasonable doubt and the death penalty. But the narrative is slavishly chronological and focuses on droll historical niceties and courtroom drama at the cost of a psychological approach, shunting even a confession to the epilogue. The murder is unremarkable in motive and, without a psychological approach, even in act; social criticism and historical relevance comes too little and late. (The audio narrator is also underwhelming.*) It's not awful, but it's the first true crime to leave little impression on me.
* This isn't the reason why, as Simon Vance does it too in The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, but there's something bizarre about character voices in true crime audiobooks. As soon as the voice falters, the conceit comes to feel ... affected, mocking, stylized, disrespectful. In fiction, this flaw reads as silly or caricatured; I suppose it's applying those descriptors to "srs nonfiction about murdertime" which feels particularly bad.
