ah, yes, still reading this one. usually, I read very quickly. I skim, what people call speed-reading, letting my brain fill in all the little details. that's what brains do--- fill in the gaps, even when you're not aware that you were ever missing information. [/tangent]
my most well-loved books and series, the ones I read over and over, are the ones that I'm actually *reading*--- for every time I read it, I've already saved part of the story in memory, so I am free to pick up on things that I hadn't noticed before. my favorite writers create works and worlds so complex that they can support multiple re-reads, with all the nuances and little jokes that only the talented can weave into a story in such a way that you always find something new and previously overlooked, even on the fourth or fifth read. [/tangent]
you can't skim The Murder of Helen Jewett. not in any kind of satisfying way. why not? for one thing, it's not fiction. it's historical nonfiction. continuing on that line of thought, it's a murder investigation (so the little details are important and shouldn't be inserted on whimsy by your subconscious), and furthermore, it's set in 1836 New York (a world so far removed from modern every-day experience that anything you take for granted about it is probably just plain wrong).
it reads like a documentary (a very well-done documentary, no grass-growing or paint-drying here), an expose, and of course a murder mystery all in one. kudos to the author for researching this information as immaculately as she has done, and presenting it as artfully and engagingly as she has done. she had quite the task and she has done it most commendably.
when I tell you that Helen Jewett was a prostitute who was killed by ax blows to the head... many things might come to mind. Prostitute probably makes one think of Pretty Woman or fishnet stockings and too much makeup etc etc. it is far less likely to make you think of Ninon de Lenclos, courtesans and salons, extravagantly decadent parlors, full formal dress theatre dates, independence from social constraints, and power play between women and men.
that changes things a bit. and as desensitized as we are these days, we might not pick up on the fact that premeditated murder was incredibly uncommon in those days (although death in general was not), with such cases numbering in the single digits for the entire year. add in the fact that the accused and the murdered had exchanged formal love letters and gifts and other affections for at least two years before hand, with his full knowledge of her station in life, and now you've got me wondering what brought about this brutal ending.
Patricia Cline Cohen (author) fleshes out the backgrounds of these people. what makes a girl a prostitute? how exactly did she fall from grace, so to say? what drives a man to murder? what about their families, their neighbors, their associates?
also very interesting to me, this is also the story of the beginnings of investigative reporting (as opposed to sitting at a desk and waiting for something printworthy to come your way), as well as, unavoidably, the tabloid press. how this movement changed not only how the public viewed such happenings (as the murder), but also how the public opinon began to affect criminal investigations and proceedings.
I'm on page 220 of this book filled with stories and people that I'd never wondered about before, but I'm enjoying hearing about them quite a bit. I never really cared all that much for the New York area either (apologies, but it's a bit far from home), and yet now I am aware of what exaclty makes it so interesting to some.
it's not a light read, as I mentioned. it's not a dark read (even with murder and all), but it's nothing you can skim through surrounded by distractions.
I'll give it a rating when I'm all the way done with it.
---
well I certainly had to spend more time with The Murder of Helen Jewett, for reasons already mentioned, and it was time well spent. I'll leave you with a couple of quotes and my rating of the book. I just finished it, and no I didn't really want it to end, but on the other hand, American Gods just came in the mail yesterday... and I really want to start that one!
so, meet the murder victim, alias Helen Jewett:
her own words, as she wrote them with ink-dipped quill on guilded stationary paper, from a letter to the accused:
"I love you Frank---ah! you know how I love you! but do you want to know how much I can hate you? Take care, I will show you."
meet the murder suspect, Richard P. Robinson, alias Frank Rivers:
his own words, again from a letter between them, though not in a direct reply to the above Jewett quote. no, in fact, this was rather common between them: an impassioned and bizarre relationship indeed:
"Nelly, Nelly, pause ere you go further; think of how we were once situated, and if you can convince yourself that you are acting a noble part in cutting my throat, go on, is all I have to say. My course will be short and sweet---no---bitter, bitter as well you know."
really I think maybe they both spent too much time attending the theatre; they certainly were accomplished in the dramatic! and ready to sting most anybody with sarcasm: "He has but two ideas in his head, and those two are not breeders." (Robinson, of a fellow apparently preferred over him by a certain girl.) "You are right; it is wrong in me to be hard upon so soft a subject---we never use diamonds to carve geese." (Jewett, to a man who said she was too hard on him, referring to how she refused his affection.)
I did slip earlier though; they hadn't known each other for over two years... one of the tabloidish pamphlets written about them in the years after the murder states they did, but it was not true. they began courting in the summer of 1835, and she was murdered in April of 1836, so they had known each other intimately for almost a year.
could we compare the life of a geisha to the life of Helen Jewett? could we discuss the amazingly lax and borderline-ridiculous legal proceedings? (I esp enjoyed the delicious quote on page 369, leading me to...) could we elaborate on power and priviledge as it pertains to class and gender? yes, and more, I'm sure. some other time perhaps ;)
a great read. I'll give it a 4. keep in mind however, it is not a book you can breeze through. you need time and proper attention for it. give it that, and if you have my interest in such things, then the book deserves a 4, I say. (if you read through the epilogue, Cohen presents an overview -summary -closing statement which is the short version of the book, I suppose, and a 4 as well.)
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