Tonight was my book discussion group at the library and we talked about Erik Larson's Thunderstruck. It was an interesting book, a little slow at times, about Marconi's quest for the first transatlantic wireless communication, and a parallel story of Dr. H.H. Crippen, a meek little man who supposedly murdered and dismembered his wife. The last 100 pages are the best, when the 2 stories converge, and Marconi's telegraph makes it possible for the whole world to track Crippen and his lover as they attempt to escape from London to Canada aboard a ship. It made for an interesting discussion of technology then and now. But what was most fascinating was that one of our group's members had seen a PBS segment about the Crippen murder and that recent DNA analysis done in 2007 shows that the body parts found in his basement were of a man and not his wife, Belle. So was he wrongly convicted and executed? Did the police frame him in order to solve such a notorious crime? It brought a whole new perspective to the discussion. We all felt like Erik Larson, such a good researcher, should follow up on this! It's such a good group, and we had a great turnout last night, about 16 people. While not everyone liked the book, I think all enjoyed the discussion.
No comments:
Post a Comment