Croissant and a book...The Devil in the White City

As of one month ago I had six books on the go. Oops. One of those books is "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." I'm not sure, because I haven't finished it yet, but I'm pretty sure not finishing things that you start is not a habit of highly effective people. The San Francisco escape did at least afford an opportunity to whittle that list of six books down to five. I was engrossed in the book, "The Devil in the White City," which I have since learned from the interwebs, might potentially be made into a movie by my junior high heart throb, Leonardo DiCaprio.

Picture break. This is from Wikipedia. 

I was trying to broaden my horizons by reading more non-fiction, and this book was an excellent starting point. It reads like a novel in many ways, and at times the pace of the book reminded me of "In Cold Blood." I have had multiple people recommend a number of different books by Erik Larson and I opted for Devil in the White City because of my new-found love for Chicago after visiting there last October. Briefly, the book tells two parallel tales about Daniel Burnham, one of the principal architects behind the 1893 World's Fair, and Dr. H. H. Holmes, a serial killer who resided in the city at that time and whose sociopathic behaviours escalated around the buzz of the World's Fair.

One of my favorite aspects while reading this book was the vision that the author manages to create of Chicago in the throws of preparing for the World's Fair . I loved the contrast of the grittiness of a young industrial city with the lofty vision of the architects for the spectacle of the buildings. The shaping of American identity felt entwined within the events of the this decade, and the World Fair comes across as an important milestone in this regard.

However, the focus on Holmes exposes a darker underbelly of the city and perhaps provokes us to rethink the sanitized version of history that we often receive. Holmes represents darker elements within the city, and the description of his manipulative, sociopathic pursuits are bone chilling. I did get the sense that sometimes the account of Holmes' actions were somewhat fictionalized, but this is probably due to the fact that there was little reliable information on him to begin with. It is the story of Holmes that quickens the pace of he book, and leaves you engrossed and unable to put the book down (except when you need to pause because Holmes is giving you the heebie jeebies, because that might just happen).

I have developed a rating scale for by book reviews and on a scale of 1 to 5 literary pugs I rate this book a 4. I will caution however, it's not a book for someone who is easily creeped out, because Holmes is as creepy as they come. If and when this is made into a movie, he will be a terrifying character to see brought to life.

4 out of 5 literary pugs recommend "The Devil in the White City"