Savage Appetites
Ratings5
Average rating3.6
A provocative and original investigation of our cultural fascination with crime, linking four archetypes—Detective, Victim, Defender, Killer—to four true stories about women driven by obsession. In this illuminating exploration of women, violence, and obsession, Rachel Monroe interrogates the appeal of true crime through four narratives of fixation. In the 1940s, a frustrated heiress began creating dollhouse crime scenes depicting murders, suicides, and accidental deaths. Known as the “Mother of Forensic Science,” she revolutionized the field of what was then called legal medicine. In the aftermath of the Manson Family murders, a young woman moved into Sharon Tate’s guesthouse and, over the next two decades, entwined herself with the Tate family. In the mid-nineties, a landscape architect in Brooklyn fell in love with a convicted murderer, the supposed ringleader of the West Memphis Three, through an intense series of letters. After they married, she devoted her life to getting him freed from death row. And in 2015, a teenager deeply involved in the online fandom for the Columbine killers planned a mass shooting of her own. Each woman, Monroe argues, represents and identifies with a particular archetype that provides an entryway into true crime. Through these four cases, she traces the history of American crime through the growth of forensic science, the evolving role of victims, the Satanic Panic, the rise of online detectives, and the long shadow of the Columbine shooting. In a combination of personal narrative, reportage, and a sociological examination of violence and media in the twentieth and twenty-first century, Savage Appetites scrupulously explores empathy, justice, and the persistent appeal of violence.
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I liked each individual chapter - I think my favorite was the one about the Tate family and the rise of the idea of victim's rights. I wanted a little more connection/analysis between the chapters, though; I didn't feel that there was much of a through line to them all and I would have liked more trying to connect the dots about why women in particular feel drawn to true crime, and what leads people to focus on one aspect of true crime instead of another. (Also I would have been really interested to read more about whether being interested in true crime is as much of a middle-class white lady phenomenon as it seems - I say this as a middle-class white lady myself, but an unscientific survey of my friends seems to indicate that this is the case.) In reading the notes at the end, apparently most of these were published previously online or in magazines, which is not a problem at all; each chapter is obviously meticulously researched and well-written, but I did want some more connective tissue between them all.
This book affirms and yet challenges my interest in true crime without judgement. It's beautifully written and fascinating. A must read for anyone interested in true crime or anyone interested in why people - particularly women - are interested in true crime.
I'm so here for the post-true crime trend of books (like, this one and [b:Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession 35180951 Dead Girls Essays on Surviving an American Obsession Alice Bolin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1515482267l/35180951.SY75.jpg 56517990] makes a trend, right?) trying to unpack the appeal of true crime. (Which for me, is personally very limited but I'm sort of fascinated with why others like it??) This is kind of a collection of long essays and each of them were very interesting. I couldn't believe I was finding another new take on the Manson story after my summer deep dive into Mansons, but here it is!
