Savage Grace: The True Story of Fatal Relations in a Rich and Famous American Family
by Natalie Robins, Steven M Aronson
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 93)
Read in June, 2008
I don't know why I keep buying books like this. Well, I know WHY (rich people with problems are so fascinating, aren't they?), but maybe I can't justify it anymore. It's starting to feel too voyeuristic.
Anyway, the "characters" in this book are a real piece of work. The book follows a clear timeline, but has no real over-arching narrative; it's all told through quotations and personal letters and official documents. I think a clear narrative voice would have been useful, though...more
Anyway, the "characters" in this book are a real piece of work. The book follows a clear timeline, but has no real over-arching narrative; it's all told through quotations and personal letters and official documents. I think a clear narrative voice would have been useful, though...more
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Huge thanks to viv@well for sending this original hardback edition across the pond. This is now a major feature film (scripted by our revered mutual friend Howard A Rodman!) and about to go on general release, so reading up the source material first seemed a must. Norman Mailer calls this the best oral history since Edie, and he's right. This is a brilliant portrait of transatlantic jet-set life and a grey evocation of the inevitable psychological complications of social clambering. Insecurity...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Tasha by:
Time Out NY
I read a review of the film which mentioned the book as being far superior, an oral narrative in the tradition of Edie.
this is an incredible case, but I found the narrative frustrating because of the disproportionately large contribution from the egomaniacal Brooks Baekeland; even a horrible short story he authored is included in it's entirety. I understand he's the last surviving member of the immediate family, but so many of his passages are not relevant to the ostensible subject of the ...more
this is an incredible case, but I found the narrative frustrating because of the disproportionately large contribution from the egomaniacal Brooks Baekeland; even a horrible short story he authored is included in it's entirety. I understand he's the last surviving member of the immediate family, but so many of his passages are not relevant to the ostensible subject of the ...more
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This isn't a straightforward biographical account; rather, it's a combination of oral history and loads of personal letters. While it was fascinating to read "in their own words" what happened from so many of the participants, after a while the lack of an overall interpretive voice became frustrating. This material is SO juicy -- incest, murder, madness and more -- that it begs for an analysis, an opinion, *something* more than just the words of the family and friends themselves, wh...more
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wow. usually i don't read "true crime" but this one caught my eye. it tells the story of the baekland family - descendants of the man who invented bakelite, one of the first plastics. which means they were mondo rich. they hung out with the likes of jim jones, andy warhol and many other famous writers of the times. the story is told in an oral history style, which lends itself well to the tragic tale, which involves a murder.
i read this book in, like, 2 days. it took over my life. app...more
i read this book in, like, 2 days. it took over my life. app...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
voyeurs, oral historians
The most satisfying true crime account I've read, because it's made up of statements from a staggeringly wide range of friends, family, psychiatrists, etc., and letters from the time period. It's more like a portrait of the family's life. Mostly when I read true crime there's sort of an inevitability hanging over and informing the narration, but here everyone contradicts everyone else, including themselves, on little or big details, and I still don't know whether I think that it could have bee...more
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Read in June, 2008
Wow, interesting but at different times, difficult to read. I understand the movie is coming out soon, so I'll see it. Talk about the lack of parenting? The father is absent, the mother? Don't even want to try to figure her out. All in all, this was a disaster waiting to happen and yes, I do put a lot of blame on the father, seems he never cared one way or another and left the son to raise himself and be with an insane mother. Still, interesting.
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I am almost to the end of this book and have not been able to put it down. At times fascinating, disturbing, hilarious, upsetting, and overall shocking, this is a true crime story the best writers couldn't make up. The realities and tendencies of the idle rich make for fascinating reading, but are they people I would want to get close to? Not necessarily. However, when it comes to character study and psychological analysis, it's right up my alley!
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I thought this book was an alright read, though, in truth, I only picked it up in the first place because of the messed-up story line and the fact that Julianne Moore (squee!) is due to star in a film based on this book.
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Having too much money is so corrupting of lives. Children get ruined during childhood and cannot function as adults... rather depressing once read... would not see the movie after reading all the detail in this book.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
true crime fans
really, really intriguing true crime book. i especially enjoyed the insights from several different perspectives. incest, guns, money, knives, international allure... who could ask for more?
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I like the format of the book, hate the title, and actually think the movie just made of it could, possibly, maybe be good. That is, you'd have to try to fuck it up.
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The movie is coming out soon. This is very disturbing, powerful, sad. Surely this tragedy would be less likely to happen today.
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Read in June, 2008
MESSED UP- that's what I say!! DANG- I think my kids will turn out just fine! Can you screw a kid up anymore??
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Read in May, 2008
hey-- this is a fabulous summer book. incest, moral corruption, and knife fights galore. woo hoo!
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