![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: In Cold Blood
Author: Truman Capote
Narrator: Scott Brick
Published: Random House Audio, 2006 (1965)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 340
Total Page Count: 327,270
Text Number: 1151
Read Because: reading true crime, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: I'm coming in late to say that this thing widely considered to be a classic is pretty good, actually—but it's pretty good. It's interesting that while this is the first "modern" true crime, it doesn't feel like most true crime: simultaneous victim and perpetrator timelines are rare, of course sometimes by necessity, but even when guilt is established; and more's the pity, because it centralizes perpetrator psychology. But the trade-off for such a novel-like narrative is accuracy; and this feels so much like a novel, with a smooth and powerful voice and a strong atmosphere.
Title: The End of Policing
Author: Alex S. Vitale
Published: Verso, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 270
Total Page Count: 327,540
Text Number: 1152
Read Because: previously free from the publisher after the George Floyd murder
Review: This is an approachable introductory text, surprisingly quick to read despite the content. It expands on subjects I was already familiar with, illustrating their interconnected nature and effect to evidence a widespread and fundamental problem. But it doesn't offer substantial solutions or even answers to popular counterarguments, and so feels a little slim.
Title: Viscera
Author: Gabrielle Squailia
Published: Talos Press, 2016
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 305
Total Page Count: 327,845
Text Number: 1153
Read Because: recommended by literarymagpie, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: There's a lot to like here—city and society build on the bones of dead gods, profane and playful in tone, concerned deeply with queerness and with the gross strangeness of bodies. But the execution irks me. This sort of gritty worldbuilding is frequently accompanied by frantic humor, and I concur that something needs to balance the tone, but this solution doesn't work for me. The plot is a slowly-accumulating pseudo-heist that fizzles out, and so feels overly scripted but still lacks payoff. The best of the book, the parts which are inventive and gory and personal, are lost under these missteps.
Author: Truman Capote
Narrator: Scott Brick
Published: Random House Audio, 2006 (1965)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 340
Total Page Count: 327,270
Text Number: 1151
Read Because: reading true crime, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: I'm coming in late to say that this thing widely considered to be a classic is pretty good, actually—but it's pretty good. It's interesting that while this is the first "modern" true crime, it doesn't feel like most true crime: simultaneous victim and perpetrator timelines are rare, of course sometimes by necessity, but even when guilt is established; and more's the pity, because it centralizes perpetrator psychology. But the trade-off for such a novel-like narrative is accuracy; and this feels so much like a novel, with a smooth and powerful voice and a strong atmosphere.
Title: The End of Policing
Author: Alex S. Vitale
Published: Verso, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 270
Total Page Count: 327,540
Text Number: 1152
Read Because: previously free from the publisher after the George Floyd murder
Review: This is an approachable introductory text, surprisingly quick to read despite the content. It expands on subjects I was already familiar with, illustrating their interconnected nature and effect to evidence a widespread and fundamental problem. But it doesn't offer substantial solutions or even answers to popular counterarguments, and so feels a little slim.
Title: Viscera
Author: Gabrielle Squailia
Published: Talos Press, 2016
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 305
Total Page Count: 327,845
Text Number: 1153
Read Because: recommended by literarymagpie, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: There's a lot to like here—city and society build on the bones of dead gods, profane and playful in tone, concerned deeply with queerness and with the gross strangeness of bodies. But the execution irks me. This sort of gritty worldbuilding is frequently accompanied by frantic humor, and I concur that something needs to balance the tone, but this solution doesn't work for me. The plot is a slowly-accumulating pseudo-heist that fizzles out, and so feels overly scripted but still lacks payoff. The best of the book, the parts which are inventive and gory and personal, are lost under these missteps.
