Customer Reviews

While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read a few of Harrison's books over the years (though not The Kiss, which is about an incestuous relationship with her father)and think she's a fine writer. As she amply shows in her latest non-fiction about the murder of a family by the 19 year old son, who spares one sister, while killing his second sister and his abusive parents.

The book is about how both the brother (locked up in an Oregon prison for life) and his sister, who made a productive life for herself, including a degree from Georgetown College, have lived in the years since the murder.

The ONLY reason I'm giving this book four and not five stars is the way Harrison inserts her own "story" into that of the Gilley siblings. Now, I know WHY she did it, but I would have rather read a straight forward account of the crime and aftermath, rather than have to deal with Harrison's intrusion into the story.

I know that Norman Mailer inserted himself as writer into "Executioner's Song" about Gary Gilmore and, of course, Truman Capote did the same in "In Cold Blood". Maybe Kathryn Harrison's writing isn't quite as good as Mailer or Capote's or maybe the crime she wrote about just isn't as compelling as the ones written about by Mailer and Capote.

In any case, the book is well worth reading. Most readers probably won't be as put off by Harrison's story told in tandem with the Gilleys'.

I have read several novels by Harrison, as well as a couple of memoirs, and this book was pretty much what I expected: the story of a crime, mediated through Harrison's filters relating to her own traumatic familial life and expressed in controlled, attractive prose. While Harrison's own agenda may be a bit suspect, I think it's never bad to see the history and people behind a horrific crime like this, which is bound to be sensationalized and distorted otherwise. It doesn't make you want to excuse the murderer, but it shows that context is everything, and more than one person is guilty in this story.