Even though I wasn't born until the 1970s, I don't know how I grew up in a New England summer vacation beach area and never heard anything about Tony Even though I wasn't born until the 1970s, I don't know how I grew up in a New England summer vacation beach area and never heard anything about Tony Costa, despite two of his victims being from my home state. I also don't know how my parents survived their teenage years in New England beach towns in the 1960s to have children, between the serial killers and the drugs and alcohol. But survive we all did, to learn the lessons that we should listen to children when they say something seems off. To learn that parents and other adults need to model the behavior they want children to learn. To learn that missing women should be taken seriously and not written off as runaways who aren't worth looking for.
Liza Rodman's mother and father are terrible. The police are no help at all. But let's not forget that the ultimate villain of this story is Tony Costa. In the late 1960s, Provincetown, Massachusetts, became an East Coast haven for the counterculture and it became too easy for people to drop out and disappear. It became a fertile hunting ground for those who wished to take advantage of others.
The Babysitter intertwines the story from Liza's perspective as a child being pawned off on several caregivers while her mom worked and dated, one of those caregivers being Tony Costa, who was seemingly nothing but nice to Liza (although with 20/20 hindsight, there were dozens of alarm bells going off in my head with some of his behavior toward her and other children), with chapters from Tony's perspective as he got married, had affairs, did drugs, and worked and lost jobs. And chronicles the women who mysteriously disappeared after spending a short amount of time with him.
I really liked this book in the beginning. I grew up in an old haunted house in New England, yet I'm always a skeptic. (99% of supernatural activity eI really liked this book in the beginning. I grew up in an old haunted house in New England, yet I'm always a skeptic. (99% of supernatural activity ends up being the wind or a cat — and cats are creepy as hell.) I liked reading the stories behind the stories, whether they debunked the legends or gave credence to them. I’ve always been interested in history and nonfiction and ghost stories are the old “fake news.” Entertaining but you shouldn’t necessarily take them at face value. As the book went on, I found the stories themselves no less interesting but the format became tedious.
A couple of the stories really stood out to me. There are many cases of ghost stories being used to control a narrative that makes people feel safe. We don’t have to feel guilty about marginalizing someone or face realities of our country’s brutal history if there’s a fun story.
Does it count as spoilers to discuss the historical facts around ghost stories? Just in case, here’s your spoiler alert. * * The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California is a place I always wanted to visit when I lived in the area. I was more interested in the weird architecture than in the story of the so-called insane woman who had it built. And it turns out I probably had reason to be. According to Dickey, the worst sin Sarah Winchester committed was being slightly eccentric and misunderstood by her community, and thus the rumors of her insanity flourished. “[Her legend] depends on a cultural uneasiness to which we don’t always like to admit. An uneasiness about women living alone, withdrawn from society, for one.” This is a common thread among ghost stories and horror movies and happens in popular fiction and in real life — a woman is different from how society thinks she should be and is persecuted or even punished for it.
About Shockoe Bottom, Richmond, Virginia, Dickey says so succinctly, “The ghosts of Shockoe Bottom are overwhelmingly white.” This is an area of the country where we find “the first settlements,” as long as we are only counting the settlements of the Europeans. This is an area of the Southern United States known for its slave auctions. Atrocities were committed in the area, yet the ghosts are white people from the 1700s and 1800s who haunt touristy bars and restaurants. Erase history much? If you really want to be horrified by scary stories, read accounts of the slave auctions.
From the Salem witch trials to haunted Southern plantations to the Amityville Horror, a common thread in ghost stories is someone powerful trying to marginalize a minority and coverup their guilt over it. I think it’s time for a lot more of the facts and history to be revealed about the stories that have become so common in our country. ...more
I was a little disappointed with this book. I'm not quite sure what I expected. But the main realization that Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford had an aI was a little disappointed with this book. I'm not quite sure what I expected. But the main realization that Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford had an affair during the filming of Star Wars had been released with the book and there were no other real surprises within. Some readers have said they're disappointed to learn that Ford was so quiet and aloof, but I already figured that about him. He's always been a fairly private figure. Have you ever seen him on a talk show?
Thirty-three-year-old Harrison Ford took advantage of a nineteen-year-old Carrie Fisher. Maybe there's even more to it than Ms. Fisher revealed but from her telling of it I can't see Mr. Ford in a more flattering light over the affair. I know affairs happen. I'm not naive. Ms. Fisher tells us that Mr. Ford isn't a bad guy and that we should take her word for that despite all the evidence she provides that leads me toward not having any sympathy for Mr. Ford in that situation.
I also found the actual reprinting of her journals written when she was nineteen years old to be as tedious as any other nineteen year old's journals, including my own. I'm not sure what they added other than the thrill of voyeurism. I didn't find any deep insight in them.
I didn't hate the book. I found some of the personal details interesting although I found myself skimming through many paragraphs to find one of those interesting details. I'm still a fan of Carrie Fisher and of Princess Leia. I'm just maybe not a fan of Ms. Fisher's writing....more
I borrowed this from the library but I want to buy my own copy, underline some passages, and put it on the shelf for my six-year-old to find one day. I borrowed this from the library but I want to buy my own copy, underline some passages, and put it on the shelf for my six-year-old to find one day. Adichie succinctly highlights so many of the same issues I have about gender-based expectations. ...more
I am a liberal who was not surprised by President Trump's election victory. Sad and angry, yes, but I always knew it was a possibility because I do noI am a liberal who was not surprised by President Trump's election victory. Sad and angry, yes, but I always knew it was a possibility because I do not live in the "bubble" that the media placed many of us blue-state people in. I am as equally aware of the economic situations in the Midwest and South as I am of the poverty-line populations in cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
Dr. Hochschild focuses on the Tea Party supporters around Lake Charles, Louisiana. The oil industry has destroyed the environment, people's health, and ways of life for at least a generation. Yet the residents of these areas continue to support it because they believe oil brings in jobs. Dr. Hochschild provides research to show that that is not actually the case yet people continue to vote for oil and against regulation. One statistic she brings up over and over again is that Louisiana receives 44% of its budget from the federal government yet everyone she talked to wanted less federal government intervention. Governor Jindal gave away money from the education budget as incentives to oil companies but that investment was never returned in any significant way. They bring in foreign workers who don't spend money on the local economy. Much of the the company makes money goes back to a corporate headquarters in another state rather than investments in Louisiana. Tourism is sinking because it's not safe to go into most of the water. No one wants to eat the fish. Yet people persist on believing in oil.
I want to tell people that the American Dream we were sold a generation ago, two generations ago, has changed. One of the great things about Americans is that we adapt. However, this segment of people refuse to do so. And with President Trump's revoking of environmental regulations today -- I literally got the news alert as I was typing this review -- we get to regress instead of grow.
As I skimmed the other reviews for this book, however, I felt like I was joining a tide of like-minded people, and it's Trump supporters who might actually benefit from reading this book and opening their minds to some facts rather than going along with ideology. (At least read Appendix C, if nothing else. It will only take about fifteen minutes.)
This book is clearly well-researched. Dr. Hochschild considers many of the people she interviewed and visited with friends even though they are about as far apart ideologically as can be, because as humans there are more things that bring us together than tear us apart, ultimately. ...more
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