A Death in Belmont
by Sebastian Junger
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 645)
Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
true crime fans, thos who like a good story
After learning about the death referenced in the title, the murder of Bessie Goldberg which had taken place in the Junger's neighborhood, Sebastian Junger's mother went outside to tell the handyman working on her house about the crime. The murder was characteristic of the serial rape/murders which had taken place in the Boston area over the past several months, and the handyman was Albert DiSalvo, who was later determined to be the Boston Strangler.
DiSalvo was not accused of this particula...more
DiSalvo was not accused of this particula...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Nonfiction Readers and Thriller/Murder/Mystery Readers
I had a hard time in the beginning immersing myself in the story, perhaps owing to the fact that this is a rare example of nonfiction verging on fictionalized writing, which was something I had to get used to. Having favored fiction in the past few years, it took me a while to settle into the journalistic fiction style reminiscent of Joan Didion's writing and Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood."
But after reading a couple of chapters, I found myself really enjoying the story and how aut...more
But after reading a couple of chapters, I found myself really enjoying the story and how aut...more
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In 1963, the U.S. was reeling from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the people of Massachusetts, his home state, were hit particularly hard. This anguish was compounded by the fear resulting from the fact that the Boston Strangler murders were in full swing during that time period. But for residents of the Boston suburb of Belmont, it really hit home when Bessie Goldberg, neighbor and friend to many, was found murdered in her living room. Was it the Strangler or a random murder...more
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Read in April, 2007
So this book interested me after reading In Cold Blood, but this book was definitely lacking something. Sebastian Junger met Albert DeSalvo (when Junger was a young boy) while DeSalvo was working on their house (in Belmont, MA) in the midst of the Boston Strangler murders. Junger illustrates his childhood and mother's experiences with DeSalvo, how life was like in Boston (and the nation) experiencing the murders, racism, and the death of JFK, and finally the life of Roy Smith and DeSalvo. Roy Sm...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in March, 2008
Having dipped a toe into Sebastian Junger's journalistic styings, I hate to say it, but I prefer the pulp. While his waxing philosophical ultimately inspired me to think I, too, can do a true crime, I hate to say it was not the most riveting read at all times. It retells the story of the Boston Strangler through the maddening tale of a persecuted black man who (we come to believe) was wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, and was most likely committed by the Strangler. What bothere...more
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Read in February, 2008
I liked this book. It was very similar to In Cold Blood, where the author uses witness statements, court documents and interviews with the people involved to tell the tale. There were a few parts of the book that were a little disturbing, including descriptions of the murders and of a few civil rights atrocities. This book made me grateful that I was born when I was and that I didn't have to be exposed to the types of disgusting stigmas and restrictions that the ruling white men placed upon Afri...more
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Read in September, 2007
it is intensely creepifying to read about places that are literally at the end of one's own street in connection with such viscerally disturbing crimes. this book is fast-paced and well researched. the explication could have felt heavy-handed, but instead struck me as a way of reinforcing the need to lay aside emotional reaction and rely on the principles of the american justice system. and it's little wonder that junger felt compelled to explore the details of the boston strangler since ...more
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recommends it for:
everyone in Massachusetts
I currently live in Belmont - the Belmont in this book, so it's extraspooky to be reading this.
While the Boston Strangler was terrorizing everyone in Boston and the surrounding areas, a white woman in Belmont was murdered with the same MO. A black man who had been working for her and had been seen leaving her house was arrested for the crime. Years later, the Strangler would be apprehended, and as it turns out, he was also working in Belmont at the time of the murder. He was doing construct...more
While the Boston Strangler was terrorizing everyone in Boston and the surrounding areas, a white woman in Belmont was murdered with the same MO. A black man who had been working for her and had been seen leaving her house was arrested for the crime. Years later, the Strangler would be apprehended, and as it turns out, he was also working in Belmont at the time of the murder. He was doing construct...more
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Read in September, 2007
I am a sucker for Sebastian Junger's writing style. He researches the hell out of his subjects and really works to get in the head of the people he covers. This is done while still maintaining an objective reporting stance and admitting that there are certain things that will never be known.
This book deals with the Boston Strangler, a murder that may have been related to those killings, the race issues that influenced the case, and a chilling connection to Junger's own family.
This conn...more
This book deals with the Boston Strangler, a murder that may have been related to those killings, the race issues that influenced the case, and a chilling connection to Junger's own family.
This conn...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
massholes
Sebastian Junger closely examines a 1960s rape/murder near his home in Belmont, Mass and the man convicted of the crime. The details of the killing were remarkably similar to those done by the Boston Strangler, and Junger explores the possible innocence of the convicted man, but also the plethora of possibilities of how Al DeSalvo (the controversial self-proclaimed Strangler) could have committed that crime.
This book solves nothing. And I'm happy with that. It's an intellectual and moral wo...more
This book solves nothing. And I'm happy with that. It's an intellectual and moral wo...more
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Read in July, 2008
This was a mildly entertaining story on the possible Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo and the isolated death of Bessie Goldberg that a jury convicted Roy Smith of doing. The book provides lots of details into the Boston Strangler, Roy Smith, and Albert DeSalvo but ultimately comes to no definite solution.
Many times, the book takes long, unrelated tangeants that had me thinking that the author lacked any major substance. In the end, all that I have come to realize is that it is unlikely tha...more
Many times, the book takes long, unrelated tangeants that had me thinking that the author lacked any major substance. In the end, all that I have come to realize is that it is unlikely tha...more
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Read in January, 2008
I have to admit that the only reason I read this book is because it was on a buy-one-get-one table next to "The Ghost Map," which I was dying to read. And I certainly wouldn't say I regret reading it, or that I didn't learn anything. All told, it was pretty interesting. It just seemed that for a guy whose family was so close to the story, it wasn't very exciting. Also, I found the end kind of muddled...it was pretty good up to the last 10 pages or so, and then it was like th...more
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Read in February, 2007
It's pretty cool that the author grew up in the middle of this murder mystery without ever realizing it, and he makes a good case for his theory on who the murderer was/was not. The middle gets bogged down in the legal proceedings but this still offers insight on how black men were arrested/tried in whatever decade this took place in (60s?), even in the north which ostensibly offered a fairer trial than the south would have.
A lot of research went into the book; pretty amazing if you think a...more
A lot of research went into the book; pretty amazing if you think a...more
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Read in March, 2008
This book is kinda cool - Junger has a very straightforward way of writing, since he's a journalist, so you get lots of real information and facts. However, the whole point is that we can never actually know the truth about the Boston Strangler's possible 13th victim. Or even that the guy who confessed was really the strangler. Junger doesn't belabor the point that the Civil Rights movement and the Kennedy assassination were contemporaneous with the crimes, but that they definitely played into t...more
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I enjoyed how Sebastian Junger wove several different stories into this look at two men--one who admitted to being the Boston Strangler (but might have been lying) and another who might have been falsely convicted of one of the Strangler's crimes. This isn't a sicko true crime book that revels in gory details. Instead, it looks at race, politics, and the criminal justice system during that time. Junger has a personal connection to this story as well, which gives it a much different tone than a t...more
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Read in January, 2008
This is a great book. It is very interesting, and pulls you in right away. It is about a murder that takes place outside of Boston (in Belmont) in the midst of the "Boston Strangler's" reign of terror. The murder was committed in the same way that the Boston Strangler was committing his murders. A black man was arrested, tried, and incarcerated for the murder. The Boston Strangler was caught not long after, so the question arises: Did the Strangler commit the murder in Belmont, o...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
people who are afarid to be alone
Story about the Boston Strangler (the author was a baby, when the Boston Strangler was doing constuction in their house). This was during the time that the stranglings were occuring all around the neighborhood.
An innocent man (Roy Smith) was arrested for one of the stranglings, and spent the rest of his life in jail. When Albert De Salvo admitted he was the strangler, he wouldnt admit to the murder that Roy was convicted of. When they finaly pardoned Roy, he was one day away from death in...more
An innocent man (Roy Smith) was arrested for one of the stranglings, and spent the rest of his life in jail. When Albert De Salvo admitted he was the strangler, he wouldnt admit to the murder that Roy was convicted of. When they finaly pardoned Roy, he was one day away from death in...more
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Read in February, 2007
This book was quite interesting. The question of whether DeSalvo was really the Boston Strangler and whether he committed the murder in Belmont has never been definitively answered, but it is pretty obvious what Junger believes (though he does well at keeping things relatively unbiased until the end). The story of Roy Smith is also undeniably tragic.
Junger writes good, readable non-fiction. If you’re at all interested in this case, I recommend this book.
You can see a response from the ...more
Junger writes good, readable non-fiction. If you’re at all interested in this case, I recommend this book.
You can see a response from the ...more
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Read in February, 2007
recommends it for:
True Crime Fans
I'm a fan of Sebastian Junger. When he's good, he's great. When he's not... He's writing a book like A Death in Belmont. While not all together bad book, there's a real sense of 'why am I reading this story?' while reading it. The case of the Boston Strangler is interesting but Junger seems so caught up in his own family's angle and connection that he loses sight of the bigger picture. The book touches a lot of elements of the crimes here, but never is able to pull it all together. Too bad, it c...more
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Read in June, 2007
A Death in Belmont felt like reading a newspaper piece. It has facts. It has objective postulations. It leaves the reader to form her own opinions. The the hook is that the author has a personal connection to the story, but there is little intimate or personal about it: no indication that the author feels anything more than journalistic curiosity. There are glimmers of passion, but the "personal" part is missing. It's fascinating if you know nothing of the Boston Strangler saga, but...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.31 (501 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.33 (402 ratings) number of reviews: 115popular shelves
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quote
"The story about Bessie Goldberg that I heard from my parents was that a nice old lady had been killed down the street and an innocent black man went to prison for the crime. Meanwhile--unknown to anyone--a violent psychopath named Al was working alone at our house all day and probably committed the murder. In our family this story eventually acquired the tidy symbolism of a folk tale. Roy Smith was a stand-in for everything that was decent but utterly defenseless. Albert DeSalvo, of course, was a stand-in for pure random evil."
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