Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
13th out of 98 books
—
27 voters
Under the Bridge: The True Story of the Murder of Reena Virk
by
Rebecca Godfrey (Goodreads Author)
Who were the seemingly ordinary teenagers who beat and killed a girl who longed to be their friend? And how could they hide the murder from their parents and teachers and the police for eight days?
Drawing on six years of research -- including interviews with the accused -- acclaimed writer Rebecca Godfrey answers these questions in this stunning account of the notorious "S...more
Drawing on six years of research -- including interviews with the accused -- acclaimed writer Rebecca Godfrey answers these questions in this stunning account of the notorious "S...more
Paperback, 496 pages
Published
February 27th 2007
by Pocket Books
(first published September 14th 2006)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,026)
Jan 17, 2013
Rainbow
added it
Anyone who was living in Victoria in the early 1990s knows all about what happened to Reena Virk. This book attempts to explain a little bit about WHY it happened, who the major players were, and what happened to them. Unfortunately, the saga of one of the two accused, Kelly Ellard, is still going on as of the date I'm writing this, so that part isn't completely covered in the book.
This book is very difficult emotionally to read. As someone who was bullied throughout my school years, I identify...more
This book is very difficult emotionally to read. As someone who was bullied throughout my school years, I identify...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Rebecca Godfrey's fiction book, The Torn Skirt, included references in the author interview to this non-fiction book, Under the Bridge.
I realized that I had seen the 20/20 show about this murder and was interested in getting more information.
The story is a true story of school kids in Victoria, BC. These are the punk rockers, the wild-child types, whose family histories are a mess of drugs and foster homes and alcoholic parents.
Godfrey's focus is on the victim, Reena Virk, a lonely girl with few...more
I realized that I had seen the 20/20 show about this murder and was interested in getting more information.
The story is a true story of school kids in Victoria, BC. These are the punk rockers, the wild-child types, whose family histories are a mess of drugs and foster homes and alcoholic parents.
Godfrey's focus is on the victim, Reena Virk, a lonely girl with few...more
Under the Bridge is a grime portrait of teenage life gone seriously wrong. I had heard the story of Reena Virk's murder on the news a few years ago, when it was going on, but this book really showed me a different side of the case. Read for my grade 11 english class, this novel terrified me, but in a good way. It is so raw, full of pure emotion, that I could clearly picture the events as it happened. I've never really been interested in crime books, but Under the Bridge really opened my eyes. Th...more
Overall I think that Under the Bridge was a great book but I think that Rebecca Godfrey is a poor writer. There was a lot of rambling on about things and too many characters that didn't matter. The book dragged a lot. This book has taught me how crew kids can be and the extent they will go. I liked how the author used very detailed emotion and fears through her words. One of the reasons why I kept interested throughout the book was because it was a true story so it felt so real. I think that i w...more
Jul 26, 2011
Jessica
added it
I did not care for the writing of the book, I wouldn't say she is a good author at all but the story was good. I did get a little confused when she kept adding more characters and then jumping through their stories to much, I felt like I was constantly waiting for the connection. I do remember when this happened and feel more knowledgeable now. I have been in Reena's shoes through high school and I am greatful that I was able to overcome any obstacles. Kids can be cruel and I just hope that I am...more
Haven't read a True Crime story for a long time. The writing style was very choppy and I didn't enjoy it. There weren't enough photographs to keep all the characters in this horrible story straight. I googled the names but came up short in photos. The behaviours and choices of the murdered teen Reena Virk revealed her as troubled which was much different than she was represented in the media.
For the level of sadistic violence that this murder involved, the motivations of Kelly Ellard and Warren...more
For the level of sadistic violence that this murder involved, the motivations of Kelly Ellard and Warren...more
Jul 29, 2011
Peachy
added it
Oh, how kids can be cruel, especially when they have been given poor example and little love from the adults in their lives. This is the tragic and true account of bad parenting and the sociopaths and wayward teens it creates. We learn of a story where mob mentality, boredom, jealousy and the persecutions that often surface because of someone being different, come together and result in a young girl’s brutal murder in British Columbia. Add to all of this a ridiculously unjust and bureaucratic Ca...more
I had been meaning to read this book for a long time. It's a horrifying subject and Godfrey does a very good job of relaying the emotions and fears and challenges of troubled teenagers in a small town, while recounting quite clinically the evidence, trials and lives of those involved in the murder of fourteen-year-old Reena Virk. The reader gets to know each of the key players - though Reena remains quite shadowy - and in knowing them, is left still with so many questions as to how this senseles...more
I really can't stand the cover of this edition of the book, but since we aren't supposed to judge books by their covers, I'll try to focus on its insides. The book's topic is very appealing to high school students, so last year I had a lot of students select it as their literature circle book. However, of those students, I don't think any of them loved it. I think a lot of them liked it, but just kind of in a "ho hum, it's okay" kind of way. My personal problem with it is that I just don't think...more
I decided to read this book after learning about the incident in one of my criminal justice classes. Had it been a fiction novel,I may not have enjoyed it as much. It was a true story, however, and it broke my heart. I began looking at all the people I had known in my life that longed to fit in to a group. I thought about how people had used, lied an manipulated to get what they want. I never would have thought, though, that a group of friends would kill someone so desperate to fit in for no app...more
I read this because I found it, and it was free. It was utter crap. Godfrey's prose is retarded. She writes as if she thinks she's doing a great job, but we all know better. Or maybe she really writes like crap, and her editors intone a touch of ego so she's at least got something going for her. I only gave this tale - the true crime retelling of a teenage girl's murder in a small Pacific, Canadian island town - two stars because the book used a lot of found photographs. Pictures, especially in...more
This was my first nonfiction true crime book. After I finished it, I looked up the "main characters" on google and I think that really made it real to me. It wasn't just a story, but was actually true. In 1998, a bunch on young teenage girls got together and beat up another girl so badly that she died. All to teach her a lesson. Many participated in the beatings, but did stop at a certain point. However, in the end, one girl and one boy followed the beat up girl and drowned her. It is still unbe...more
The summary of the book "Under the Bridge" was interesting to me. But the book got boring after a while. It was dragging along and some of the items that was in the book was unneeded. The first thirty pages were pretty good but it went downhill from there. I'm not saying the book was horrible but it wasn't good as I thought it was going to be. Also, the author didn't write the story very well either which was also disappointing. Overall, the story was satisfactory and could be better written.
Overall, the book was okay. Now that I think back on the reviews of the book from my teacher wrote, I wish I had listened to her more because it was a very boring book and could easily have been 200+ pages shorter. She is not the best author although the story is interesting. My favorite part was the beginning part because it was mysterious and it left you hanging. It was the part with the most action compared to the rest which was just the analysis of the murder.
This book was interesting, it gave some insight to a real life case about a 14 year old girl that was murdered. I recommend it only for the understanding of teenagers and how following a crowd can get them into some real trouble. The writing style wasn't one that I particularly liked, I know that the book was based on interviews and police reports but it would have been better if the book was written in such a way that the content wasn't interrupted constantly by quotes from those interviews and...more
Under the Bridge gave a strange, personal insight into the lives of a group of seemingly average young, Canadian teenagers. These kids were not much younger than me at the time and that struck me even more. On the outside, what these kids did hanging out would look like basic, small town, bored kids - hanging out in a field, at convenience stores and the like. But their secret lives gave a different side of their personalities and realities. And on that one night, an overwhelming pack-mentality...more
In all honestly, I didn't really like the book that much. Going back to my teacher's review of the cover, I think that the cover doesn't really make much sense with the actual text inside the book. My favorite part was the beginning because it was suspenseful and kept you waiting, but in the rest of the book it was just self explanatory and dragged on in detail.
The murder of Reena Virk was a terrible crime. Ms.Godfrey tries to explain how the crime came to be. The story is disturbing and made me shiver with the subject matter. I would reccomend this to any one who wants to read a crime story that had imapcted a sleepy town like Victoria. My only complaint was that the author seemed very biased when it came to the accused.
I remember when this "event" took place, and I was disgusted with how anyone could do that to another person...once I read this book, it made me even more sick to think what they did to this poor girl, Reena Virk. Lots of details that were not in the media (newspapers, etc).
A good read, but heart wrenching
A good read, but heart wrenching
Not a bad book, although the author tries too hard to get into the kids culture in a way that they can relate to, and I don't think she does a good job of this. Plus, it seems that the perps received more gratification than the victim did. I think these books should focus as much on the victim.
I thought that this book was okay until you get to the trial part and then it gets really boring. Also, this book wasn't very good because once you found out what happened there was nothing really else to know so then I felt like it was reading it for no reason.
On Saturday, June 30, 2007 I wrote about thsi book:
I completed this 2 days ago. Really a good read indeed. Shocking story how teens kill a young girl.
Very well written and a book you can't put down once you start reading.
9I see I gave it a 9 out of a 10)
I completed this 2 days ago. Really a good read indeed. Shocking story how teens kill a young girl.
Very well written and a book you can't put down once you start reading.
9I see I gave it a 9 out of a 10)
I read this after watching a documentary on the murder. It was very hard to get through and I definitely did not "enjoy" it. It's so hard to fathom that stuff like this exists and I pray to God my girls never encounter evil of this kind.
An excellent true crime piece. I would have liked to see a few more pictures of the players, but she really made me feel like I knew the kids involved, and was fascinated to see how the case came together.
Having lived through the Reena Virk murder and trail it was interseting to read about the detail and the lives of the perpitrators that the newspapers and t.v. never covered.
Very compelling read of a true story-the author did an excellent job of drawing out the personalities and choices of the individuals involved in this tragic murder.
A criminology book told with a narrative, it's not poetic but it's a story that needed to be documented, retold and remembered.
Apr 24, 2012
Cait
added it
Interesting read. Canadian murder. It's a wake up call for people. This takes bullying to the extreme
I found Under the Bridge to be very similar to Truman Capote’s masterpiece,
In Cold Blood
, except that the crime seems more horrendous. Rebecca Godfrey writes the true story of a fourteen-year-old girl who is murdered by acquaintances (also in their teens) and the investigation and trial that followed.
Godfrey culls information from court records, newspaper articles, and interviews; she writes stunningly about a very sad occurrence. This book is not for the weak-hearted or -stomached, though. I...more
Godfrey culls information from court records, newspaper articles, and interviews; she writes stunningly about a very sad occurrence. This book is not for the weak-hearted or -stomached, though. I...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
I'm t...more
Oct 01, 2012 02:31pm