3 comments about The Convict Lover: a True Story..

1. This story combines all the finest elements of a good read - it is a true story of the incongruous love between a young girl and a convict in the nearby Kingston Penitentiary based on letters found in the author's attic. Merilyn has researched meticulously so that the story combines in a realistic fashion the daily life of both the young girl - who is a romantic schoolgirl, often home ill and living in a strictly religious family - and the convict - who is an American imprisoned in Canada and determined not to let his sentence interfere with the quality of his life.

   Through their letters, a picture emerges of the young man and the daily ritual that is his life in one of the newest penal institutions. The young girl uses her imagination to find ways to supply him with ordinary things that have extraordinary meaning inside prison walls. She buys him tobacco, mails his sister letters and sends him presents on holidays. Their relationship serves to increase her self confidence as she is shy, private and somewhat poor in health.

   This book is a powerful story touching upon prison life, life as a young girl and the strange ways fate can bring two disparate people together.




2. This is a truly unique book. In 1987, a cache of letters, albums and clippings was discovered in the attic of a house in Kingston, Ontario, the bits and pieces of an unknown woman's life. Among the overflowing boxes and stuffed sugar sacks was a collection of letters from the months immediately after the First World War, a one-way correspondence written in pencil on flimsy paper. From this careless jumble of papers, there emerged unforgettable characters and an extraordinary story: a convict, a village girl, a penitentiary, and the town that lived in its shadow. The Convict Lover is a dazzling blend of historical detective work and imaginative recreation. You'll be spellbound by the relationship that unfolds through the very secretive, unconventional contacts made between one Joseph Cleroux and his link to the outside world, Phyllis Halliday. Excellent read. This book is an extraordinary stroke of literary good fortune. A wonderful read.



3. This is a truly unique book. In 1987, a cache of letters, albums and clippings was discovered in the attic of a house in Kingston, Ontario, the bits and pieces of an unknown woman's life. Among the overflowing boxes and stuffed sugar sacks was a collection of letters from the months immediately after the First World War, a one-way correspondence written in pencil on flimsy paper. From this careless jumble of papers, there emerged unforgettable characters and an extraordinary story: a convict, a village girl, a penitentiary, and the town that lived in its shadow. The Convict Lover is a dazzling blend of historical detective work and imaginative recreation. You'll be spellbound by the relationship that unfolds through the very secretive, unconventional contacts made between one Joseph Cleroux and his link to the outside world, Phyllis Halliday. This book is an extraordinary stroke of literary good fortune. A wonderful read.

No comments about Great Canadian Imposters (Amazing Stories).

No comments about Bad Guys in American History.

No comments about Walls Have Mouths - A Record Of Ten Years' Penal Servitude.

No comments about THE OBSERVER.

5 comments about Never Enough.

1. As soon as I heard Joe McGinniss had a new book coming out I came to Amazon and pre-ordered it. I've been a fan of McGinniss's work since "Fatal Vision" so the news that he was returning to the True Crime genre and writing about the Kissel murders had me counting the weeks until publication. I wanted to love this book but ... maybe my expectations were too high. McGinniss has written three True Crime classics but this isn't his fourth.
   
   The raw material is there: unstable Nancy Kissel, work-obsessed Robert his appearances obsessed, corner cutting brother Andrew and their repugnant father, glam expat lifestyles, fights over vacation homes, etc. What's missing is the greater context McGinniss so brilliantly provided in his previous books. These people don't seem to say anything about the way we live now, they're just generally appalling.
   
   The book losses steam about three-quarters of the way through. It reads as if McGinniss totally lost interest or his publisher demanded that he complete the book within a certain timeframe. Not having the Andrew Kissel murder solved can't have helped but that alone doesn't explain the tacked on, hurry up and finish ending.
   
   I can't recommend this book for True Crime or McGinniss fans, it doesn't deliver on any level, not even as an "instabook." Let's hope McGinniss returns to form with this his next book. I'll still be pre-ordering when he does.



2. I read the other book regarding the Kissel tragedy which befelt Robert and Andrew Kissel. They were the sons of Bill Kissel, founder and owner of Synfax Company. This book at first regarding the Kissels really shocked me because it's so much more detailed the previous book on the case. One of the reasons that I held off reading it was because I knew the case from television and the other book. When I picked up this book, I couldn't stop myself from reading it. It begins with Nancy telephoning her father. The author has done his homework in helping the reader understand Nancy's personality and psychology as well as the Kissel family clan whose hostilities and tensions which not only include sibling rivalry but the family's obsession on making money and ruining the family in order to get it. The author shows the patriarch Bill Kissel as the lone male survivor who has to bury his own sons after they are both murdered in separate instances. Nancy who was married to Rob, the ideal son who went to college and became a brilliant banker in Hong Kong, ended up in a rug in the basement of the condo complex where he stayed with his wife and children and servants. Sadly, Rob realized money didn't always take care of things until it was too late. Nancy had drugged and murdered him to get together with a cable guy in Vermont. She is now in a Hong Kong Prison for life. Then brother Andrew has made his millions in the old fashioned way by cheating, stealing, deceiving, and robbing people blind until he is caught. His death has been ruled a homicide but the question of who murdered him is still unclear. Still this book is gripping with McGinnis' writing to help explain Nancy possible behavior behind killing her husband. Andrew's case is still pending. But Nancy's cable guy is still living in a trailer with his new wife and has requested that the prison no longer send her letters to him a year after her conviction. I don't know why nobody noticed Nancy's behavior before like her snapping back at Aids-stricken friend, Alison Gertz, on her wedding day as she tried to educate her or when Nancy and her mother, Jean, fought to the near death. Nancy cuts people off and you never hear from her again. Still, I recommend this book as one of the best true crime books out there today.



3. This is the sad, but true, story of love, greed and tragedy. The author gives the reader the backgrounds of Robert Kissel and Nancy Keeshin, the family situations they were each brought up in, how they met, their early married years, his meteoric rise in the investment banking industry, her enjoyment of their over-the-top wealth, their life in Hong Kong, and the decline of the marriage. Neither Rob nor Nancy is a paragon of virtue; greed runs Rob's father and brother; Nancy is a demanding, obnoxious snob.
   
   The author says he had help from both families writing this book, so it must be close to the truth. Only the names of the children were changed. It's sad that money causes so much greed that a family is destroyed because zillions of dollars is never enough.
   
   This is not the kind of story I usually pick up, but it's always interesting to see how the other half lives. And it's definitely a quick read.



4. This book is fabulous. Mcginniss really knows how to write a great true crime story. This is the most detailed book I have read on the Kissell family. It goes much much deeper into details than a family cursed.
   If you like true crime you'll love this one!!
   If I could give it more stars I would!!!



5. THIS BOOK WAS VERY GOOD. THE TITLE IS PERFECT. I DO NOT BELIEVE NANCY WAS EVER ABUSED. I FEEL THAT SHE KILLED ROB SO THAT SHE COULD BE WITH MICHAEL. SHE COULD HAVE LEFT ROB AND MARRIED MICHAEL BUT SHE WOULD HAVE LOST HER LIFESTYLE. BECAUSE LOVE WAS NOT ENOUGH, SHE SITS IN PRISON TODAY. I'M SURE IF SHE HAD IT TO DO ALL OVER AGAIN SHE WOULD RATHER LIVE IN A MOBILE HOME THAN IN PRISON.

No comments about The Big, Bad Book of Jim: Rogues, Rascals and Rapscallions Named James, Jim and Jimmy.

No comments about Go-Boy: Memories of a Life Behind Bars.

3 comments about The Backside of the Helping Hand.

1. Just check out the forward--it grabs you by the throat! And the stories are great. If you like dark humor, this is for you.
   "Have you ever thought about how nice it would be to smash your alarm clock or never hear the factory whistle or the noon bell? To eat when you're hungry, sleep when you're tired, arise when you're fully rested, and never have to take abuse from customers, co-workers, or your boss? Working class people look forward to this at the end of their lives--the Golden Years. Retirement. Sweet freedom--Social Security, pensions, IRA's; and if they're lucky, savings and investments. All the fruits of a lifetime of labor, if that labor doesn't kill us first.
   The professionally poor in Modern America have it now--only they call it ADC, food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, housing allowances, SSI, utility allowances, and holiday baskets from the church. The fruits of your labor also, and collected from the cradle to the grave."



2. Conservative thinking at its best - and funniest! One of my favorite lines is in the Forward: "We would not need so many foreign workers in this country if we did not have so many people to whom work was foreign." The book looks at people on the public dole in general and does not focus on illegal immigrants, as this sentence implies, but it is a great sample of the pithy nature of the author and the stories he tells.
   
   As a Welfare Caseworker, I can relate to these stories from my own experiences. Don't think that the author exaggerated -my guess is he held back! He is right that we when used to make home visits, it was much easier to spot the fraud. (It was much more dangerous, too! When you are the one that takes the check away, you are not likely to make friends.) These days there are no home visits, and little attention is paid to the veracity of the information given by the Welfare recipient. It seems to me that the general public would be surprised at how much is given away, to whom and for what reasons!
   
   This book is a strikingly honest account of dealing with the "professional poor" as he calls them.



3. Honesty, yet "restrained" insight for the hardworking and oblivious taxpayers of this great nation.
   
   True grit looks into failing attempts of our government social services programs which we blindly and lamely let take our tax dollars!
   
   Hats off, to Mr. Dan Johnson for having the integrity and guts to pen before us, that which we recklessly and fetidly take as status quo.
   
   Two of, among many, down to earth, real world and "time will honor" quotes from Mr. Johnson....
   
   1. "My boss jumped up and yelled, is there a doctor in the house?"
   
   2. "Now maybe a lot of people pick 4:00AM Christmas morning to move--have the kids open their presents in the back of a Ryder moving van, sing Christmas carols en route. Being a cynic, I found it a little bit suspicious"
   
   You will have to search these little gems out on your own. Believe me, it's an informative and humorous ride to the sweet tidbits!
   
   This publication yielded insights which I am still in awe over. After traveling the world for business and pleasure I have found only one thing to be true! We live in the greatest country on this planet, bar none!
   
   I was fortunate to have multiple, insightful and shocking conversations with "Moe" upon traveling the Midwest. I would vote this man into office (should he take it on). This would give a clear message, an insight to educate the taxpayer, politicians and "reset" our country to the principals of which it was built upon.
   
   Mr. Johnson's publication will open your eyes to the dilemmas here in the "Good ole U.S.of A.".
   
   Timothy Curtis PhD.
   Panama City, Florida
   U.S.A.

No comments about O.k. Corral Postscript: The Death of Ike Clanton.