If I were to compare Erik Larson’s “Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed the World” to a hairstyle, I would say it's a French braid.
Now stay with me here. Larson manages to seamlessly sew together several different story lines while expertly weaving in interesting tidbits and facts from many different stories to add to the overall effect of the story he’s telling. In the end, you have many different stories beautifully braided together. Though the making of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and the killing spree of serial killer H. H. Holmes do not appear to have much in common (other than taking place at the same time and place), Larson manages to tell both stories in conjunction with the other with few flaws.
As a fan of the macabre, I picked up this book for the gruesome narrative surrounding the story of H. H. Holmes. However, I rarely found myself bored with the details of the creation of the Chicago World’s Fair. Larson is able to toe the line between glossing over important facts, and getting caught up in the minute details, without ever crossing it. After reading the book, I feel like an expert about the Chicago World’s Fair and H. H. Holmes, however I was never bogged down by the information Larson gave.
Larson excels at making nonfiction read like fiction. By pulling from many first hand accounts and telling the intimate details of important players lives during these events, Larson makes it possible for the reader to connect to the people in the story.
One of the most striking aspects of the book is the passion evident in the two dominant characters of the book. On one end, we see Daniel Burnham striving to make the Chicago World’s Fair to go down in history. On the other end, we see Holmes putting painstaking effort into created the perfect place for him to murder without being detected. Though these goals were very different, for both men architecture was key to their success.
As I read this book, I constantly had to keep reminding myself that everything I was reading was true. The stories Larson tells are not the ones that one would hear in history class, they’re the details that tend to be looked over, such as extracts from a letter written by a child kidnapped by Holmes. These are the details that really keep one entranced in Larson’s book, and that make this book worth the read.
Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. New York: Vintage, 2004. Print.
Now stay with me here. Larson manages to seamlessly sew together several different story lines while expertly weaving in interesting tidbits and facts from many different stories to add to the overall effect of the story he’s telling. In the end, you have many different stories beautifully braided together. Though the making of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and the killing spree of serial killer H. H. Holmes do not appear to have much in common (other than taking place at the same time and place), Larson manages to tell both stories in conjunction with the other with few flaws.
As a fan of the macabre, I picked up this book for the gruesome narrative surrounding the story of H. H. Holmes. However, I rarely found myself bored with the details of the creation of the Chicago World’s Fair. Larson is able to toe the line between glossing over important facts, and getting caught up in the minute details, without ever crossing it. After reading the book, I feel like an expert about the Chicago World’s Fair and H. H. Holmes, however I was never bogged down by the information Larson gave.
Larson excels at making nonfiction read like fiction. By pulling from many first hand accounts and telling the intimate details of important players lives during these events, Larson makes it possible for the reader to connect to the people in the story.
One of the most striking aspects of the book is the passion evident in the two dominant characters of the book. On one end, we see Daniel Burnham striving to make the Chicago World’s Fair to go down in history. On the other end, we see Holmes putting painstaking effort into created the perfect place for him to murder without being detected. Though these goals were very different, for both men architecture was key to their success.
As I read this book, I constantly had to keep reminding myself that everything I was reading was true. The stories Larson tells are not the ones that one would hear in history class, they’re the details that tend to be looked over, such as extracts from a letter written by a child kidnapped by Holmes. These are the details that really keep one entranced in Larson’s book, and that make this book worth the read.
Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. New York: Vintage, 2004. Print.