Welcome to a new week! This week is a bit lighter in the number-of-newly-released-books category, but fear not, the Boswellians are still reading away and writing up their thoughts on the latest and greatest books. So let's get to reading -
First, from Chris: "Slenderman is a perfect example of true crime writing at its best – throughout a detailed account of Waukesha’s Slenderman stabbing and years of legal fallout, Hale searches for the places where the legal system fails us and where we, as people, fail each other. What is justice, really, and how can it be better served? The facts of the case are not in dispute, though widely misreported. Case in point: the single crime’s only victim survived, yet the incident is still often known as the ‘Slenderman murders.’ And key elements were all but ignored by a tough-on-crime judge hellbent on trying the girls as adults according to an outdated, illogical Wisconsin law enacted out fear of the superpredator myth. The facts are: two 12-year-old girls, one suffering from severe early-onset schizophrenia and one with pathological attachment issues, misunderstood online YA horror fiction as reality and then plotted and attempted to murder their classmate. A native Wisconsinite with a sensitive and fact-oriented eye, Hale cuts through the slogans attached to the case (Internet Evil! Adult Crime, Adult Time!) to understand the ties between mental illness, Midwestern stoicism, violence, and reactionary impulses. It’s a horrible incident, yes, but Hale well makes the case for the necessity of talking honestly about hard things to shine some light into the dark."
And now, from Parker: "The Waukesha Slenderman stabbing, often mistakenly referred to as the ‘Slenderman Murders’, left many shocked and morbidly intrigued. Because the true facts of the case were blurred, fumbled, and outright ignored, the idea of two 12-year-old girls committing such a violent crime all in the name of an internet boogeyman is confusing and downright disconcerting. But that was never the full story. Kathleen Hale's telling of the tale is extremely comprehensive, well researched, and compellingly written. Told with facts and not sensationalism in mind, Slenderman is the best true crime book I've read in years. I was glued to the pages as Hale pulled back the layers of this complicated story, exploring the ways in which a young girl's ignored mental health crisis, backward judicial and mental health services systems, and Midwestern attitudes came together to create a truly tragic scenario. It's a hard story in which no one wins, but you'll have to decide for yourself if justice was served. Thankfully, Hale is willing to have that conversation. I haven't stopped thinking about this case or the three girls since I closed the book, leaving me to wonder, what does justice look like, and how we as a society can do better?"
We continue on with Parker, who has two recommendations this week. Their next pick?
The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead. Parker says: "Shay Evans is tormented by her past, one in which she and her best friend, Laurel, escaped from a dangerous man. But Shay has built a life all these years later, one she is almost content with, and one that will all crumble before her with one piece of news. Laurel is dead. Her favorite true crime podcast breaks the news, and Shay finds herself thrust back into a world she feared she'd never be able to outrun. Was Laurel's death truly a suicide as the police claim or the proof that a dangerous man and his colleagues are back and more powerful than ever? To find out, Shay must team up with the host of the podcast that sent her spiraling and slip into a world of cults, abuse, and twisted ideology that will push her to her breaking point. Last year's
In My Dreams I Hold A Knife was the juiciest and most exciting thriller I'd read in years, and now Ashley Winstead is back with the darkest and most heart-wrenching thriller I've read yet.
The Last Housewife pulls no punches so be warned that it's a tough read that will leave you breathless, but it is worth every moment. I inhaled this book in a matter of hours, frantically turning the pages as Shay found herself in increasing danger and all her darkest secrets were thrust into the light. This story unpacks the truths about the traumas women face in contemporary America, from sexism to abuse to the ways in which the world forces ownership of their bodies. I can't recommend this one enough (but do make sure to check the content warning in the start of the book!). All the stars. All the awards. All the praise. Ashley Winstead has proven herself to be one of the greatest thriller writers of the time."
And out in paperback this week -
We return to Chris and his recommendation for the long-awaited (seriously, the hardcover came out 3 and a half years ago!) paperback release of
The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay. Chris says: "I laughed, I cried, it moved me. (And yes, it’s better than
Cats.) Seriously - this is
Chicken Soup for the Soul for smart people, which I mean in the best way possible. This book will make you feel better about being alive. Ross Gay kept a Delight Diary for a year, chronicling his daily experiences of delight. Delight, not joy; a subtle difference, yeah, but it’s there - Gay’s moments of delight seem more self-aware, more grounded, maybe, than pure joy, and yet, simultaneously, more spontaneous, likely to catch him by surprise. He also drifts back and forth between delight as noun and verb, significant for the agency it gives the delighter. Whittled down to just over 100 entries, Gay uses a poet’s formula (brevity + depth = truth nuggets) to live an examined life in moments. Throughout, he’s bold enough to deep-dive into the messy reality of life’s bits of levity, to remain open-eyed and honest, historically and contextually aware. Recurring themes are race, the complications of the black male body in space, mortality, the personal and communal tragedies that separate and unite us, and the reached-out fingertips that occasionally manage to brush each other across that divide. I could talk about how impossibly uplifting this book is forever, but what I should really do is just put it in your hands and hope it has even a fraction of the effect on you that it’s had on me, because that would truly be a delight."
Another Chris rec? ANOTHER CHRIS REC! This time for
Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, a nonfiction entry from journalist Lizzie Johnson. Chris says: "Intense, exhaustive, definitive - this is long form journalism at its finest. Johnson's account of the Camp Fire that leveled Paradise, CA and left fifty-eight dead is a harrowing reading experience. The precision with which a single, terrible day is rendered is breathtaking - there were moments I felt like I, too, was choking on black smoke and gasping for air. And the book sweeps through layers of the events: Pacific Gas & Electric’s failures and culpability at the corporate levels and on the ground; Paradise’s civic leaders’ efforts to save businesses, buildings, and lives; the firefighter’s desperate battle against the blaze; and the townspeople who lost their homes and everything in them as they ran to escape the flames any way they could. By the end of
Paradise, you’ll know this town as if you’d lived there and mourn it like you’ve lost it, too."
And that's all the recommending we have for you this week! Chris, Parker, and all the rest of the Boswellians will see you next week. Until then, read on, dear readers.
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