REVIEW: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson


I'm not much of a nonfiction reader, really, but I just couldn't resist this one - history, Chicago (my favorite American city), and one of the most interesting murder stories I've ever heard of? Of course I had to read it!

 CHARACTERS
As The Devil in the White City is a history, and not a novel, this is a bit harder to talk about than in most of my reviews. As everyone discussed in the book was a real person and all of it is drawn from fact more heavily than in historical fiction, I cannot comment on how well-developed the characters were, but on the quality of writing.

 I felt that I understood the two characters Larson focused on, Daniel Burnham the architect and H. H. Holmes the murderer - as much as I could understand them, given the historical distance. Larson did an excellent job showing these people as rounded, and makes an effort to explore the depths of their minds. Even those who are not the focus of the book get plenty of room to seem like robust portraits of living people.

 PLOT
Now, as the plot for this book is, once again, totally historical, I will instead discuss how Larson chose to intertwine the two storylines. The Devil in the White City switches between Burnham's efforts to bring the Chicago World's Fair to life and the life of serial killer H. H. Holmes. This choice, to intertwine a murderer with an architect, is very interesting and unexpected. For the most part, it worked well.

 However, I do have to say that at times, the sections detailing every step of the World's Fair planning process could get dull. Sometimes, I wanted to skip right ahead to reading about murder again, as these sections were much more interesting to me. I am not interested in hearing just how much every bit of equipment needed to build a fair costs, but I am interested in hearing about the famous "Murder Hotel". Otherwise, I feel the two stories were handled well and both were sufficiently interesting.

 WRITING
Erik Larson writes history like a novelist. This, of course, has a lot to do with how much I enjoyed this book. He knew how to keep up the suspense in terms of Holmes' activities, while still not holding back. He knew how to make the tedium of building the World's Fair at least somewhat interesting. The language is not overly technical, making the book one normal people with no knowledge of architecture can enjoy. I think Larson did a fantastic job!

 RATING
Four stars. I really enjoyed this, however it did drag at times, making it difficult to finish reading.

 RECOMMENDATION
I would recommend this to other history buffs and true crime fans. However, I would not suggest this book to teens under the age of fifteen or sixteen, as Larson does go into some detail concerning Holmes' methods of murder. If you think you can handle it, however, I totally think you should give this book a chance!

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