Thursday, September 14, 2017

Book Review: See What I Have Done


Title: See What I Have Done
Author: Sarah Schmidt
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars 

If you know nothing (except maybe the rhyme) about Lizzie Borden go ahead and read this right away. You'll likely find it an intriguing little murder mystery. 


If you are obsessed with Lizzie then read this; as I'm sure Sarah Schmidt's take will interest you. 


If you know some about Lizzie and the Borden's (watched a documentary or two, like me) then I recommend you read a bit further before deciding if this book is for you. 


Certain this is Sarah Schmidt's interpretation of the history many know so well, and that's okay. However that's what you have to remember while you read. This is a Schmidt's interpretation of the evidence (or lack thereof), cast of characters, etc. 


I was disappointed that none of Lizzie's trial or those facts that are known from it were truly shared. I'd have liked to know what Schmidt thought Lizzie experienced in jail. However, it may have made it so that it wasn't as ambiguous about who the killer may have been by the end. So I can accept why she didn't delve into this; even if I really wanted her to. 


The flow of the story and timeline was a bit of a challenge for me. I felt it was sometimes difficult to realize what events were before the killings, after and in the far future. The dates at the front of chapters didn't help me much as they weren't always adhered to and as an ebook version I couldn't easily flip back to reacquaint myself with the dates. 


My opinion on who killed the Borden's has not changed after reading See What I Have Done. I'm not sure Schmidt intends to change anyone's mind which is just fine. That said, I can't deny that Schmidt gave me an explanation to all the questions and odd moments in this historical event. And she strategically leaves it up to the reader to decide if they accept her version of events or not. I do not accept her version of the event 100%; but it certainly gave me some things to think about. 


Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

2 comments:

Leonore Winterer said...

I just recently heard about the Borden-case for the first time, and I'm actually quite interested in reading this...is it likely to cloud my mind and influence who I think has done it? Probably, if it's well written...but since my opinion on that doesn't really matter, I think I still want to read it :D

Leonore Winterer said...

I just recently heard about the Borden-case for the first time, and I'm actually quite interested in reading this now...Is it likely to influence my opinion on who has done it? Probably, if it makes a compelling argument, but it doesn't really matter what I believe anyways :D