Really interesting selection of extracts from Oscar Wilde’s letters with extra biographical details about his life, works and the people he knew incluReally interesting selection of extracts from Oscar Wilde’s letters with extra biographical details about his life, works and the people he knew including other artists and authors, also great selection of illustrations and pictures to go with it. This is good for getting a general overview of Wilde’s life and works. ...more
I have read quite a lot of true crime and this is not good for various reasons. It is ok if you are looking for a compendium of various serial killersI have read quite a lot of true crime and this is not good for various reasons. It is ok if you are looking for a compendium of various serial killers in the UK and USA, however there is not much of interest besides this. The author is a psychologist but does not go into any real depth about what may cause someone to become a serial killer, their compulsion to kill or how they compartmentalise their actions to be able to present as ordinary people. This book is really just descriptions of murderers and the terrible things they did so is not really adding anything to this genre. There is not much discussion of the victims either so the result is a kind of sensationalising of murderers which is not great.
The way this is written and the language is also a major issue, the book is supposed to be about how serial killers can hide in plain sight and come across a normal, but they are continuously described as monsters or depraved etc. I don’t think it should be necessary to constantly tell the reader that serial killing is bad in this way and it is also lazy to write people off as just evil or inhuman rather than try to explain the behaviour and how humans can do these things. Also it is telling that the female serial killers are not described in this way and in the case of Wurnos are described as victims and their words taken at face value when all the male serial killers are manipulative liars, this makes no sense. There is also lots of conjecture and arm chair diagnosing people with psychopathy when true psychopaths are rare. Some of the people described in this book had genuine serious mental health issues diagnosed by professionals at the time and are still called monsters and this is not good, it should be stated that people with mental illness are more likely to be a danger to themselves than to others and there are major differences between someone who has delusions and kills due to this and people who kill due to psychological issues or behavioural issues.
I think this would have been better told thematically and then serial killers could have been compared and it would have cut out the repetition, I don’t think anything could save the terrible writing though....more
There is a plot in here somewhere, but good luck finding it among all of the exposition. This is a apocalyptic sci-fi mix following a group of humans There is a plot in here somewhere, but good luck finding it among all of the exposition. This is a apocalyptic sci-fi mix following a group of humans who have had to relocate to Antarctica following an alien invasion because they were ordered to go there and anyone who did not make it in time was killed by the aliens. The main focus of the book is 20 years post exodus to Antarctica where the humans who have survived are experimenting with making new types of ‘people� through eugenics who can survive in the ice.
This book has so many issues, the general concept is good, the writing is ok, dialogue is not and characterisation is virtually non existent. You have to suspend so much disbelief for this I was unable to do it. The author expects the reader to believe that humans have managed to create almost magical beings with telepathy and all these adaptations like armour skin in just 20 years and that they brought enough things with them to Antarctica to do this. They have built huge cities with basically no raw materials, everyone likes each other now and there’s no war etc. I did not feel anything for the characters, there is insta love and cringey dialogue. The aliens are not seen or heard from so we have no clue why they invaded, why they made humans move to Antarctica. Also so much is skipped over like how they managed to survive and build all these things in the first place and also towards the end any of the interesting battle stuff is just skipped over.
The only thing this book has lots of is exposition, so much back stories even 380 pages in a new character is introduced with several pages of back story. Whenever something historical is mentioned there is a Wikipedia style section of explanation which is annoying and not always accurate. This is dull to read and takes the reader out of the story. ...more
I have loved Emily Austin’s books ever since I bought Everyone in this room will someday be dead on the title alone and it is one of my favourite bookI have loved Emily Austin’s books ever since I bought Everyone in this room will someday be dead on the title alone and it is one of my favourite books, interesting Facts about Space is also great and so is this one. Austin is so perceptive and has a great way of writing about challenging themes like death, suicide, depression and anxiety and doing it in a humorous way which does not detract from the seriousness of the topic and she creates characters that are believable, realistic and relatable.
This book is told in the first part through suicide notes that Sigrid is trying to write, there are 21 attempts where we find out different things about her life and upbringing and that she lies a lot. This part was brilliantly done as by the end I had no idea what was going on and what was true, this is cleared up in the end section.
I would highly recommend not just this book but everything Emily Austin has written, I loved her imagery in this book and the way she gets into the minds of people and really communicates the feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness and how hard life can be. ...more
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