For a book about multiple grisly murders and the Chicago World's Fair it was surprisingly sterile. I liked it but didn't love it. I don't have any deep thoughts about it. It seemed like Larson was trying to establish a strong correlation between Burnham and Holmes to add narrative interest, and that didn't work for me, stylistically. It was okay.
Now I'm reading "Bringing Up Bebe," a book about French parenting written by an American. I got it because I think that American children are in large ways being failed by their parents who are a curious combination of milquetoast control freaks, and this book claims to have solutions for that. But already she's losing me, because she opened the first chapter in first person present tense (e.g. "when my daughter is eighteen monts old, my husband and I decide"), which, unless done well, is one of my most hated authorial conceits. Strike one.
Your opinion of this book mirrored mine, although my feelings were a little more extreme. I thought this was an exceedingly boring and tedious book. The subject matter didn't engage me, and his treatment of it felt strange. Serial killer books turn me off in general, but at least the story should be alarming. His treatment of the subject left me feeling mildly repulsed but indifferent.
ReplyDeleteI do not have children of my own, so I guess I should have no opinions about parenting. However, I will tell you that I was quite taken by a comment made by someone who lives in Vermont. While sitting next a family in a restaurant, the parents quietly and effectively disciplined their children for misbehavior in a restaurant. She said it was obvious that they were French Canadian, not American, since they did not ignore the behavior or negotiate for it to stop. I'm not telling this well, but it was quite striking and telling in the way she described it. Is this your experience of the book?
Still painting here, but will get reading soon, I hope! I am really enjoying your reviews.
Yes, that is my experience of the book. French parents the way she described them did a much better job of stopping bad behavior quietly and effectively. One of the questions I want to ask up in my review of the book is if American parents feel conflicted about wielding authority, and if that affects their parenting.
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