Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

A young law student, an unspeakable crime, and a past that refuses to stay buried.

A Murder and a Memoir

The Fact of a Body

Denaiir

quite gripping at first but after a while it became quite boring and too long, and it wasn't really ging anywhere. In the end I didn't see what her point was

Lara Engle

I received an ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

From the title, I thought this book might be a procedural kind of story, maybe the story of a body as found in an autopsy. It's not that at all. It's better.

The way Marzano-Lesnevich intertwines the story of Ricky Langley with her own complicated childhood draws the reader into both stories and their emotion and sometimes repression. Her examination of her own motivation to tell the story becomes a major part of the story itself. Tragic and heartbreaking as it is, the death of Jeremy Guillory is almost lost in the author's search for causation and her attempts to construct meaning from what may ultimately be meaningless. She tries to explain the inexplicable. Sometimes we all must mourn and try to move on.

Arturo Hernández

Not my kind of book. It talks about murder investigation with lots of details. For some reason, in writing this type of storty doesn't do it for me.

Liz B

This book is extremely dark (CW: child murder, child sexual abuse) but if you can handle that it's a very thoughtful book and makes you think deeply about generational trauma, justice, bad judgment and forgiveness.

Elizabeth 

3.5 stars

I really wanted to love this, but I found it hard to read between the bouncing around between the author's story and Ricky's story, the different timelines introduced within those, and the aimless way the book covered the story/how the author and Ricky's story meshed. I found it difficult to read more than a few chapters because it was jumping from one sad scene to the next, and it honestly just made me feel very depressed because most of the time, there was no glimmer of hope introduced (moreso in the first half of the book). I know it's nonfiction and the author is incredibly brave for sharing her story...I'm not saying she shouldn't have written it because it was too depressing or anything like that...but I just found it tough to get into with the structure she chose for the book.

I did find parts of it incredibly compelling, however, and I'm glad I read it. I just kind of had to force myself to continue when I hit 50% and still wasn't sure where the book was going or if any of the characters (including the author) would get some type of closure or a "break" as it were.

Jeni Enjaian

I struggled choosing a rating for this book. Marzao-Lesnevich writes so absolutely breathtakingly beautiful through the entire book. Although at first you may think that the two distinct stories have nothing to do with each other, when the threads connect, it blows your mind.

With such high praise, why have I given it only 3 stars? First, if Goodreads allowed half stars I would have given it 3.5 stars. Second, the beautiful care with which the author begins the book, the slow wind up of the narrative, crashes together in the last third of the book. It left a sour aftertaste in my mouth. That letdown, that last bit of the book that I read cast a pallor over the rest of the book. I wish I could give it a higher rating. I just cannot.

b.andherbooks

A remarkable and horrific story, written as a part memoir, part legal drama, and part true-crime tale, sure to please fans of Serial, The Jinx, and Making a Murderer. 

Author Marzano-Lesnevich pulls no punches as she explores the three trials of a convicted pedophile-murderer and her own family's dark secrets that haunt her, and effectively make her give up her legal career. 

I was enthralled and given nightmares by this story, but it is excellently written and well researched.

I was provided a copy as part of the Goodreads First Reads program. Thank you for the ARC!

Laura

The nonfiction books I've been picking up lately have been especially good, and continuing that winning streak we have The Fact of a Body. This was one of two extremely hyped up nonfiction crime novels this year, and it seemed much much more interesting than the other one, American Fire, about arson, a crime even more boring than money laundering or other financial crimes. Also, it's by the same author as one of my least favorite books last year. So when looking at both books in the library I only came home with one, this one.

The Fact of the Body is kind of in the same tradition as In Cold Blood, looking at a heinous crime and then looking at the man who committed such an act. Both crimes are roughly on the same side of horrible, the men in In Cold Blood killing four people, including two teenagers, in a home invasion and the man in this book killing a child after maybe sexually assaulting him. Or perhaps he killed the child and then sexually assaulted him. The details were never really worked out. I put these two crimes on the same level because crimes against children are hideous no question. 

After Marzano-Lesnevich establishes the crime and the crime's effects on the people of the town, like Capote she then launches into Ricky Smith's (the man who did it) past. There could be strong parallels drawn between him and Perry Smith. Both come from less than ideal home lives, big families with alcoholic mothers. Both have less than normal mental states, there is something easily pitied about them. While it was easier to pity Perry than Ricky, I can't help but feel something for them both. Of course, I've always been sensitive to people who come across as sad or desperate or childish seeming. I mean, I've been watching The People vs OJ Simpson and I just feel bad for everyone in that show except Shapiro and Cochlan. So really, it's not that hard to garner my pity, I'm pretty susceptible to sob stories, it's mostly why I oppose the death penalty. That being said, I'm not saying that Ricky Smith should be free or be in a mental institution instead of jail, no the man belongs in prison for life, no questions asked, but he doesn't deserve to die.

An interesting question that this book brings up is the question of pedophilia. Can a person with it get help? Can they change? Or are they people who just can't help themselves? I'm not a psychologist, far from it actually, but I don't think they can change. On one hand, the book leads you to pity the pedophile, who tried to get help only to have it fail, but on the other hand... pedophiles hurt children. They aren't kleptomaniacs who don't actually hurt anyone. Children do not and never will understand sex or romantic love, you cannot be in a mutual relationship with a five year old. In the end, I think there is nothing to do but put the pedophile in jail.

Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...

erin alise 

"Complex and challenging... push[es] the boundaries of writing about trauma." —The New York Times “A True Crime Masterpiece” – Vogue Entertainment Weekly "Must" List and Best Books of the Year So Far Real Simple's Best New Books Guardian Best Book of the Year Lambda Literary Award Finalist "The Fact of a Body is one of the best books I've read this year. It's just astounding." — Paula Hawkins, author of Into the Water and The Girl on the Train "This book is a marvel. The Fact of a Body is equal parts gripping and haunting and will leave you questioning whether any one story can hold the full truth." — Celeste Ng, author of the New York Times bestselling Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere Before Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, she thinks her position is clear. The child of two lawyers, she is staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley’s face flashes on the screen as she reviews old tapes—the moment she hears him speak of his crimes -- she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by her reaction, she digs deeper and deeper into the case. Despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar. Crime, even the darkest and most unsayable acts, can happen to any one of us. As Alexandria pores over the facts of the murder, she finds herself thrust into the complicated narrative of Ricky’s childhood. And by examining the details of Ricky’s case, she is forced to face her own story, to unearth long-buried family secrets, and reckon with a past that colors her view of Ricky's crime. But another surprise awaits: She wasn’t the only one who saw her life in Ricky’s. An intellectual and emotional thriller that is also a different kind of murder mystery, THE FACT OF A BODY is a book not only about how the story of one crime was constructed -- but about how we grapple with our own personal histories. Along the way it tackles questions about the nature of forgiveness, and if a single narrative can ever really contain something as definitive as the truth. This groundbreaking, heart-stopping work, ten years in the making, shows how the law is more personal than we would like to believe -- and the truth more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.

giulia

'Part memoir, part true crime, wholly brilliant.' – Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train. When law student Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich is asked to work on a death-row hearing for convicted murderer and child molester Ricky Langley, she finds herself thrust into the tangled story of his childhood. As she digs deeper and deeper into the case she realizes that, despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar. The Fact of a Body is both an enthralling memoir and a groundbreaking, heart-stopping investigation into how the law is personal, composed of individual stories, and proof that arriving at the truth is more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.

The Fact of a Body A Murder and a Memoir

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