The Devil in the White City - RA Book Club Reviews

The Devil in the White City was a book where I felt like I was reading and walking through a documentary. The research that Erik Larson has conducted for this novel is impeccable and the reader gets such a real feeling of walking through 19th century Chicago, which was my favorite part of the book. The story of Holmes is a dark one, but Larson does a great job making it all realistic and not too fantastical. His choice to leave out nasty death scenes and include instead the clues that the detectives found allows the reader to experience Holmes character as others did. The Chicago fair is an amazing historical event, and Devil in the White City not only provides a thrilling story but a fun history lesson simultaneously. A must read for sure.

Anusha

------

Although starting slow, The Devil in the White City is a marvelous novel written with a flavor of dark, nightly thunderstorms mixed with murky waters. The story takes place around the mid to late 19th century, around the [untold] story of the World’s Fari in Chicago (or, the White City). The story continues about the construction of the fair, the immenseness of the situation, and the plans to make it all happen.

The real story follows the an alleged serial killer who uses different medias to stalk and kill his victims. Following the earlier story of this dubious physician and his trials and tribulations, the reader gets a sense of where the killer is coming from. Beginning with his many marriages, treatment of his business associates, and run from the DA, the serial killer handles his craft in an genius fashion. The story becomes even more morbid and depressing as we learn of the psyche, which is human nature.

Themasap (Timmy)

------

I've always been a fan of stylized, narrative nonfiction, yet many of the books I've found in this genre tell interesting stories and histories without truly providing the suspense that fiction often does. However, Erik Larson perfectly balanced suspenseful storytelling with informative passages in Devil in the White City. By creating an image of Chicago as its citizens approached the monumental task of building the 1893 World's Fair, Larson effectively built and sustained readers' anticipation. While the book could be dense and detail-heavy at times, the characters' race against time aided the pace of the book. The narrative is split between two men made famous by the World's Fair: Daniel Burnham, the architect who, against all odds, orchestrated the successful Fair, and Dr. H.H. Holmes, the sociopathic serial killer who used the chaos of the fair to cover up hundreds of murders. Whether you're interested in the the underdog who faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles or the charming man with a gruesome agenda, the descriptions of the fair's beauty or of the many accidents that occurred during its construction, Devil in the White City will have a story for you.

Camie 

------

Erik Larson is a great writer who was able to eloquently record the historical events surrounding the Chicago World’s Fair as he interlaced his own narrative. The book divides itself between following Daniel Burnham, the Fair’s architect, and H.H. Holmes, the serial killer. While Larson for the most part spared us the gruesome details of murder, his chilling descriptions of H.H. Holmes imprinted the horrors experienced by others at Holmes’ hands. I found it fascinating how Larson brought these two separate lives together to create a cohesive seamless narrative. The undeniable comparison of the two men, one fighting for the Fair to open and the other reaping the benefits of the influx in young women, both meticulously designing their grandest creation, keeps you wanting more until you have devoured the book. Burnham created a beautiful exposition filled with the unimaginable whereas Holmes created a house of unimaginable horrors. Even though they never interacted, Burnham and Holmes changed Chicago and the course of architecture (and murder). I would recommend this book to just about anyone. It is a great mixture of non-fiction, murder, mystery, and the depths of humanity. 

Zasha 

Scar Tissue

Well, there are always downers too…  I get the self-help type books, but the “open my soul, I’ve been a bad guy” with drugs, and drugs, and drugs… well, I finished it.  Scar Tissue is the autobiography of Anthony Kiedis, lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who chronicles his life from birth through his final decision to stay “clean,” though not sure if he still is as the book concludes in 2004.  Kiedis’s youth certainly was not a picture-perfect life of stability.  His parents broke up, and both of them had numerous relationships that were unhealthy, for his Mom it was the abusive husband number 2, and for Dad it was the series of young, I mean VERY young, bar dancers, hustlers, and other women looking for a good time.  His father was actually the first person to introduce him into the world of drugs.  If the drugs and the explicit use isn’t enough for your reading pleasure, Kiedis does expose his sex exploits throughout the book, from show to show, to woman to woman.  Everything is out in the open, even the spurned would-be loves, such as Sinead O’Connor.  The book also covers the road to fame for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the various band members who left the band, or should I say, asked to leave or died from an overdose.  Signing their first contact with EMI to almost signing with EPIC records, to then signing with Warner.  The producers, the roadies, the family members, and the jilted lovers all get play in the book.  It does end with Kiedis noting he would be drug free after 5 + years.  Hard to judge this book as I liked his honesty and some lessons learned (he does give significantly to charity – nice), but his story is not what you’d call motivating to our youth, let alone an old guy like me.  I would not hold him up as a hero, not saying he is looking for that, so, I’m saying skip, better stories out there to read.

A Hope in the Unseen

A great read, especially for first-generation students who come from humble beginnings, is Ron Suskind’s A Hope in the Unseen.  Suskind is a former writer for the Wall Street Journal and penned this true life story following the life of Cedric Jennings, a native Washingtonian raised in one of the roughest areas of DC, the Southeast.  Few children escaped the area to receive a college education, and even fewer with an Ivy League diploma.  Cedric did!  Cedric’s story was featured by the Washington Post for a piece regarding inner city youth and Suskind followed it up with the details of Cedric’s life, from elementary school through the travails that led him to Brown University.  Cedric had to survive the onslaught of murderous gangs, drugs, and poverty, but through it all, he relied on his mother and his own desire to “get out of his situation.”  Cedric was selected into a science program for gifted inner-city youth hosted at MIT during his junior year of high school and quickly learned that his dream of attending MIT was not to happen following his interactions with the Program Director, whom challenged his capacity to learn at a level like MIT!  (That’s right, keep teaching students who are disadvantaged to change their dream… UGH!!!, instead how about helping them learn what they need to do!)  Cedric makes it to Brown and then experiences not only the transition to college, but what it is like not to be in the high socio-economic stratosphere as his roommate and others he is centered around at Brown are.  This is a great story of triumph when a person sets their mind to success, and is given support from teachers and other role models to make it.  I require students in my first generation scholarship program, AnBryce, to read it as an entering first-generation student.  This helps them learn they are not alone, nor should they forget to ask for help!  A great read!