Allegiant - Book Review

Book: Allegiant (Divergent #3)

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: YA 

Publisher/Publish Date: Harper Collins / October, 2013

Source: Public Library

Pages: 526

Rating: 3/5

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For me, this book did not hold up to the first two books in the series, but it did an ok of wrapping up the story.

Allegiant picks up with Tris having the opportunity to venture beyond the fence, and discover what is beyond the walls of their city. What she finds is shocking and alarming, altering how she views her whole life up to that point.

This creates an exciting book, filled with a lot of new fascinating information, but also changes how I view Tris' story up to this point. I think I would have preferred reading all three books of the Divergent series back to back, as opposed to a year or so apart, and I think they would have read better that way.

This was not a super strong story to wrap up the series, and while it did tie up some loose ends, I wasn't satisfied with all the conclusions.

Did you read it? What did you think?

Helter Skelter - Book Review

Book: Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

Author: Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry

Genre: True Crime 

Publisher/Publish Date: W. W. Norton & Company / 1974

Source: Public Library

Pages: 689

Rating: 4/5

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This might possibly be some of the craziest 689 pages I've ever read. The story of the Manson Family and the Tate-Labianca murders is so twisted and outlandish that at times it's hard to believe the people who were part of The Family went along with all of Manson's requests.

I decided to pick this book up since while I had a rough idea of who Charles Manson was, I wasn't really sure what really happened, and what lead to his noteriety. Here's a little background care of Wikipedia...

"Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal and musician who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the murders of seven people, actress Sharon Tate and four other people at Tate's home, and the next day, a married couple, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, all carried out by members of the group at his instruction."

The story though goes beyond that, with multiple other murders linked to The Family, and details the culture and life that Manson created in the desert. Written by the prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi, he's able to give us in in-depth view of the whole story, starting with Manson's early childhood, and how his years in the correctional system lead to him not being able to function properly in society. Though the discovery of the Tate murders and how to police were lead to question and finally arrest Manson and others from his Family.

While the Wikipedia article gives a good overview of what happened, this book is a great look at the smaller details of the case and the life of Charles Manson.