The start of the book isn't extremly interesting. It mainly talks about the history of the worlds fair and how Amercia wanted to upshow Pairs. After Pairs opened their world fair. At the start of the novel I basically learn about the main characters and their history. I found out that Mr. Burnham had failed his attempt to get into Yale and Harvard. And after getting a jop in as a draftman he quickly quit and found new interesting jobs, however he slowly starting to quit those as well. It wasn't until he found another place where he could start drafting. it was also here were he met his friend Mr. Root. Root was the complete opposite of Burnham, he was proudly accpeted into Oxford where he study drafting and then was sent back home after his father called him back. He was extremly artist and Mr.Burnham was amazed at how he stood at a drafting table. In the first part i also found out that mr. burnham had married his employers daughter, the same went for mr. root, however root's wife quickly passed away only weeks after the wedding due to the illness, TB. Although the first part told much about the characters it also talked about how Chicago got chosen to be the city where the fair would be bulit. it was between New York, Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington. Chicago and New York were pretty trying to get the fair there no matter what. Chicago came out as the victor though after beating the majority vote by one. I also learned about the many disapperance that were happening during this time. It was mainly women who were alone that kept vanishing. but none the less people of chicago were scared for their own lives. The book is some what meeting my expectations and at the same time not. I like knowing the characters but there seems to be more history than real story telling. To me i just enjoy the fictional side of a story. and in a way this book provides it. by telling me about the disappearances caught me interest. since i was expecting the novel to have more of a cliff hanging, page turning type effect. so far it is just giving me facts. I'm sure if i continue reading i will find more parts of the story that capture my interest. As for the theme of the book i do see the theme of work and class in this novel. i learned about the men who wanted to work on this fair and the other workers who died building it. i found out that the drafters had already much money and by building the fair they made much more. one qoute even speaks of Mr. Burnhams wealth. "...but rich beyond anything either man had expected,enough so that each year Mr. Burnham bought a barrel of fine maderia and aged it by shipping it around the world twice on slow freighters." i kind of got a sense that the burnham and root were wealthly. not by some of the other peoples standards but compared to the workers they were really rich. This book hasn't caught my interest yet. but i'm sure that if i continue reading it will capture me. it is wirten very well, Larson has a very smooth flow of the story, he does not get captured too much in heavy details about certian unimportant topics. he has an interesting story line. just when i think he has lost me he finds a way to suck me back into reading it. by adding some sort of misfortune or a random fact that makes me want to continue. there are time thouh that i wish he could just start the tale about the fair and not continue to rant about the men's pass lives. it does engage me though with the tellings of the workers larson says"of the 352 men who worked on the bridge's notorious east caisson , pressure-related illness killed 12 left two crippled for life, and injuried 66 others..." larson isn't talking about the consturction of the fair but it is little historical moments like this which paint a picture of how the workers at that time were treated. they seemed not to know much about the dangers no one at that time seemed to know. but it kept pulling me back in with little things like those. i sure when the story continues it will have more of an impact and will prove to be a book that everyone should read. i already have someone who wants to borrow it and all they read was the back and one randomly chosen section of the book. I hope this book will meet my expectations. it seems like it should i would rather read more about the madness at the fair. when it does i'm sure i will be more engaged with the reading than what i am now. Also at some points in the novel larson makes referrance to Jack the Ripper and i am wondering if this story is like his, where they were only able to figure out the suspects and not able to get the real killer? i wonder if this story is will be like that.
Individual Entry #1 The book has started out confusing to me, but after going over it a few more times I began to understand it. There are many stories that are going on at the same time. There is the story about Burnham, Root, and the other architects, the story of H.H. Holmes, and background information on all of the characters. The main focus of the story is about the World’s Fair and how it is a big thing for the city of Chicago and for America. Chicago at the time is very dirty and there is a lot of crime. Since it is such a big deal it is important that it goes well, and Root ends up dying and some of the architects quit or get sick. All of the architects are from out of Chicago and this angers many of the local architects, so they eventually add one of them. Many of the people that work for Holmes, at this pharmacy, end up disappearing and there are others that vanish as well. The book is very odd because it jumps around to different stories and has random stuff in it like the Jack the Ripper story, I am not sure how that connects to the story but I am sure all of the stories will come together in the end. It also is not really a fictional story, like I expected it to be, but it has a lot of actual historical information. I do not like murder mysteries and I do not like the description of gruesome murders, but maybe this book will change my view on murder mysteries. My expectations for the book was that it was going to be interesting and a page-turner, but it has started out slow and I need a book that gets me from the beginning. Right now I do not like the book very much, but I think it is one of those books that if you push through the beginning it will pick up and get into the exciting parts. I thought the book was going to be more on the suspenseful side, but it has not had me not having a clue what was going to happen next. I think the book is of good quality, but it is not necessarily a good read for me. I think the way the book is structured, it is unique, but at sometimes it can be confusing. What will make this a good book is if all of these little side stories comes together and makes for a great plot. The book relates to work and class because we have Holmes trying to make a living in a new city. Holmes is also expanding his business and is trying to support his family and live the American dream. It is class because we have characters who are wealthy and also the common workers in the pharmacy.
The first section of the book was different than I thought it would be. As I began reading the prologue I discovered that the entire book was written solely in non-fiction form. When I learned this, I didn't know how much I would enjoy reading the book, as I tend to gravitate towards the excitement of historical fiction novels. The first part of section one spoke about the World's Fair of 1983 held in Chicago. Named the Columbian Exposition, this world's fair was a significant part of America's status in the late 19th century. In this section, the audience could grasp a sufficient history of the world's fair of 1893 as well as how it came about. Insinuated throughout the first section was America's primal motivation to challenge the original world's fair held in Paris and prove themselves redeemed experts of artistic and creative architecture. I later learned one of the main characters in this section and throughout the book is Daniel Burnham, a famed architect who helped design Chicago's world's fair. Mr. Burnham seemed to have stumbled upon architecture as a career after he failed two entrance exams into Harvard and Yale. He tried many jobs in his younger years, which included being a druggist for a short term, however always stumbled back into the field of architecture. He finally became serious about his craft when he met John Root whom he considered to be a close friend and another great architect. While drafters themselves for another company, they together decided to start their own company called Burnham and Root. Aside from this brief biography about Mr. Burnham, the book also explained how Chicago was the lucky city chosen to hold the World's Fair. Although it began as a competition between the cities of Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, and St. Louis, it ultimately turned out to be an intense race between New York, and Chicago. In the end, "the Windy City" pulled through holding a mere one more vote than New York. After this brief background about the world's Fair and Daniel Burnham, a shift began to take place in the story. It mentioned the disappearance of people in the city, primarily young women. It is too early to tell whether or not the book will meet my expectations in the end. Currently, the book has proved to be interesting from a historical aspect yet not so much from a story aspect. If it weren't non-fiction, I would not consider the story-line to be engaging. I originally chose this book with the assumption that it was not entirely non-fiction. I thought that it would be a fictional "murder mystery"-in-big-city kind of a book with minor historical emblems along the way. Thus far, the theme of the book has proved to intimate the theme of this unit: work class and identity. It is set in late 19th century Chicago, a young and bustling manufacturing city and its main character being one of the most prominent architects in the history of America, if not the world. This alone shows a clear connection between the book and the unit of work, class and identity.
Individual Entry #2 Through part 2 the book has been very boring and is not what I expected at all. In the second part we find out that the construction is not going smoothly. The union workers go on strike and Burnham must compensate some things to get them to come back to work. Some of the architects get sick and one ends up dying. Only a few of the buildings have began to be built, and the woman that was in charge of the Women’s Building was run off by wealthy woman. The landscaping has yet to be done and Burnham needs to hire another architect. They also want to out Eiffel-Eiffel, and he sends in a proposal for his own building. Everyone becomes angry at this because they did not want him to outdo himself rather they wanted to outdo him. The engineer whose plans are accepted is that of Gale Ferris, and we all know that this leads to the Ferris Wheel. Holmes sells his pharmacy to Ned, and Holmes marries Ned’s ex-wife. Holmes was going to perform an abortion on Julia, his wife, but instead he murdered her and had a man clean her bones and put together a skeleton, which Holmes sold to a college. Holmes also killed Julia’s daughter, Pearl, and the neighbors become suspicious. Holmes then steals another person’s woman from them, this time it was his assistant, Pzietel’s girlfriend. He also kills her and the neighbors now suspect that he did something, but they do not take action. I was hoping that the book would get better as it goes on, but it has only disappointed me. It began to get into more detail about the fair and all the inner-workings, which is not interesting at all. I am still confused on why Holmes is even mentioned in this book because it has nothing to do with the fair besides both take place in Chicago. The book does connect to the theme of work because there are union workers and numerous other workers in the book. The writing of the book is good, but the way it connects is still non-existent. There are two stories in one and it is not clear how Holmes and he fair will connect, but I suppose that it will happen soon.
The second part of the book hasn't really changed since part one. It just goes on talking about the start of construction. It mostly goes into detail with the drafters not turning in their drawing on time. and this causes the main character to get frustrated and forces him to start contracting each drawer. Larson also talks about the problems with the workers. he goes on saying how some are ill or refuse to work or die from the working conditions. Larson does bring in some information about the life of Ned. mainly the personal life. he starts off by saying that Ned is losing his wife to another character Holmes. Holmes seems to be trying to ruins Ned's life in my opinon. He sells Ned a his store which pretty much goes belly up due to all the debt he has. And then when Ned leaves his wife Homels doesn't bother to prevent it. In fact all of Neds ideas about his wife cheating on him with Homels comes true when Larson talks about how Ned's wife is pregent with Homels baby. other than that this part didn't get my interst. it was hard to read because i was trying to focus to much on the characters. but the was nothing really going on. i want to read about the murders and not about the lives of the men. This book has not met my expectations at all. i was hoping to get more out of this book and so far it just discuss the fair not much of a story at all. it would be better if larson would just get to the point of the story instead of talking about all these characters. it is just so boring. i think it could of been written better. in a sense that it should be able to keep my interset. i don't mean to sound harsh but everytime i read this book i fall alseep. larson does not keep my entertain at all. it just doens't meet my interest. i suppose that is because i enjoy reading fiction books and not history novels. The theme work and class is present in this novel as i have said before it manily talks about the drawers and workers in the story. Larson goes into the background of all the workers. well most of them. he states that Brunham is stress that the fair will not be completed in time due to the slow work and the late entries of the drawing. the theme work and class appear a massive amount of times in this story. I do not enjoy this book at all. it does not talk at all what it advertises. The title also throws me off because i suspect a book that deals with a mad man not a group of men trying to build the work largest fair and out do the French. It jus doesn't seem good at all. Murder, Magic, and Madness at the fair that changed america. so far it is the fair of construction and workmen. nothing pertaining to murder or madness. it keeps talking about jack the ripper and in my mind i believet that the murder will be alot like him but so far nothing like that. it needs to tell a story not spit out history. that way it will make me want to read it but so far i only read it get my work done.
Well as a group we all seem to have the same opinons, and that is the book is dull and boring. at first before we all started reading we were hoping with a nonfiction book full of horror. not a text that only talks about hisory. we all expected a book that had a story that mostly talked about a physco killer that takes the lives of innocent people, during the worlds fair. so far the book is dud. it hasn't talked about a mad man. unless you count homles that is the only killer we know of in the novel thus far. other than that none of use were thinking that this book would only talk about the men who designed the fair. we all wanted something more interesting. as a group we do see how the working class is seen in the novel. we all pretty get the sense that all the workers were under stress to create something better than that of the french. all the workers were stressing because no one thought they would be able to out do them. and the fact that they might run out of time because the drawing for the fair are coming in so slow. we also saw in the novel the stress and effects on the workers. most of them have never consturcted something so elaborate. it was hard for anyone of any class as a group we mainly saw the stress of the drafters. As a group we all have the same feelings torward this book and that is it is boring and needs to change its story. we all wanted something more intersesting. nothing that had so much history in it. no one really wants to read it if it continues like this. we want to read more about the madness not about the process of building it. the book is not a good read to us. we have a hard time understanding some of the things that are going on. larson talks about so many different characters and it is easy for any of us to lose track of the story line. as a group we were hoping for more nothing like this. hopefully it will change and we will want to engage more into the novel.
Individual Entry #2 Some excerpts from the second section of the book are interesting while others are simply boring. Much of it remains based on the process of building the fair as well as the relationships between the workers on the site and architects from across the nation that Burnham hired for this project. Burnham chose various architects from different cities, many of whom were from New York. When the Chicago architects discovered this, they were uneasy until they eventually were hired as well. Tension arose for a time and then eventually dissolved. Throughout the development of the fair in section two, we see a glimpse of what it is like to be a worker on the site. The conditions are so tiresome and demanding that some fell ill and died. Burnham becomes impulsive when the drafters for the fair fail at presenting their drawings on time. Later in section two, we hear about Holmes, the murderer and master manipulator of the story who owned a pharmacy. We hear about the various encounters he had with various people and how women continued to disappear throughout the city. One couple in particular that Holmes manipulated was Nat and his wife Julia. Nat's marriage was "on the rocks" regardless of Holmes, however when Holmes entered the picture it only added "fuel to the fire." Holmes understood that their marriage was faulty and offered Nat his pharmacy business to Nat in order to pay off his potential divorce. Nat agreed and soon discovered his mistake of agreement when he finds that the business was highly in debt. With the right suspicion that Holmes and Julia were having an affair, Nat leaves his wife. Julia soon told Holmes that she was pregnant with his child and Holmes agreed to marry her only if she had an abortion. She was never to be seen after the night of the supposed operation. Overall, this section proved to be fairly bland. Due to the book's nonfictional nature, and because it embodies our theme for this unit work, class, and identity, I feel it is noteworthy. Personally, I feel this section is more interesting than section one because it incorporates the murder mystery along with the building of the site, however it has not proved to be a "good read" yet.
Group Entry #2 Majority of the group does not like the book. I, Meara, disagree and enjoy the book because of the mystery. Caroline thinks it is okay. The group does not care how the World’s Columbian exposition was constructed. Those parts interrupted the mystery like a TV commercial. We all think H. H. Holmes is a disturbed man. The book is of historical importance. It shows the history if Chicago in the late 1800’s, how architecture has changed over the years, and the development of a physco-path. It will not stand the test of time in our opinion because it does not engage us. The book gets better as it goes on but it still does not reach our expectations. If the World’s Columbian Exposition did not happen would Holmes still kill people? Based on how he is described in the book and that fact that he was thinking about killing people even before the World’s Columbian Exposition, yes. The fair just made it easier for him. It relates to work because of the work that goes into the construction of the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Individual post #3 The fair finally started and it was not a big success at first, but once the Ferris wheel was working it was pulling in big numbers. It eventually got the record for attendance because they convinced the Chicago businesses to close for a day and they had a total of 750,000. The fair fought for numbers because of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, but they eventually started to get consistent numbers. Holmes began to kill more people because he started a World Fair hotel. If a man wanted a room he was told it was full, but if a single woman wanted a room she always got one. Many of the people started to disappear and the families asked Holmes if he knew anything and he always said he did not. Holmes’ wife’s sister came to stay with them for the summer. One day Holmes asked her to go into his vault and he locked her in it and listened to her die. That night a man came and picked up two crates, which had bodies in them and they were delivered to Chappell who used the cadavers for science. At the fair they ran into many problems, there were fire and wind storms that destroyed buildings. One particular fire killed 16 people and Burnham and others were charged with criminal negligence. After the fair ended the buildings became a place for the homeless to live and the “White City” turned into the rest of Chicago, or the “Black City.” The book has gotten better because it is no longer mainly about the fair and it has more to do with Holmes. I now know how Holmes connects to the fair, but I am still a little put off by the stuff that Holmes does, but it adds a different aspect to the story. I still don’t like the story as a whole still but it is not as bad as before. I do not think that the book is of great value, but it might be for someone else, and I think all of the stories in one book are hard to follow sometimes. It relates to work and class because the workers are starting to get laid off because they are not needed any more. Overall the book is improving, but still not a page turner.
Ok so far the book isn't that good. I can say though it is kind of getting better. i don't like how the author keeps jumping from the killer holmes to the world's fair. i keep losing track of what is happening. Thus far, the novel has taken an interesting turn, i just read that Homles had built a hotel and has been luring young ladies to the hotel by telling the male guest that rooms are not avaible. He has also just moved his wife to a far away apartment so that she won't be bothered by the female guest. at least that is what homels tells her. I come to find out that Anna's sister Minnie is coming to visit, minnie seems very skeptical of Homels and she should be. Although once she comes he pretty much puts on an act trying be all nice and has taken them to the fair everyday for like two weeks. Homels knew minnie's feeling towards him and he didn't like it. but then another twist came. when homels said that he would be moving to europe with his wife to study art. she was excited. when the three of them were ready to leave, Homels ask Anna to grab something from the vault, unknowingly she goes in. as she is searching for the document, homles locks the vault and listens to her die. he then goes to meet with minnie to tell her that anna has been waiting for them in the lobby. Now anna has become another one of the many victims of the worlds fair hotel. as all of this was going on the worlds fair had open it's doors and with a major sucess. they had a good opening day and many people came to the fair. the ferris wheel was one main invention that got people to come. it was the first time something like that had every been added to a fair. two scary events did occur at the fair one invovling the ferris wheel. a big gust of wind was blowing and all of a sudden the ferris wheel shook lucky that was all but a fire had broken out as well in a building killing 16 people. as time goes by the fair starts losing attraction and after a while they close down putting many people jobless. this does not help the economy because already chicago is losing money. banks and many bussiness are starting to go bankrupt. and it seems that all this was caused beacuse of the fair. the book is kind of meeting my expections in a way. i still think they talk to much about the fair and not focus enough on the murders. that is what catches me, is how this one man can do some many harmful things to innocent ladies. i just rather read more of the murders because i want to understand homels more. i want to know what drives him to kill, why he would do that to so many? it seems that he his a clever guy in a werid way. he used the fair to lure girls and as they came to his hotel it was like he could pick and choose which guest would get killed. if i thought about this know, it seems freaky especially with halloween coming up. there are many things people could do at any moment. it gives me chills just knowing that someone could of come up with such a plan. and brings up the quesion wether some out there could be plannig the same thing in a way. the work and class theme can be seen. i read about the workers being laid off and how the bossman would now lower rent even though he did pay cuts. it just sucks that they have to live with the fear of losing jobs and becoming homeless. it did seem sad how homeless people took over the fair as their home once it was closed. the book said that building had been set on fire and since many workers were laid off no one was cleaning the park or removing the homeless people. i feel bad for brunham, this one guy put so much effort into the fair and it was pretty much destoryed by people who need a place to live. the book is ok, i think it shouldn't jump around so much. i understan that larson wants me to read the history and get that this fair was important, but he should talk about the killer and then jump to the visitors of the fair. i just makes my head spin sometimes and i have to stop and refocus to find out what has been happening. i feel reading the book is another big challenge. it doesn't have all of my interest, i kind of just want to finish it so i wouldn't have to read it anymore. that may seem harsh but this book can just drain all my brain power.
The end of the book seemed better than the start. it seemed this way because i got hear more about Holmes and the outcome of the murders. it didn't talk about the fair's construction. in the end i found out that holmes had been arrested after Frank Geyer found the bodies of the three children. at first homles wasn't in jail for that but instead insurance fraud. anyways homles is in jail reading and writing. he is mostly writing his journals and memiors. he wishes to get them out before the public hears about the murders and jugdes him to harshly. anyway the murders are published in the paper and the mother of the kids goes up to canada where they were found to identify them. sadly they were her kids and against geyer intentions Holmes had found out about the bodies being found. thus he knew they were going to question him and throughout the entrie question he sat quite not confessing to anything. Later geyer goes to the hotel that homles owns and there he finds the vault where the bones of his wife lies and the table where he disected his very own victims. after finding all of this geyer places homles under arrest for the murders of the kids. the ending was much better than the beginning it grabed my attention i was able to finish it and in a way enjoy it. it wasn't the best book but the ending was good. i was happy that homles was arrested. i still cannot believe all the things he had done. he was really crazy. and for some reason that is what kept me reading. i wanted to know what was he going to do next. i suppose that is why the book seemed so long i just wanted to read about him instead of the boring fair. i just felt that the fair was a long gruling process that didn't add to the book. it just made me read more pages. in a sense i did see how the class system was placed. however i did not really read much about it in the final chapter. i was only focused on homles and the outcome of his trial. but as i said before i thought that the book did incorporate the working class because i read about all these people working for the fair and how the fair opened up all these jobs, but at the same time when the fair ended how many jobs were lost. it seemed sad that this huge event lasted for the time it did and too bad it could not withstand the test of time. in a way they did Out Eiffel Eiffel but now look at whose still standing. i just think that this fair did a great job by suppling jobs and money to those who needed work but it is sad at the same time how so many lost their business. okay i must admit the book wasn't that bad. i just did not keep my interest i felt that it should just talk about the murders and mystery. the fair seemed too long, i can understand though why Larson added it, he wanted to stress the importance of the fair and how it function in society. it is pretty cool that the men and woman accomplished this diffcult task of building this fair. but still the book was long to read. i like hearing about homles no matter how crazy he seemed. he add an adventure to the book it was kind of like. what crazy thing is he going to do next, or who is going to be his next victim? it is questions like these that made me read. it was the only interesting part to me. on a personal note i feel that this book would of been better if i read it whenever i wanted instead of having to read it by a certian date. it seems diffcult to enjoy something that is a task. i just feel that if i had more time to read i would be able to enjoy this book a whole lot more. in addition i feel that if i were older i could enjoy this book. i perfer fictional books nothing that is all about history. maybe when i go to college and have more free time i will pick up this book and reread to get more enjoyment out of it.
Individual Entry #4 The last part of the book was probably the best part, or the least terrible part. We find out that Holmes killed close to 200 people, which is a ridiculous number. He also had a bunch of skeletons that Chappell made for him, and he also had children’s dresses and acid to strip bones. This is possibly one of the creepiest things I have ever read in my life. I have no idea how someone could kill 200 people and dissect them. He is like Michael Jackson but on a another extreme level of psychopathness. He did not even have a motive for his actions, if he had something against a certain person or something it would be more understandable. It was almost a small genocide of girls of the Chicago area. The boring part of the book came back though; we find out that after the fair everybody either goes bankrupt or something else bad happens to them. The end part met my expectations because we finally got to the real murder mystery part. The first three parts had no mystery to them, and I though the whole book was a murder mystery. I did think it was really weird though and I will never read another murder mystery or any book that has murder in besides an action novel, maybe. The book definitely connects to the theme of work and class, most of it has to do with the ins and outs of putting together the fair. I think it would be a good book for someone that likes this genre, or is just as creepy as Holmes. This book was not my cup of tea, but it has artistic value because I have never seen two stories told at the same time before. Overall, The Devil in the White City was not enjoyable to me, but it has literary value and I am sure it is well liked by many people.
Group Entry # 3 Two people in our group disliked Devil in the White City and were not satisfied. Two others including myself enjoyed the book for the most part. Tarraneh and Ryan disliked the book because it simply did not attract their interest. They feel the beginning of the novel was too boring and the book was too long for its plot. Meara enjoyed the book the most while I started to enjoy it as the story line progressed. We all agree that the book has a very slow introduction. Both Tarraneh and Ryan were frustrated by the format of the book; two seemingly different stories interrupting one another every chapter. Although Meara and I enjoyed the murder mystery part of the book best, we feel the construction of the World's Fair is noteworthy for its historical significance. This book gained some of our interests later in the novel and some never. When discussing wether the book was worthy of literarty merit, Tarraneh and Ryan claimed that it was not because of the random interruptions of the two different story lines. Meara and I believe it is worthy of artistic merit by blending two stories together and showing how they intertwine in a significant way.
For Caroline and Meara; According to what you read, what made aspects of the book did you enjoy better than Tarraneh and Ryan? Was it mainly the ending, or was there something else you liked?
15 comments:
The start of the book isn't extremly interesting. It mainly talks about the history of the worlds fair and how Amercia wanted to upshow Pairs. After Pairs opened their world fair. At the start of the novel I basically learn about the main characters and their history. I found out that Mr. Burnham had failed his attempt to get into Yale and Harvard. And after getting a jop in as a draftman he quickly quit and found new interesting jobs, however he slowly starting to quit those as well. It wasn't until he found another place where he could start drafting. it was also here were he met his friend Mr. Root. Root was the complete opposite of Burnham, he was proudly accpeted into Oxford where he study drafting and then was sent back home after his father called him back. He was extremly artist and Mr.Burnham was amazed at how he stood at a drafting table. In the first part i also found out that mr. burnham had married his employers daughter, the same went for mr. root, however root's wife quickly passed away only weeks after the wedding due to the illness, TB. Although the first part told much about the characters it also talked about how Chicago got chosen to be the city where the fair would be bulit. it was between New York, Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington. Chicago and New York were pretty trying to get the fair there no matter what. Chicago came out as the victor though after beating the majority vote by one. I also learned about the many disapperance that were happening during this time. It was mainly women who were alone that kept vanishing. but none the less people of chicago were scared for their own lives.
The book is some what meeting my expectations and at the same time not. I like knowing the characters but there seems to be more history than real story telling. To me i just enjoy the fictional side of a story. and in a way this book provides it. by telling me about the disappearances caught me interest. since i was expecting the novel to have more of a cliff hanging, page turning type effect. so far it is just giving me facts. I'm sure if i continue reading i will find more parts of the story that capture my interest.
As for the theme of the book i do see the theme of work and class in this novel. i learned about the men who wanted to work on this fair and the other workers who died building it. i found out that the drafters had already much money and by building the fair they made much more. one qoute even speaks of Mr. Burnhams wealth. "...but rich beyond anything either man had expected,enough so that each year Mr. Burnham bought a barrel of fine maderia and aged it by shipping it around the world twice on slow freighters." i kind of got a sense that the burnham and root were wealthly. not by some of the other peoples standards but compared to the workers they were really rich.
This book hasn't caught my interest yet. but i'm sure that if i continue reading it will capture me. it is wirten very well, Larson has a very smooth flow of the story, he does not get captured too much in heavy details about certian unimportant topics. he has an interesting story line. just when i think he has lost me he finds a way to suck me back into reading it. by adding some sort of misfortune or a random fact that makes me want to continue. there are time thouh that i wish he could just start the tale about the fair and not continue to rant about the men's pass lives. it does engage me though with the tellings of the workers larson says"of the 352 men who worked on the bridge's notorious east caisson , pressure-related illness killed 12 left two crippled for life, and injuried 66 others..." larson isn't talking about the consturction of the fair but it is little historical moments like this which paint a picture of how the workers at that time were treated. they seemed not to know much about the dangers no one at that time seemed to know. but it kept pulling me back in with little things like those. i sure when the story continues it will have more of an impact and will prove to be a book that everyone should read. i already have someone who wants to borrow it and all they read was the back and one randomly chosen section of the book.
I hope this book will meet my expectations. it seems like it should i would rather read more about the madness at the fair. when it does i'm sure i will be more engaged with the reading than what i am now. Also at some points in the novel larson makes referrance to Jack the Ripper and i am wondering if this story is like his, where they were only able to figure out the suspects and not able to get the real killer? i wonder if this story is will be like that.
Individual Entry #1
The book has started out confusing to me, but after going over it a few more times I began to understand it. There are many stories that are going on at the same time. There is the story about Burnham, Root, and the other architects, the story of H.H. Holmes, and background information on all of the characters. The main focus of the story is about the World’s Fair and how it is a big thing for the city of Chicago and for America. Chicago at the time is very dirty and there is a lot of crime. Since it is such a big deal it is important that it goes well, and Root ends up dying and some of the architects quit or get sick. All of the architects are from out of Chicago and this angers many of the local architects, so they eventually add one of them. Many of the people that work for Holmes, at this pharmacy, end up disappearing and there are others that vanish as well. The book is very odd because it jumps around to different stories and has random stuff in it like the Jack the Ripper story, I am not sure how that connects to the story but I am sure all of the stories will come together in the end. It also is not really a fictional story, like I expected it to be, but it has a lot of actual historical information. I do not like murder mysteries and I do not like the description of gruesome murders, but maybe this book will change my view on murder mysteries. My expectations for the book was that it was going to be interesting and a page-turner, but it has started out slow and I need a book that gets me from the beginning. Right now I do not like the book very much, but I think it is one of those books that if you push through the beginning it will pick up and get into the exciting parts. I thought the book was going to be more on the suspenseful side, but it has not had me not having a clue what was going to happen next. I think the book is of good quality, but it is not necessarily a good read for me. I think the way the book is structured, it is unique, but at sometimes it can be confusing. What will make this a good book is if all of these little side stories comes together and makes for a great plot. The book relates to work and class because we have Holmes trying to make a living in a new city. Holmes is also expanding his business and is trying to support his family and live the American dream. It is class because we have characters who are wealthy and also the common workers in the pharmacy.
The first section of the book was different than I thought it would be. As I began reading the prologue I discovered that the entire book was written solely in non-fiction form. When I learned this, I didn't know how much I would enjoy reading the book, as I tend to gravitate towards the excitement of historical fiction novels. The first part of section one spoke about the World's Fair of 1983 held in Chicago. Named the Columbian Exposition, this world's fair was a significant part of America's status in the late 19th century. In this section, the audience could grasp a sufficient history of the world's fair of 1893 as well as how it came about. Insinuated throughout the first section was America's primal motivation to challenge the original world's fair held in Paris and prove themselves redeemed experts of artistic and creative architecture. I later learned one of the main characters in this section and throughout the book is Daniel Burnham, a famed architect who helped design Chicago's world's fair. Mr. Burnham seemed to have stumbled upon architecture as a career after he failed two entrance exams into Harvard and Yale. He tried many jobs in his younger years, which included being a druggist for a short term, however always stumbled back into the field of architecture. He finally became serious about his craft when he met John Root whom he considered to be a close friend and another great architect. While drafters themselves for another company, they together decided to start their own company called Burnham and Root. Aside from this brief biography about Mr. Burnham, the book also explained how Chicago was the lucky city chosen to hold the World's Fair. Although it began as a competition between the cities of Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, and St. Louis, it ultimately turned out to be an intense race between New York, and Chicago. In the end, "the Windy City" pulled through holding a mere one more vote than New York. After this brief background about the world's Fair and Daniel Burnham, a shift began to take place in the story. It mentioned the disappearance of people in the city, primarily young women.
It is too early to tell whether or not the book will meet my expectations in the end. Currently, the book has proved to be interesting from a historical aspect yet not so much from a story aspect. If it weren't non-fiction, I would not consider the story-line to be engaging. I originally chose this book with the assumption that it was not entirely non-fiction. I thought that it would be a fictional "murder mystery"-in-big-city kind of a book with minor historical emblems along the way.
Thus far, the theme of the book has proved to intimate the theme of this unit: work class and identity. It is set in late 19th century Chicago, a young and bustling manufacturing city and its main character being one of the most prominent architects in the history of America, if not the world. This alone shows a clear connection between the book and the unit of work, class and identity.
Individual Entry #2
Through part 2 the book has been very boring and is not what I expected at all. In the second part we find out that the construction is not going smoothly. The union workers go on strike and Burnham must compensate some things to get them to come back to work. Some of the architects get sick and one ends up dying. Only a few of the buildings have began to be built, and the woman that was in charge of the Women’s Building was run off by wealthy woman. The landscaping has yet to be done and Burnham needs to hire another architect. They also want to out Eiffel-Eiffel, and he sends in a proposal for his own building. Everyone becomes angry at this because they did not want him to outdo himself rather they wanted to outdo him. The engineer whose plans are accepted is that of Gale Ferris, and we all know that this leads to the Ferris Wheel. Holmes sells his pharmacy to Ned, and Holmes marries Ned’s ex-wife. Holmes was going to perform an abortion on Julia, his wife, but instead he murdered her and had a man clean her bones and put together a skeleton, which Holmes sold to a college. Holmes also killed Julia’s daughter, Pearl, and the neighbors become suspicious. Holmes then steals another person’s woman from them, this time it was his assistant, Pzietel’s girlfriend. He also kills her and the neighbors now suspect that he did something, but they do not take action. I was hoping that the book would get better as it goes on, but it has only disappointed me. It began to get into more detail about the fair and all the inner-workings, which is not interesting at all. I am still confused on why Holmes is even mentioned in this book because it has nothing to do with the fair besides both take place in Chicago. The book does connect to the theme of work because there are union workers and numerous other workers in the book. The writing of the book is good, but the way it connects is still non-existent. There are two stories in one and it is not clear how Holmes and he fair will connect, but I suppose that it will happen soon.
The second part of the book hasn't really changed since part one. It just goes on talking about the start of construction. It mostly goes into detail with the drafters not turning in their drawing on time. and this causes the main character to get frustrated and forces him to start contracting each drawer. Larson also talks about the problems with the workers. he goes on saying how some are ill or refuse to work or die from the working conditions. Larson does bring in some information about the life of Ned. mainly the personal life. he starts off by saying that Ned is losing his wife to another character Holmes. Holmes seems to be trying to ruins Ned's life in my opinon. He sells Ned a his store which pretty much goes belly up due to all the debt he has. And then when Ned leaves his wife Homels doesn't bother to prevent it. In fact all of Neds ideas about his wife cheating on him with Homels comes true when Larson talks about how Ned's wife is pregent with Homels baby. other than that this part didn't get my interst. it was hard to read because i was trying to focus to much on the characters. but the was nothing really going on. i want to read about the murders and not about the lives of the men.
This book has not met my expectations at all. i was hoping to get more out of this book and so far it just discuss the fair not much of a story at all. it would be better if larson would just get to the point of the story instead of talking about all these characters. it is just so boring. i think it could of been written better. in a sense that it should be able to keep my interset. i don't mean to sound harsh but everytime i read this book i fall alseep. larson does not keep my entertain at all. it just doens't meet my interest. i suppose that is because i enjoy reading fiction books and not history novels.
The theme work and class is present in this novel as i have said before it manily talks about the drawers and workers in the story. Larson goes into the background of all the workers. well most of them. he states that Brunham is stress that the fair will not be completed in time due to the slow work and the late entries of the drawing. the theme work and class appear a massive amount of times in this story.
I do not enjoy this book at all. it does not talk at all what it advertises. The title also throws me off because i suspect a book that deals with a mad man not a group of men trying to build the work largest fair and out do the French. It jus doesn't seem good at all. Murder, Magic, and Madness at the fair that changed america. so far it is the fair of construction and workmen. nothing pertaining to murder or madness. it keeps talking about jack the ripper and in my mind i believet that the murder will be alot like him but so far nothing like that. it needs to tell a story not spit out history. that way it will make me want to read it but so far i only read it get my work done.
Group entry #1
Well as a group we all seem to have the same opinons, and that is the book is dull and boring. at first before we all started reading we were hoping with a nonfiction book full of horror. not a text that only talks about hisory. we all expected a book that had a story that mostly talked about a physco killer that takes the lives of innocent people, during the worlds fair. so far the book is dud. it hasn't talked about a mad man. unless you count homles that is the only killer we know of in the novel thus far. other than that none of use were thinking that this book would only talk about the men who designed the fair. we all wanted something more interesting.
as a group we do see how the working class is seen in the novel. we all pretty get the sense that all the workers were under stress to create something better than that of the french. all the workers were stressing because no one thought they would be able to out do them. and the fact that they might run out of time because the drawing for the fair are coming in so slow. we also saw in the novel the stress and effects on the workers. most of them have never consturcted something so elaborate. it was hard for anyone of any class as a group we mainly saw the stress of the drafters.
As a group we all have the same feelings torward this book and that is it is boring and needs to change its story. we all wanted something more intersesting. nothing that had so much history in it. no one really wants to read it if it continues like this. we want to read more about the madness not about the process of building it. the book is not a good read to us. we have a hard time understanding some of the things that are going on. larson talks about so many different characters and it is easy for any of us to lose track of the story line. as a group we were hoping for more nothing like this. hopefully it will change and we will want to engage more into the novel.
Individual Entry #2
Some excerpts from the second section of the book are interesting while others are simply boring. Much of it remains based on the process of building the fair as well as the relationships between the workers on the site and architects from across the nation that Burnham hired for this project. Burnham chose various architects from different cities, many of whom were from New York. When the Chicago architects discovered this, they were uneasy until they eventually were hired as well. Tension arose for a time and then eventually dissolved. Throughout the development of the fair in section two, we see a glimpse of what it is like to be a worker on the site. The conditions are so tiresome and demanding that some fell ill and died. Burnham becomes impulsive when the drafters for the fair fail at presenting their drawings on time.
Later in section two, we hear about Holmes, the murderer and master manipulator of the story who owned a pharmacy. We hear about the various encounters he had with various people and how women continued to disappear throughout the city. One couple in particular that Holmes manipulated was Nat and his wife Julia. Nat's marriage was "on the rocks" regardless of Holmes, however when Holmes entered the picture it only added "fuel to the fire." Holmes understood that their marriage was faulty and offered Nat his pharmacy business to Nat in order to pay off his potential divorce. Nat agreed and soon discovered his mistake of agreement when he finds that the business was highly in debt. With the right suspicion that Holmes and Julia were having an affair, Nat leaves his wife. Julia soon told Holmes that she was pregnant with his child and Holmes agreed to marry her only if she had an abortion. She was never to be seen after the night of the supposed operation.
Overall, this section proved to be fairly bland. Due to the book's nonfictional nature, and because it embodies our theme for this unit work, class, and identity, I feel it is noteworthy. Personally, I feel this section is more interesting than section one because it incorporates the murder mystery along with the building of the site, however it has not proved to be a "good read" yet.
Group Entry #2
Majority of the group does not like the book. I, Meara, disagree and enjoy the book because of the mystery. Caroline thinks it is okay. The group does not care how the World’s Columbian exposition was constructed. Those parts interrupted the mystery like a TV commercial. We all think H. H. Holmes is a disturbed man. The book is of historical importance. It shows the history if Chicago in the late 1800’s, how architecture has changed over the years, and the development of a physco-path. It will not stand the test of time in our opinion because it does not engage us. The book gets better as it goes on but it still does not reach our expectations. If the World’s Columbian Exposition did not happen would Holmes still kill people? Based on how he is described in the book and that fact that he was thinking about killing people even before the World’s Columbian Exposition, yes. The fair just made it easier for him. It relates to work because of the work that goes into the construction of the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Individual post #3
The fair finally started and it was not a big success at first, but once the Ferris wheel was working it was pulling in big numbers. It eventually got the record for attendance because they convinced the Chicago businesses to close for a day and they had a total of 750,000. The fair fought for numbers because of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, but they eventually started to get consistent numbers. Holmes began to kill more people because he started a World Fair hotel. If a man wanted a room he was told it was full, but if a single woman wanted a room she always got one. Many of the people started to disappear and the families asked Holmes if he knew anything and he always said he did not. Holmes’ wife’s sister came to stay with them for the summer. One day Holmes asked her to go into his vault and he locked her in it and listened to her die. That night a man came and picked up two crates, which had bodies in them and they were delivered to Chappell who used the cadavers for science. At the fair they ran into many problems, there were fire and wind storms that destroyed buildings. One particular fire killed 16 people and Burnham and others were charged with criminal negligence. After the fair ended the buildings became a place for the homeless to live and the “White City” turned into the rest of Chicago, or the “Black City.” The book has gotten better because it is no longer mainly about the fair and it has more to do with Holmes. I now know how Holmes connects to the fair, but I am still a little put off by the stuff that Holmes does, but it adds a different aspect to the story. I still don’t like the story as a whole still but it is not as bad as before. I do not think that the book is of great value, but it might be for someone else, and I think all of the stories in one book are hard to follow sometimes. It relates to work and class because the workers are starting to get laid off because they are not needed any more. Overall the book is improving, but still not a page turner.
Indiviual Post #3
Ok so far the book isn't that good. I can say though it is kind of getting better. i don't like how the author keeps jumping from the killer holmes to the world's fair. i keep losing track of what is happening.
Thus far, the novel has taken an interesting turn, i just read that Homles had built a hotel and has been luring young ladies to the hotel by telling the male guest that rooms are not avaible. He has also just moved his wife to a far away apartment so that she won't be bothered by the female guest. at least that is what homels tells her. I come to find out that Anna's sister Minnie is coming to visit, minnie seems very skeptical of Homels and she should be. Although once she comes he pretty much puts on an act trying be all nice and has taken them to the fair everyday for like two weeks. Homels knew minnie's feeling towards him and he didn't like it. but then another twist came. when homels said that he would be moving to europe with his wife to study art. she was excited. when the three of them were ready to leave, Homels ask Anna to grab something from the vault, unknowingly she goes in. as she is searching for the document, homles locks the vault and listens to her die. he then goes to meet with minnie to tell her that anna has been waiting for them in the lobby. Now anna has become another one of the many victims of the worlds fair hotel. as all of this was going on the worlds fair had open it's doors and with a major sucess. they had a good opening day and many people came to the fair. the ferris wheel was one main invention that got people to come. it was the first time something like that had every been added to a fair. two scary events did occur at the fair one invovling the ferris wheel. a big gust of wind was blowing and all of a sudden the ferris wheel shook lucky that was all but a fire had broken out as well in a building killing 16 people. as time goes by the fair starts losing attraction and after a while they close down putting many people jobless. this does not help the economy because already chicago is losing money. banks and many bussiness are starting to go bankrupt. and it seems that all this was caused beacuse of the fair.
the book is kind of meeting my expections in a way. i still think they talk to much about the fair and not focus enough on the murders. that is what catches me, is how this one man can do some many harmful things to innocent ladies. i just rather read more of the murders because i want to understand homels more. i want to know what drives him to kill, why he would do that to so many? it seems that he his a clever guy in a werid way. he used the fair to lure girls and as they came to his hotel it was like he could pick and choose which guest would get killed. if i thought about this know, it seems freaky especially with halloween coming up. there are many things people could do at any moment. it gives me chills just knowing that someone could of come up with such a plan. and brings up the quesion wether some out there could be plannig the same thing in a way.
the work and class theme can be seen. i read about the workers being laid off and how the bossman would now lower rent even though he did pay cuts. it just sucks that they have to live with the fear of losing jobs and becoming homeless. it did seem sad how homeless people took over the fair as their home once it was closed. the book said that building had been set on fire and since many workers were laid off no one was cleaning the park or removing the homeless people. i feel bad for brunham, this one guy put so much effort into the fair and it was pretty much destoryed by people who need a place to live.
the book is ok, i think it shouldn't jump around so much. i understan that larson wants me to read the history and get that this fair was important, but he should talk about the killer and then jump to the visitors of the fair. i just makes my head spin sometimes and i have to stop and refocus to find out what has been happening. i feel reading the book is another big challenge. it doesn't have all of my interest, i kind of just want to finish it so i wouldn't have to read it anymore. that may seem harsh but this book can just drain all my brain power.
The end of the book seemed better than the start. it seemed this way because i got hear more about Holmes and the outcome of the murders. it didn't talk about the fair's construction. in the end i found out that holmes had been arrested after Frank Geyer found the bodies of the three children. at first homles wasn't in jail for that but instead insurance fraud. anyways homles is in jail reading and writing. he is mostly writing his journals and memiors. he wishes to get them out before the public hears about the murders and jugdes him to harshly. anyway the murders are published in the paper and the mother of the kids goes up to canada where they were found to identify them. sadly they were her kids and against geyer intentions Holmes had found out about the bodies being found. thus he knew they were going to question him and throughout the entrie question he sat quite not confessing to anything. Later geyer goes to the hotel that homles owns and there he finds the vault where the bones of his wife lies and the table where he disected his very own victims. after finding all of this geyer places homles under arrest for the murders of the kids.
the ending was much better than the beginning it grabed my attention i was able to finish it and in a way enjoy it. it wasn't the best book but the ending was good. i was happy that homles was arrested. i still cannot believe all the things he had done. he was really crazy. and for some reason that is what kept me reading. i wanted to know what was he going to do next. i suppose that is why the book seemed so long i just wanted to read about him instead of the boring fair. i just felt that the fair was a long gruling process that didn't add to the book. it just made me read more pages.
in a sense i did see how the class system was placed. however i did not really read much about it in the final chapter. i was only focused on homles and the outcome of his trial. but as i said before i thought that the book did incorporate the working class because i read about all these people working for the fair and how the fair opened up all these jobs, but at the same time when the fair ended how many jobs were lost. it seemed sad that this huge event lasted for the time it did and too bad it could not withstand the test of time. in a way they did Out Eiffel Eiffel but now look at whose still standing. i just think that this fair did a great job by suppling jobs and money to those who needed work but it is sad at the same time how so many lost their business.
okay i must admit the book wasn't that bad. i just did not keep my interest i felt that it should just talk about the murders and mystery. the fair seemed too long, i can understand though why Larson added it, he wanted to stress the importance of the fair and how it function in society. it is pretty cool that the men and woman accomplished this diffcult task of building this fair. but still the book was long to read. i like hearing about homles no matter how crazy he seemed. he add an adventure to the book it was kind of like. what crazy thing is he going to do next, or who is going to be his next victim? it is questions like these that made me read. it was the only interesting part to me.
on a personal note i feel that this book would of been better if i read it whenever i wanted instead of having to read it by a certian date. it seems diffcult to enjoy something that is a task. i just feel that if i had more time to read i would be able to enjoy this book a whole lot more. in addition i feel that if i were older i could enjoy this book. i perfer fictional books nothing that is all about history. maybe when i go to college and have more free time i will pick up this book and reread to get more enjoyment out of it.
Individual Entry #4
The last part of the book was probably the best part, or the least terrible part. We find out that Holmes killed close to 200 people, which is a ridiculous number. He also had a bunch of skeletons that Chappell made for him, and he also had children’s dresses and acid to strip bones. This is possibly one of the creepiest things I have ever read in my life. I have no idea how someone could kill 200 people and dissect them. He is like Michael Jackson but on a another extreme level of psychopathness. He did not even have a motive for his actions, if he had something against a certain person or something it would be more understandable. It was almost a small genocide of girls of the Chicago area. The boring part of the book came back though; we find out that after the fair everybody either goes bankrupt or something else bad happens to them. The end part met my expectations because we finally got to the real murder mystery part. The first three parts had no mystery to them, and I though the whole book was a murder mystery. I did think it was really weird though and I will never read another murder mystery or any book that has murder in besides an action novel, maybe. The book definitely connects to the theme of work and class, most of it has to do with the ins and outs of putting together the fair. I think it would be a good book for someone that likes this genre, or is just as creepy as Holmes. This book was not my cup of tea, but it has artistic value because I have never seen two stories told at the same time before. Overall, The Devil in the White City was not enjoyable to me, but it has literary value and I am sure it is well liked by many people.
Group Entry # 3
Two people in our group disliked Devil in the White City and were not satisfied. Two others including myself enjoyed the book for the most part. Tarraneh and Ryan disliked the book because it simply did not attract their interest. They feel the beginning of the novel was too boring and the book was too long for its plot. Meara enjoyed the book the most while I started to enjoy it as the story line progressed. We all agree that the book has a very slow introduction. Both Tarraneh and Ryan were frustrated by the format of the book; two seemingly different stories interrupting one another every chapter. Although Meara and I enjoyed the murder mystery part of the book best, we feel the construction of the World's Fair is noteworthy for its historical significance.
This book gained some of our interests later in the novel and some never. When discussing wether the book was worthy of literarty merit, Tarraneh and Ryan claimed that it was not because of the random interruptions of the two different story lines. Meara and I believe it is worthy of artistic merit by blending two stories together and showing how they intertwine in a significant way.
For Caroline and Meara;
According to what you read, what made aspects of the book did you enjoy better than Tarraneh and Ryan? Was it mainly the ending, or was there something else you liked?
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