Now that I'm only 90 pages away from finishing Devil in the White City, I have a brief statement to make. This pissed me off throughout the entire book, thus far!!!
Through the completion of the Ferris Wheel, the fair was willing to postpone its grand opening due to an unwillingness "to open wheel to public until opening day because of incompleteness and danger of accidents," but the fair's engineers and architects were perfectly fine with making test runs with their FAMILY MEMBERS aboard the wheel (Larson, 272)?!?!?! What the heck, if you can test run with live bodies in the far, you can surely open it to the public.
And why, during the fair's construction, was there such a disregard for the loss of lives along the way? It's mind-boggling to read this book and notice all the lives that were lost along the construction, and how there is never any interest paid to the people themselves, it's just a mere statement of facts. However, when Holmes' victims are detailed, the author goes to great lengths to describe the people and what kind of women they were, their families' inquires as to their disappearances after their deaths, etc. I feel as if this is some sort of a double-standard.
If people die doing something worthy, it's not really that big of a deal in the context of this novel. But, if they are innocents whose lives become entwined with Holmes and meet their demise at his hands, it's a tragedy?!
Excuse me for thinking this, but I believe that working at a frenzied pace to ensure that the fair gets done on time and runs smoothly, with little attention paid to the hundreds of lives that were lost along the way, is just as cold-hearted as murder. Maybe not the same intentions, but the same end result occurs.
Another interesting point of note, I'm really liking how this is well-crafted and it's not just some cut-and-dry historical retelling of facts. Larson is trained like a real prose writer, creatively linking his seemingly separate chapters together. I don't have a specific example off the top of my head, but Larson will describe the fair in context, and then the exact same image he retells will be mirrored at the beginning of a new chapter detailing Holmes' activities. Or he'll talk about one of Holmes' victims, specifically when they go to see the fireworks on the 4th of July, and then in the proceeding fair chapter, he'll open with the great lengths workers took to ensure an awe-inspiring 4th of July ceremony.
I just think it's interesting that he's writing like - surprise - a writer, and not a historian.
Through the completion of the Ferris Wheel, the fair was willing to postpone its grand opening due to an unwillingness "to open wheel to public until opening day because of incompleteness and danger of accidents," but the fair's engineers and architects were perfectly fine with making test runs with their FAMILY MEMBERS aboard the wheel (Larson, 272)?!?!?! What the heck, if you can test run with live bodies in the far, you can surely open it to the public.
And why, during the fair's construction, was there such a disregard for the loss of lives along the way? It's mind-boggling to read this book and notice all the lives that were lost along the construction, and how there is never any interest paid to the people themselves, it's just a mere statement of facts. However, when Holmes' victims are detailed, the author goes to great lengths to describe the people and what kind of women they were, their families' inquires as to their disappearances after their deaths, etc. I feel as if this is some sort of a double-standard.
If people die doing something worthy, it's not really that big of a deal in the context of this novel. But, if they are innocents whose lives become entwined with Holmes and meet their demise at his hands, it's a tragedy?!
Excuse me for thinking this, but I believe that working at a frenzied pace to ensure that the fair gets done on time and runs smoothly, with little attention paid to the hundreds of lives that were lost along the way, is just as cold-hearted as murder. Maybe not the same intentions, but the same end result occurs.
Another interesting point of note, I'm really liking how this is well-crafted and it's not just some cut-and-dry historical retelling of facts. Larson is trained like a real prose writer, creatively linking his seemingly separate chapters together. I don't have a specific example off the top of my head, but Larson will describe the fair in context, and then the exact same image he retells will be mirrored at the beginning of a new chapter detailing Holmes' activities. Or he'll talk about one of Holmes' victims, specifically when they go to see the fireworks on the 4th of July, and then in the proceeding fair chapter, he'll open with the great lengths workers took to ensure an awe-inspiring 4th of July ceremony.
I just think it's interesting that he's writing like - surprise - a writer, and not a historian.
2 comments:
1. I agree its ridiculous they let the families on the ferris wheel during the "test" run. If it isn't ready it isn't ready, and this would never happen today
2. The apparent disregard for life was shocking to me as well. Larson is kind of blase about it, which is annoying.
3. I agree that Larson writes well, and that there are links between time, such as getting ready for July 4th and then Holmes and Minni being there celebrating in the next chapter. I just wish there had been more interaction between Holmes and the Fair in general.
4. Yay for almost being done! The last part reads super quickly, and is pretty disturbing. That Holmes was a creepy fellow.
Did you finish? And what do we want to read next? :-)
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