Discussion of The Devil in White City

[Scott]

Please use this thread to discuss the December book of the month, The Devil in White City by Erik Larson. Please do not read this thread until you have read the book because this thread will contain spoilers.

What do you think of the book? Would you recommend it to other people? Are there any short passages or quotes from the book that you especially like?

[xxfallendays13xx]

im on page 158 so far and i gotta say i like it, especially dr. h h. holmes he's very smart, just like the perfect murderer should be. i've tried finding record of the fair in my history textbook (currently enrolled in US history 2, we just learned about the late 1800s early 1900s last month) and i cant find it. they talk about the bessemer process and andrew carnegie and i even saw george pullman and buffalo bill in there, but for some reason they left out anything about the whole exposition and burnham. why is that?
guess i have to read the rest of the book to find out...duh lol. maybe something other than a lot of murders occurred that caused prentice hall to exclude the event from their textbook.

[Pinkpaper]

I finished this the other day.

The first part of the book I guess I found abit slow, readable enough but slow. Once the fair had opened in the 2nd half of the book I started to really enjoy it and by the last few chapters I couldnt put it down.

I was aware of that particular killer (I think I watched a documentry on it once) but didnt know alot about the world fair although after reading about it I wish it was still there esp as ive been to Chicago.

It would have been easy for the author to go off on a tandem and write more about the depression or the paris world fair but he stuck to the subject matter quite well.

I lost count of the times the book mentioned a possible titbit though, for example (which I made up): of course he didnt realise this would soon become a scary premonition...........

[CubicleCrazy]

Hi - I read this book months ago and I love period pieces, however, the jumping around in time sorta made it a hard read for me personally. Just like the Time Travelers Wife.

[ashley]

I really like this book! Your right dr. h h. holmes is very smart!

[xxfallendays13xx]

i'm quite satisfied with the book. im usually not into historical nonfiction or nonfiction anything but this author did a good job of introducing me to the interesting side of it. i never thought history could be so fun to read! i loved holmes all the way to end. when he said "take your time, old man," to richardson at the end, i thought, way to go holmes, that's why i love ya. if he wasn't so obsessed with killing, he'd've been something great. the fact that he was obsessed with killing just makes him cooler.

can't wait for to get the january book. =]

[Sumytra]

Oh, my. This one is slow going. I tried reading it about 6 months ago and couldn't get past page 27. This time I've made it to page 35 but I haven't picked it up for about 4 days. There is too much historical detail. It lacks figurative language and reads like a history book. I'm having a difficult time visualizing the filth. It seems more like a medieval city than Chicago in the 19th century. I probably won't finish this thing by the end of January!

[ConnieH]

Oh, my. This one is slow going. I tried reading it about 6 months ago and couldn't get past page 27. This time I've made it to page 35 but I haven't picked it up for about 4 days. There is too much historical detail. It lacks figurative language and reads like a history book. I'm having a difficult time visualizing the filth. It seems more like a medieval city than Chicago in the 19th century. I probably won't finish this thing by the end of January!

Oh thank goodness I am not the only one who felt this way. Usually I can push my way through a slow starting book but I am finding I have to force myself to sit down and read it. Not sure if I am going to finish this one.

[victorian.noire]

well now i am really excited to rea this one! historical fiction rocks my socks, but i am still waiting for my library to come through for meand deliver it! hopefully soon!

[Sumytra]

Oh, my. This one is slow going. I tried reading it about 6 months ago and couldn't get past page 27. This time I've made it to page 35 but I haven't picked it up for about 4 days. There is too much historical detail. It lacks figurative language and reads like a history book. I'm having a difficult time visualizing the filth. It seems more like a medieval city than Chicago in the 19th century. I probably won't finish this thing by the end of January!

Oh thank goodness I am not the only one who felt this way. Usually I can push my way through a slow starting book but I am finding I have to force myself to sit down and read it. Not sure if I am going to finish this one.

I've made it to page 80. Hurrah!!!!! It's getting a little more interesting now that Holmes is building his sadistic office building. I'll keep reading this one instead of moving on to the January book, "Curious Incident..." because I've already read that one years ago.

[CuppaTea]

.... i've tried finding record of the fair in my history textbook (currently enrolled in US history 2, we just learned about the late 1800s early 1900s last month) and i cant find it....

The exposition was well covered in a class I took in American Art History which covers various art media including architecture. Take a look at Theodore Robinson's painting of the exposition.

[AdamWest]

Great book!

[Marsha]

I actually loved the book and found it very informative. My first post and my first time on. Can someone tell me what the book for February is?

[guytwo]

well now i am really excited to rea this one! historical fiction rocks my socks, but i am still waiting for my library to come through for meand deliver it! hopefully soon!

I don't believe that it was historical fiction, but I sure enjoyed it. I read this book a few months ago and then bought more of Eric Larson books. I've enjoyed all of them even though he can be a bit wordy sometimes.

[Sumytra]

Oh, my. This one is slow going. I tried reading it about 6 months ago and couldn't get past page 27. This time I've made it to page 35 but I haven't picked it up for about 4 days. There is too much historical detail. It lacks figurative language and reads like a history book. I'm having a difficult time visualizing the filth. It seems more like a medieval city than Chicago in the 19th century. I probably won't finish this thing by the end of January!

Oh thank goodness I am not the only one who felt this way. Usually I can push my way through a slow starting book but I am finding I have to force myself to sit down and read it. Not sure if I am going to finish this one.

I've made it to page 80. Hurrah!!!!! It's getting a little more interesting now that Holmes is building his sadistic office building. I'll keep reading this one instead of moving on to the January book, "Curious Incident..." because I've already read that one years ago.

I finally finished this really boring book. The Devil in the White City was a huge let down. It took me 5 months to get through it.