The Devil in White City by Erik Larson

MURDER, MAGIC, AND MADNESS AT THE FAIR THAT CHANGED AMERICA.

devil white city The Devil in White City by Erik Larson

This is the first non fiction book that I’m reviewing here on Book Review Babes.  The Devil in White City is an engrossing story that reads like a novel.  Indeed, the facts within are extraordinary, and with such a tale, it is difficult to believe how infrequently this story has been told over the years.  There are actually two narratives in this book.  One explores the fantastic Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, and the other is the story of America’s first serial killer, but both stories are entwined in incredible ways.

Daniel Burnham was the architect responsible for organizing the World’s Fair.  His is a tale of political intrigue, determination, and the realization of a dream. Burnham crosses paths with some very notable characters, including Thomas Edison, Annie Oakley, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Buffalo Bill, just to name a few.  But along the way he also faces corruption, deceit, and tragedy.

This Fair highlighted the best and worst of a budding American landscape entering a modern age.  It showed how teamwork and common purpose could come together against all odds to accomplish a feat of near perfection.  Something of this magnitude is a testament to the mentality of that age, I think.  I wonder if we could pull something like this off today with the same result.  However, even such a noble undertaking can have its dark side, and the World’s Fair of 1893 had a decidedly dark underbelly.

Many people saw the Fair as a sort of American Mecca… a place where they’d be able to seize their destiny and start anew.  This naive idealism is what caused young women to flee from their rural homesteads and farms to Chicago, in hopes of finding a job, and eventually a sophisticated and well to do husband.  Of course, these women generally lacked the survival skills to navigate life in the big city, and often found themselves lost and disoriented.

This set of circumstances sets the stage for our other tale, that of  Dr. H. H. Holmes, who preyed on these vulnerable young women.  He pretended to be very wealthy, highly educated, and quite sophisticated.  He was also extremely forward with his sexual advances.  He would meet women and promise them everything…marriage, children, stability…. understandably he was able to charm countless unsuspecting women.  Keep in mind, the concept of a serial killer was foreign to America at the time.  It wasn’t part of the psyche.

Holmes carried out his killings in awful fashion.  He put Jack the Ripper to shame.  He would gas, rape, torture, mutilate, burn, dismember, and dissect his victims.  He even bought an entire building where he carried out these awful deeds, and no one suspected him.  Even though the evidence was right there, he continued to get away with his wicked deeds.  These are the parts of the book where you want to scream at the cops that Holmes befriends…you want to shout at his creditors to investigate…you want to shake some sense into the unsuspecting women and tell them he isn’t what he seems.  It is a difficult story, made more visceral in the fact that it is all true.

Larson is a grand story teller.  There isn’t a lot of dialogue to rely on, as the book is told in narrative fashion, and Larson really did his homework.  But, he manages to captivate you with his incredible descriptions that make everything seem urgent and real.  One of my favorite literary devices is the metaphor, and Larson is a master.  With phrases like, “the heat rose with the intensity of a child’s fever” and “sentences wandered through the report like morning glory through the picket of a fence”,  I was instantly swept up in the sights and sounds of the place and time, which enhanced not only the beauty, but also the horror.

I loved the way The Devil in White City alternated between the two plots.  Juxtaposing Burnham’s feats of the impossible and magical against Holmes’ diabolical deeds at the same place and time was brilliant, leaving conflicting feelings of wishing to have been present to witness “Eighth Wonder of the World”, and thankful to have been spared the temptation to partake in such an event.  Avoiding Holmes’ advances may have been more difficult in reality than in the imagination of the reader.

If I had to name a flaw with the book, it would have to be the almost mind numbing detail presented.  It seems that nearly every nail and board and hammer is accounted for in Larson’s research, and some of these details became a bit overwhelming.  But don’t let that deter you.

The Devil in White City is a book that is full of the rapture of a magical time in history, and the terror of a twisted mind set free in a playground of innocence.

Natalina

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Galilee – A Novel of the Fantastic by Clive Barker

galilee clive barker

Clive Barker is known for his twisted horror and suspenseful thrillers.  I’ve always loved his writing, and a few of his works are among my favorites.  I don’t know why I waited so long to read Galilee, but I’m glad I finally did, as it is now not only my favorite novel by Barker, but it has become one of my favorite novels, period.

Galilee is pure Southern Gothic…an epic tale spanning centuries.  No, spanning millenia.  It is a story of warring families, destined lovers, and tragic fate.  A bit of a departure for Barker, but his signature wit and propensity for the bizarre are very much alive in this book.

The families at war are the Geary family and the Barbarossas.  The Gearys are an extremely wealthy and powerful clan (think the Kennedys) and the Barbarossas are an ancient family with ties that go back to Thomas Jefferson, and as you soon find out, much further back than that.

The novel begins simply enough, describing the Barbarossa house and grounds, a bit of its Jeffersonian history…and then quickly drops a bombshell on the reader about the nature of the family.  The supernatural and surreal quickly take hold, without losing the human drama of the characters.  Many reviewers reveal this family secret, but I will not.  It is far more enjoyable to discover for yourself as you read.  The entire book is written from the point of view of Maddox, whose bird’s eye view and uniquely acquired perspective is a tale unto itself.

At the heart of the story is the novel’s namesake Galilee and the object of his desire is Rachel Geary.  Theirs is a star crossed romance that would make Shakespeare proud.  Galilee is the son of Barbarossa family matriarch Cessaria. Rachel is married to the heir to the Geary dynasty, Mitchell.   The two meet under unusual circumstances, and immediately commence a steamy romance that might make you blush.  Yes, Barker brings some seriously erotic heat to this novel, but it never crosses the line to vulgarity.

Of course, given the centuries old feud between their two families, they suffer for their love.  And the very love that brings them together threatens to bring on the ultimate battle that may end up destroying both of their houses.

The whimsical and fantastical details of this story must be read to truly appreciate.  Strange beasts, gods and goddesses, ghosts, zombies, demons, angels, sex, money, power, betrayal, and burning passion are all major characters in Galilee.  I’ve intentionally avoided giving away too much of the story.  It is so good that I wouldn’t want to rob anyone of the bliss and sorrow within the pages.

If you are a fan of horror, epic dramas, mystery, romance… Galilee will appeal to you.  It is an exploration of immorality and honor, and how both of these things tend to intermingle. Ultimately, Galilee is a dark dark fantasy.  I can’t praise it enough.  Read it.

xoxo

Natalina

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Stiff – The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

stiff cover Stiff The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Have you ever wondered what happens to bodies that are donated to science? The lovely Mary Roach, who is not a scientist but takes a scientific approach to her books, has written a wonderfully informative, hilariously funny and at times utterly gross-out book. The subtitle of the book is “The curious life of human cadavers” and it really is a very curious book and one of the best things I’ve ever read on the subject of death, something which I readily admit to being fascinated with; from the forensic point of view, from a curiosity point of view, from the point of view of science and the unknown. Morbid I admit but how many of you out there watch shows like CSI or read books by people like Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs? Death is fascinating. Really.

In Ms Roach’s own words “For 2,000 years, cadavers – some willingly, some unwittingly – have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings”. Stiff is an interesting and often incredibly funny look at the lives our bodies can take on after death.

If it wasn’t for the research and sometimes very strange experiments of these donors we wouldn’t have many of the things we take for granted every day. From surgeons practicing procedures to save lives or even giving you a facelift, airbags in cars, learning about ballistics and human decay helping to snare perpetrators of crime, you can thank a dead donor.

This book is not for the faint hearted as it goes into incredible and sometimes disgusting detail but somehow the author manages to convey all of these details with laugh out loud, very irreverent humour. Don’t get me wrong, she in no way belittles or makes fun of the dead, quite the opposite in fact. You get an amazing insight and gain a great deal of respect for those who have given the ultimate gift of their bodies to forward the science of living.

Think about surgery. From life-saving transplants to gender-reassignments to facial reconstruction and amputations, none of these would be possible if it wasn’t for the dead. Some surgeries can, of course, be practiced on living people under the close instruction of teachers but others would never have been possible if these procedures weren’t first completed on cadavers.

With wars raging around the world, cadavers have helped surgeons come up with techniques that can save limbs and lives. Every time you drive a car with an airbag you can say a little prayer of thanks to the human crash-test dummies that are helping you to be as safe as possible. Yes of course they use dummies in testing but every so often a real body needs to be used as no matter how life-like they make them, no dummy can actually realistically show what can happen to real flesh and bone. It sounds awful but think about how many lives are saved from this one experiment alone.

Cadaver donors are cut up, shot up, blown up, stitched together and taken apart all in the name of science and making the world a better place. Of course that hasn’t always been the case, this book also covers everything from the grotesque experiments of a weirdly Frankenstein nature – and I mean that in the truest sense – people trying to reanimate corpses, body-snatching, trying to measure the weight of a human soul, plastination and even composting!

Although you can easily sit back and read about the body-snatching and surgical practices of bygone eras it can be very confronting to read about a head on a tray about to get a nose job, so be prepared. It’s gore galore but extremely interesting and surprisingly entertaining. There’s also a bit about becoming a human dumpling but I won’t spoil the surprise.

The book was written because of Mary Roach’s own desire to donate her body after death so she decided to throw herself into the research and write about it. My reasons for becoming a donor aren’t very good at all. My reasons boil down to a Harvard Brain Bank donor wallet card, which enables me to say “I’m going to Harvard” and not be lying. You do not need brains to go to the Harvard Brain Bank, only a brain.

I know that many will think the subject matter is very distasteful and disrespectful, I totally understand that. Death is not something we as humans take lightly. Many will feel that the only respectful way to deal with death is by burial or cremation. After all, we are all going to die some day and most people don’t want to think about their own, or a loved one’s, body being used and abused but I’m a firm believer in “you can’t take it with you when you’re gone” so I have a great respect for those who give the greatest gift of all, their bodies – either as an organ donor or a body donor – all are are helping the living by this unselfish act.

Whether this book makes you decide to become a cadaver donor or turns you completely off the idea, Stiff is a wonderful, funny, gruesome and honest account of what may become of your body after you leave it. It’s a ripping read and completely convinced me that I wanted in. I applied to the University of Sydney to become a brain donor. The donor brains are used to study, and hopefully find a cure for, diseases like Alzheimer’s. It’s not like I’ll need my brain after I’m dead, I get by without using it much at all while I’m alive!

And if you are wondering what happens to your soul after you die Mary Roach has also written a book covering this called Spook which I’ll be reviewing very soon.

PS: You may get all sorts of guys chatting you up when they see you reading a book called Stiff on the train. strange but true ;)

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