The best piece I've read about "The Inventor" is from "The New Yorker." Its author is Rachel Syme. Her main point is that neither "Bad Blood" nor "Inventor" gets "in Holmes's head." In other words, because Holmes has been so guarded, deceptive, and stingy with interviewers, we don't really know her.
Some journalists have been happy to fill the void. Someone on Slate wrote in a shallow way about how empty-headed Holmes must be, and about how it's shocking that Holmes is now appearing in sunny Instagram photos, and is actually engaged to be married. (Who gets engaged to a woman who may spend twenty years behind bars? May wonders never cease!)
Styme, in "The New Yorker," smartly resists the temptation to fill in blanks that can't be filled in. We don't know Holmes. It's possible there isn't a "neat psychological explanation" for her behavior--and Styme is right to worry that the upcoming Adam McKay film will invent clarity where there isn't really clarity. Styme seems to be working in the tradition of Janet Malcolm. Both can confess to uncertainty, and yet still somehow craft a satisfying piece of writing.
***I watched the first hour of the new Madeleine McCann Netflix documentary yesterday, and I did not think it was the moral failure others have said it is. I also didn't think it was boring. I appreciated the strange, brief history of the Portugal tourist town where McCann went missing. I was interested in and disturbed by the discussion of the international drug trade; it was frightening to consider Portugal's proximity to Morocco, and to daydream about the kinds of shady deals that might have happened between parties in those countries.
The thing that jumped out at me was that Madeleine said, the morning of her disappearance, "We were upset last night, Mom, and you didn't come to us." Such a chilling moment! Children do seem to try, on occasion, to telegraph their certainty that something is wrong--and they do this with limited vocabularies. (Janet Malcolm writes about this in "Iphigenia in Forest Hills.") One conclusion is: Perhaps McCann's kidnapper was scoping out the territory the night before. He accidentally alerted McCann, and, using her toddler spidey sense, McCann registered her concern and displeasure.
I can't help but think of Michelle McNamara. MM speculated that McCann's kidnapper was a guy who worked on the premises--someone who could observe the parents following the same boozy routine night after night after night. Day Five: OK, I think I understand their pattern now. I'm going to investigate the actual apartment while they're gone (and upset Madeleine). Day Six: I'm going to make the move.
Who knows? Occasionally, an evil person will come to a window and pluck a small child out of her bed. It has happened before. (It's also happened that a man has taken one child and left another--and we see that in the McCann case, as well.)
***I'm excited about the Netflix documentary "Losers," which looks at famous examples of athletic loss, and also makes some philosophical observations about the concept of loss (I assume). One case is Surya Bonaly, who lost the gold in 1994 (World Championships) and briefly refused to appear on the platform to accept the silver. Sore loser? Or is there more to the story? Where does race fit in? This promises to be a fascinating hour (or series of hours).
Some journalists have been happy to fill the void. Someone on Slate wrote in a shallow way about how empty-headed Holmes must be, and about how it's shocking that Holmes is now appearing in sunny Instagram photos, and is actually engaged to be married. (Who gets engaged to a woman who may spend twenty years behind bars? May wonders never cease!)
Styme, in "The New Yorker," smartly resists the temptation to fill in blanks that can't be filled in. We don't know Holmes. It's possible there isn't a "neat psychological explanation" for her behavior--and Styme is right to worry that the upcoming Adam McKay film will invent clarity where there isn't really clarity. Styme seems to be working in the tradition of Janet Malcolm. Both can confess to uncertainty, and yet still somehow craft a satisfying piece of writing.
***I watched the first hour of the new Madeleine McCann Netflix documentary yesterday, and I did not think it was the moral failure others have said it is. I also didn't think it was boring. I appreciated the strange, brief history of the Portugal tourist town where McCann went missing. I was interested in and disturbed by the discussion of the international drug trade; it was frightening to consider Portugal's proximity to Morocco, and to daydream about the kinds of shady deals that might have happened between parties in those countries.
The thing that jumped out at me was that Madeleine said, the morning of her disappearance, "We were upset last night, Mom, and you didn't come to us." Such a chilling moment! Children do seem to try, on occasion, to telegraph their certainty that something is wrong--and they do this with limited vocabularies. (Janet Malcolm writes about this in "Iphigenia in Forest Hills.") One conclusion is: Perhaps McCann's kidnapper was scoping out the territory the night before. He accidentally alerted McCann, and, using her toddler spidey sense, McCann registered her concern and displeasure.
I can't help but think of Michelle McNamara. MM speculated that McCann's kidnapper was a guy who worked on the premises--someone who could observe the parents following the same boozy routine night after night after night. Day Five: OK, I think I understand their pattern now. I'm going to investigate the actual apartment while they're gone (and upset Madeleine). Day Six: I'm going to make the move.
Who knows? Occasionally, an evil person will come to a window and pluck a small child out of her bed. It has happened before. (It's also happened that a man has taken one child and left another--and we see that in the McCann case, as well.)
***I'm excited about the Netflix documentary "Losers," which looks at famous examples of athletic loss, and also makes some philosophical observations about the concept of loss (I assume). One case is Surya Bonaly, who lost the gold in 1994 (World Championships) and briefly refused to appear on the platform to accept the silver. Sore loser? Or is there more to the story? Where does race fit in? This promises to be a fascinating hour (or series of hours).
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