While They Slept

I hope everyone enjoyed the St. Francis Pro-Am race this past weekend!

I was holed up with some good books, among them a title from our new book shelf, While They Slept: An Inquiry Into the Murder of a Family by Kathryn Harrison. Since I’ve moved to Blue Island I’ve become fascinated with the crime in “Murder City” (the old-timey nickname for Chicago): there just seems to be so much of it, wave after wave! The papers record murders nearly every day, and my relative proximity to the tragic events has ignited my interest in true crime, the criminal psychology, and yes, all the gory details. While They Slept offers many crimes for the price of one: Harrison investigates a serial murder and its aftermath while reflecting on the nature of trauma and her own history as a victim of violence. It is queasy-making, page-turning stuff, definitely not for the faint of heart.

The questions Harrison poses include: how did the surviving sister grow up into a healthy adult after seeing most of her family dead at the hands of her older brother? During the investigation, Harrison reveals the question about her means of survival over violence, too. The women survived, in part, because they read and write--- and literacy is an aid not just for them--- reading and writing are a great solace for the murdering brother in jail, as well. This book gave me nightmares, but I learned something from it, too. I recommend it to readers of true crime or memoir.

While They Slept earns praise from Louise DeSalvo, author of Writing as a Way of Healing: “Quite simply, the most important book about the consequences of child abuse ever written.”