No comments about Murder - A Multidisciplinary Anthology of Readings.

No comments about Atlanta Child Murders - Wayne Williams Atlanta Child Murderer FBI Files.

5 comments about No Place Safe.

1. I could not put this book down. I ended up reading all of it in two settings. It is an endearing story of a girl growing up in the most challenging of situations during her tender and impressionable teen years. The "coming of age" story allows the reader to feel like they are there, reflecting back to their own childhoods, and see a very complex world with unfathomable situations through the eyes of a street smart and feisty 13 year old. There were several parts that I laughed out loud and others I was aghast at the very pointed racism that this young teen had to experience. Great book Kim, you are to be well commended for such a great first book.



2. The way Reid interweaves the story of tragic lost lives of children with her own sort of "lost chldhood" is brilliant, esp. from the point of view of her cop mother being so deeply involved in the cases. It's just really a fantastic read. It has stayed with me for days, especially being a mom. Heartbreaking, of course. And they never found the killer, which just tears me up. But there's much more to the book than that. She weaves that story beautifully with her own.



3. This beautifully written book by Kim Reid is both sensitive and timeless. It is about so much more than it appears: A daughter's conflictual and complicated relationship with the mother she loves and yearns for, a black child coming to terms with the white majority, a child faced with the unstoppable murders of children just like her, and a child becoming a woman, to name just a few. Ms. Reid's writing is sensitive and emotional yet not cloying or annoying. She takes us into her experiences with a subtle and skilled hand that allows us to go there right along with her. I came out of reading this book with a profound respect for the writer, as well as a new appreciation of growing up black in the days of the Atlanta child murders. I highly recommend this book and look forward to seeing what the author comes up with next.



4. What I enjoyed most about this book were the relationship issues among the family members. How the girls related to each other. The older sister sometimes resentful of caring for the younger rang so true. The mother trying to do the "right thing" but burdened as a single mom.



5. I have read several book about the Atlanta Child Murders and I find this book to be one of the better ones. Good reading for teens and adults alike. It's like the author pulls the reader right into her book.

4 comments about The Evidence of Things Not Seen: Reissued Edition.

1. This is a difficult read because Baldwin's thoughts come across like a man too perplexed to ask "Why?". And so there are many crosscurrent thoughts, parentheticals that are not in parenthesis, and sheer rage. The question: who could be murdering the children in Atlanta? And has the years of systematic oppression and racism made it possible for a black man to be become that cruel? Has the oppressed become the oppressor?

   And I can understand Baldwin's great perplexity...he wants to point the finger at the American way of life. How years and years of being considered not human has affected the mindset of the average person of color. And of having to come through identity crises, legal crises, social crises to be confronted with who...? A person who is this insane enough to be killing innocent kids? Why have we struggled so much, Baldwin seems to be asking, to create this monster?

   And so, it is another probing we received from the always philosophical, questioning, always provocative Baldwin.

   Why read the book now? Well, although this murderer has been found and given punishment based on the fullest extent of the law, the questions remains.

   How have we come to this?




2. I was hoping for a factual/investigative account of the tragedy of the Atlanta child murders. Instead, this book seemed to be an essay written on the problems of racial injustice and ignorance in Atlanta, America, and the world. Nothing wrong with that, but then I take into account that the essay was written in a most meandering and disjointed fashion, full of incomprehensible references, with an overwhelming tone of arrogance. Baldwin is right, everyone else is wrong and to blame. Not persuasive, just a waste of time.



3. 
   Searing, insighful essays written by a genius mind with a
   writing style so filled with grace that it evokes tears.
   Recognition fills every page. These essays should be
   required reading in every American school. Anyone
   interested in what a writer is, should be, can be, should
   experience this Baldwin.



4. Very disappointed with this - partially my fault as I didn't realise it was an essay.
   Had no idea who the author was.
   basically vitriolic politics - but a necessary work for anyone research the Atlanta Youth murders.
   Not wanting to appear racist but I was offended but a variety of comments.
   Being white and English is obviously not a good thing in Baldwin's eyes.
   But everyone is entitled to an opinion.