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juushikaIn order: great; interesting; flaming trash fire that made me realize, oh, this is why true crime has a reputation! Like, I've read plenty of questionable true crime, I had a misadvised My Favorite Murder binge, but now I get it, I really do.
Anyway, also in order: painting the breakfast nook that bright, lovely orange; gardening for sure, and maybe other things I've forgotten (the landing, maybe?); finishing up the breakfast nook.
Title: A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Survival, Learning, and Coming of Age in Prison
Author: Reginald Dwayne Betts
Narrator: Sean Crisden
Published: Tantor Audio, 2018 (2009)
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 240
Total Page Count: 406,760
Text Number: 1529
Read Because: reviewed by chthonic-cassandra; audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review:The memoir of a black man who at 16 was tried as an adult and sentenced to 9 years for carjacking, this is a lucid and insightful examination of the criminal system, less about guilt and more about punishment, about the essential values of retributive justice, about the racial demographics of prisons and the way incarceration cycles inmates back through the system, about attempting to serve time despite those odds. These are things I already understood in broad strokes, but I benefitted from internalizing them via memoir, not as statistics (although Betts's experiences are statistically unremarkable) but as a person. Betts's voice, with his background in poetry, is fluid and compelling.
Title: The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir
Author: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
Narrator: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2017
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 340
Total Page Count: 407,100
Text Number: 1530
Read Because: more true crime while painting; audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An interesting example of the true-crime-as-memoir genre: a would-be death penalty litigation worker finds herself reexamining her own experiences with child abuse after encountering the case of pedophile on death row. I appreciate the transparency: in the true crime/memoir relationship; in the act of narrativization and how the legal system, memoir, biography, and true crime all interpret and construct events. It speaks back to the slew of other true crime memoirs I've read, interrogating their structure while pushing it to its extremes. It also speaks to the genre's worst tendencies of being circular, self-centered, disconnected, or, ironically!, too neat.
Title: Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez
Author: Philip Carlo
Narrator: Tom Zingarelli
Published: Tantor Audio, 2016 (1996)
Rating: 1.5 of 5
Page Count: 530
Total Page Count: 407,630
Text Number: 1531
Read Because: more true crime while painting; audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: 1.5 stars. My sincere apologies to any true crime whose writing style I've spoken ill of in the past (although they did deserve it), because this has altered my parameters for pulp in the genre. A thorough recounting of Richard Ramirez, a serial killer who conducted a crime spree in 1984-1985 California, but written in the least reliable way possible. The chronicle of the crimes is unforgivably pulpy and, because of the book's structure, many details stand unsourced (where are these dying words coming from??). The trial coverage is exhaustive, which is fine with me, and Carlo is fascinated by Rameriz's female fans, which I agree is compelling (and I'd be interested to read about serial killer groupies in depth, especially given current handwringing re: female fans of true crime). But! This is 100% "heavy metal and BDSM makes you a serial killer; now let's rubberneck some murders and Satanism and the fantasies (and bodies!) of serial killer groupies," with nary an ounce of self-awareness. Hypocritical, exploitative, sleazy, pulpy, sort of embarrassing to read despite its interesting subject, thoroughness, and that it seems to be broadly accurate.
Anyway, also in order: painting the breakfast nook that bright, lovely orange; gardening for sure, and maybe other things I've forgotten (the landing, maybe?); finishing up the breakfast nook.
Title: A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Survival, Learning, and Coming of Age in Prison
Author: Reginald Dwayne Betts
Narrator: Sean Crisden
Published: Tantor Audio, 2018 (2009)
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 240
Total Page Count: 406,760
Text Number: 1529
Read Because: reviewed by chthonic-cassandra; audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review:The memoir of a black man who at 16 was tried as an adult and sentenced to 9 years for carjacking, this is a lucid and insightful examination of the criminal system, less about guilt and more about punishment, about the essential values of retributive justice, about the racial demographics of prisons and the way incarceration cycles inmates back through the system, about attempting to serve time despite those odds. These are things I already understood in broad strokes, but I benefitted from internalizing them via memoir, not as statistics (although Betts's experiences are statistically unremarkable) but as a person. Betts's voice, with his background in poetry, is fluid and compelling.
Title: The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir
Author: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
Narrator: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2017
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 340
Total Page Count: 407,100
Text Number: 1530
Read Because: more true crime while painting; audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An interesting example of the true-crime-as-memoir genre: a would-be death penalty litigation worker finds herself reexamining her own experiences with child abuse after encountering the case of pedophile on death row. I appreciate the transparency: in the true crime/memoir relationship; in the act of narrativization and how the legal system, memoir, biography, and true crime all interpret and construct events. It speaks back to the slew of other true crime memoirs I've read, interrogating their structure while pushing it to its extremes. It also speaks to the genre's worst tendencies of being circular, self-centered, disconnected, or, ironically!, too neat.
Title: Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez
Author: Philip Carlo
Narrator: Tom Zingarelli
Published: Tantor Audio, 2016 (1996)
Rating: 1.5 of 5
Page Count: 530
Total Page Count: 407,630
Text Number: 1531
Read Because: more true crime while painting; audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: 1.5 stars. My sincere apologies to any true crime whose writing style I've spoken ill of in the past (although they did deserve it), because this has altered my parameters for pulp in the genre. A thorough recounting of Richard Ramirez, a serial killer who conducted a crime spree in 1984-1985 California, but written in the least reliable way possible. The chronicle of the crimes is unforgivably pulpy and, because of the book's structure, many details stand unsourced (where are these dying words coming from??). The trial coverage is exhaustive, which is fine with me, and Carlo is fascinated by Rameriz's female fans, which I agree is compelling (and I'd be interested to read about serial killer groupies in depth, especially given current handwringing re: female fans of true crime). But! This is 100% "heavy metal and BDSM makes you a serial killer; now let's rubberneck some murders and Satanism and the fantasies (and bodies!) of serial killer groupies," with nary an ounce of self-awareness. Hypocritical, exploitative, sleazy, pulpy, sort of embarrassing to read despite its interesting subject, thoroughness, and that it seems to be broadly accurate.
