Here’s a terrific non-traditional holiday read for you or someone on your gift list: The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us, by John J. Lennon. I found it on the New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year list and listened to it on the drive to Atlanta and back. It’s compelling and provocative, careful and suspenseful. Humans in captivity (as in the wild) are unpredictable.
Predictable A+ for holiday road trips
John J. Lennon, a former drug dealer and convicted murderer, has spent the last 24 years serving time in various New York State prisons. He’s currently at Sing Sing. He started writing about life on the inside as the result of a class offered in prison. The Atlantic, Esquire, and The New Yorker, as well as other legacy magazines and newspapers, have published his descriptive pieces.
His first book, described as “immersive prison journalism”, tells the life stories of three other murderers and himself – what came before, the crime itself, and what has happened to each man in prison. Alongside these stories is Lennon’s critique of the True Crime genre, which has been so prominent in American television for several decades. What do we gain and what do we lose, he asks, in the name of entertainment.
Through Lennon, we get to know Robert Chambers, the “preppy murderer” from Manhattan who killed his girlfriend in Central Park; Milton Jones, a hapless thief who helped a friend murder two priests; and Shane Hale, a gay man who killed his abusive older lover. Lennon does not make excuses for any of these men’s actions. He does provide context. Perhaps even more fascinating is his account of how these men have spent their time behind bars. Humans in captivity can grow – or wither. “Only the man who has enough good in him to feel the justice of the penalty can be punished,” wrote William Ernest Hocking, and the sister of Lennon’s victim quotes it in a television special. This book in part traces Lennon’s own spiritual trajectory, as he becomes someone capable of remorse.
Lennon’s prose is careful and meticulous, yet the book itself is suspenseful. You want to know what happens to these men – and Lennon himself. This book both criticizes True Crime and is itself a version of True Crime. Lennon seems to know that people will always be interested in both crime and punishment; in horror, and redemption, and everything in between.
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This book sounds compelling and would take courage to read. Wally Lamb’s book, The River is Waiting, is similar but fiction. It is eye opening and difficult but I am glad I read it.
Thank you for mentioning The River is Waiting, Varina! I will add that to my list! Xoxo
I think I have found a great read from this review – sounds very interesting! Merry Christmas!
Patricia, I think you would love this! And I would love to talk about it with you! Xoxo