Weirdo. Mosher. Freak: (If Only They'd Stopped at Name Calling)

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Weirdo. Mosher. Freak: (If Only They'd Stopped at Name Calling)

by Catherine Smyth (Goodreads Author)

3.38 of 5 stars 3.38 · rating details · 16 ratings · 9 reviews

Sophie Lancaster was murdered because she dressed differently to her teenage attackers. In a brutal assault in a Bacup Park in Lancashire in 2007 her boyfriend, Rob Maltby, was also kicked and punched senseless. This is an exclusive insight into the crime by the first journalist on the scene Catherine Smyth. A mother too, her book provides a documentary of what happened fr...more

Paperback, 202 pages

Published September 2010 by Pomona

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Sep 19, 2012 Becca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-nonfiction, social-justice

Thank you Ms. Smyth and goodreads for this First Reads giveaway!
This was a moving account of the murder of Sophie Lancaster and the assault on her boyfriend. I was particularly moved by chapter 23, when the judge sentences the guilty teenagers and explains his thoughts on the crime and punishment.
It is worth a read. However, I would have a appreciated a few things. First, I would like to have known more about the teenagers convicted of Sophie's murder. Second, maps would have been really helpful...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Ozaru rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Ozaru by: First-Reads

Shelves: first-reads, non-fiction

If you want to understand why Sophie Lancaster was murdered, as I did, you sadly won't find the full answer in this book. Interviews with the teenage murderers, their families, their teachers and their friends... are all notable by their absence. Indeed, details on some of the five boys are quite skimpy. Their motivation is not explored in great detail: Catherine Smyth merely says that this crime differed from various others in the area in being devoid of any conventional motive. This book does...more If you want to understand why Sophie Lancaster was murdered, as I did, you sadly won't find the full answer in this book. Interviews with the teenage murderers, their families, their teachers and their friends... are all notable by their absence. Indeed, details on some of the five boys are quite skimpy. Their motivation is not explored in great detail: Catherine Smyth merely says that this crime differed from various others in the area in being devoid of any conventional motive. This book does not help you get inside their heads.

However, that is not really what it sets out to do. Catherine Smyth is a reporter, and writes as one. Although the style can be irritating at times - there are lots of verbatim quotations from press releases or official statements, which naturally sound stilted and break up the flow - her forte is in getting the detail right, and she provides a clear account of events from the night of the murder, through the trials, up to the political and social movements that ensued. It is gripping, and very readable - I finished it in a day.

She states in her Prelude that it is written from her personal perspective, for which she makes no excuses. Much of the text is indeed preoccupied with her interaction with the ongoing story, and although this provides fascinating insights into how local newspapers operate and interact with the police as well as national media, sometimes it sounded as though she is exaggerating her own importance.

Again in the Prelude, she writes that without this personal perspective there would have been no story, just a collection of newspaper cuttings etc. - I beg to differ. I think there could have been more analysis, more background on the killers or their environment for instance, to help us understand better the ultimate causes of the tragedy. Ken Loach's films (e.g. Sweet Sixteen) are for me a more powerful route into the hearts and minds of the casual criminal underclass. Perhaps it is still too early to tell, though: it is assuredly a complex issue, one with which the Sophie Lancaster Foundation is apparently grappling. It will be interesting to read the conclusions in due course, and to see whether any government social policies manage to improve the situation.

I would also have appreciated a little more self-awareness: the pack mentality was cited as influencing the young thugs, but having read Wilfred Trotter's wonderful Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War. --, I see it as also having influenced the mass media throughout the world who subsequently indulged in a feeding frenzy off the spoils of the story. Just as the perpetrators perceived their victims as being 'different', parts of the self-righteous press relish portraying such criminals as 'evil, feral creatures who deserve everything they get and are so different from us,' whereas the truth is, I suspect, more frightening.

There were perhaps half a dozen annoying typos, and a passage at the beginning of Chapter 27 which I found particularly hard to follow because of some repetition and a timeline jumping back and forth. The photos also added little to the book overall. Nevertheless, I came away from it with a very clear picture of exactly what happened to Sophie and Rob, how the trials were conducted, and how Sophie's mother Sylvia is trying to bring about positive change from the cruel happening. As reportage, therefore, it works wonderfully well.(less)

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Feb 20, 2013 Petty Witter rated it 3 of 5 stars

Because of the horrendous subject matter of the book and the fact that part of its sale is donated to charity I feel almost petty in mentioning this but, feeling obliged to review it as I would any other book, I feel I must mention how frustrated I was that, peppered with spelling/typing(?) errors, it wasn't better written/edited.

The true story of two young people one of whom was murdered, the other badly beaten because of their alternative lifestyle, because of their 'goth' way of dressing, 'We...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Kristin Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

Disclaimer: I won this book through a FirstReads giveaway (and I'm really glad I did).

Most everybody, at some point in their lives, has been picked on, bullied, pushed around, whether literally or just emotionally. What happened to Sophie Lancaster and Rob Maltby in August 2007 shows the result of that being taken to the unfortunate extreme.

To say that I enjoyed this book would seem a little inappropriate, considering its subject matter. However, I found it extremely enlightening, as I do not re...more Disclaimer: I won this book through a FirstReads giveaway (and I'm really glad I did).

Most everybody, at some point in their lives, has been picked on, bullied, pushed around, whether literally or just emotionally. What happened to Sophie Lancaster and Rob Maltby in August 2007 shows the result of that being taken to the unfortunate extreme.

To say that I enjoyed this book would seem a little inappropriate, considering its subject matter. However, I found it extremely enlightening, as I do not recall ever hearing about this case when it occurred 5 years ago. Reading about how news of it and the resulting foundation spread worldwide made me pause and try to remember back to that time, and I think I remember seeing the "S.O.P.H.I.E." logo before, here in Virginia, USA. That just goes to show how much this meant, and still means, to so many people around the world.

I found this book to be very tactful in its approach to the case, from start to finish, as well as the coverage of the fundraising events for the Sophie Lancaster Foundation and Sylvia Lancaster's work to change the laws regarding the definition of hate crimes. Having just received a Master's Degree in Forensic Psychology, and as someone who has worked with people who have committed Domestic Violence, the sections describing the defendants' actions during the assault, interviews, court appearances (as well as their parents') was extremely unsettling, but very helpful in understanding just how they could be so abusive.

I would recommend this book to anyone who works with youths, especially those considered "troubled," as they could see and share what could happen if they continue down the road they're on. However, those who might benefit most are those who can relate to the title, having been called a "weirdo" or a "freak" by their peers. They need to know that there are people all over the world just like them, and that there is no reason to take the abuse, whether verbal or physical. As Sylvia Lancaster was quoted in the book, "prejudice and intolerance is the new racism," and it can't get any better until those who promote it are held accountable.

"Hate is easy--love takes courage."(less)

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Aug 24, 2012 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

In "Weirdo. Mosher. Freak" Catherine Smyth gives the most in-depth information of the brutal attack upon Sophie Lancaster and her partner Robert Maltby, which led to Sophie's death. This book truly reflects how Sophie's loved ones suffered upon her passing not to mention the no-remorse attitude of her killers. Reads as an in-depth documented account that articulates the writer's emotions as well. When it comes to hate crimes this is an important read if you want to Stamp Out Prejudice Hatred and...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Jonathan Norton rated it 3 of 5 stars

In 2007 5 stupid, drunk teenage boys attacked Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriend, causing both of them serious injuries with the result that she died in hospital shortly afterward. This is an account of the event and its aftermath written by a local journalist who got involved in campaigning as a result. As well as details of the crime and the punishment resulting from it, this book is a fascinating picture of the way public grief unfolds in modern Britain. This is the best "state of the nation"...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Julie Rodriguez rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, won

I won this book on good reads. I had seen this story on TV. and wanted to read this book. It is an amazing, eye opening, and well written book. This takes you through all the events even to the trail. It is very sad how people judge you on the way you look and act. I highly recommend this book.

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Aug 23, 2012 Lindsay rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, memoir-biography, first-reads

I was lucky enough to win a book through GoodReads giveaways, unfortunately this book is disappointing. I found it read like one giant newspaper article and despite the fact that this is the true story of a girl who was violently beaten to death, I couldn't form any sort of emotion towards it. Call me cold, but I couldn't get into this book.

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Aug 22, 2012 Max is currently reading it

This is JUST the kind of book that I enjoy reading. Sick, twisted, and TRUE

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