Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is not a book to read at the beach between Rum & Cokes. There is nothing frivilous or mundane in this read. I read it from cover-to-cover (all 300+ pages of it) and put it down only to make some soup, feed the cat, and run to the little girl's room. At 3:05 AM this morning (Memorial Day) I finished it and sat up another hour contemplating what I had read.
Mr. Finkel weaves his fall from grace at The New York Times into the narrative and it works perfectly. I remember seeing the Longo family murders in the press, but it was not huge news here in NYC. Only recently was I made aware of Mr. Finkel's book through a friend in the media who told me about it. I preordered it from amazon.com and it arrived last week along with 'Oh, The Glory Of It All!' which I read and reviewed.
This book will make you very angry on many different levels. However, in the end, no one can be blamed but the main character. Did he get married way too young? Yes. Can we put some of the blame on his religious beliefs? Not really. Was and is Mr. Longo incredibly selfish? Definitely. As Laci Peterson's mother said to Scott: There is divorce, you know. Why did you have to kill her?
This book is going to translate into a very interesting TV movie or film, and I hope someone takes it on. Because of the nature of the deaths of Mrs. Longo and their children, you have to wonder what their last moments were like and hope the children were too young to know what was about to happen to them.
Every one of us knows a Chris Longo. Over extended financially. Unable to say no to his materialistic urges. Knowing that you have rent to pay and you use that money for jet skis or a boat seems beyond the pale. Then you have the long suffering wife who just enables her husband to get deeper and deeper into the nightmare of the American Dream. She had to have known something. But like so many women I know, they go into denial on every level. And, of course, the outcome is disaster.
This is not your average murder mystery. Mr. Finkel does not bury you in statistics, gory details, and the everyday. His writing makes you feel like he's sitting at your kitchen table drinking coffee with you and sharing an incredible story. A story that, shockingly, happened to him! This is the beauty of the book. That in the midst of the worst time of his life professionally, when all seems lost, he receives a telephone call. A very important telephone call that changes his life and subsequently ours, as the reader.
I had not wanted to like this book because of the subject matter and because as a New Yorker I am quite familiar with Michael Finkel's story at The New York Times. He has completely won me over. I hope this book opens a door really wide to a new, creative and long career as an author again. I hope this is not his last murder mystery. I think this is his genre. I highly recommend this book. I am sure once you start it, you won't be able to put it down either. A great read.
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