This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial | 
#Bookmail! Time‘s Echo made the #BaillieGifford2023 shortlist (winner to be announced Nov 16), Eve is the newest graphic novel from the author of Becoming Unbecoming (which I loved) and tagged is a new edition (w/forward by Sarah Weinman) of an Australian true crime classic that I cannot wait to dive into.
pick#StoryGraph: nonfiction true-crime Australia dark mysterious • 331 pages • first pub 2014 • 3.5 Stars
On the evening of 4 September 2005, Father‘s Day, Robert Farquharson, a separated husband, was driving his three sons home to their mother, Cindy, when his car left the road and plunged into a dam. The boys, aged ten, seven and two, drowned. The author was fascinated with the story and attended the trial daily. A true-crime gem!
Farquharson's wife left him for another man and, one year later, he drove his three children into a dam killing then. A #JealousGuy can do horrible things ❣️
#NovFemmeber
pickOne of my recent #aussiesrule2018 reads for prompt 3 (true crime or tragedy.) In her inimitable style, Helen Garner turns her discerning pen to the trial of Robert Farquharson who, in 2005 drove his car, which had his three young sons in it, into a lake. He was the only survivor. An incredibly sad story of male violence against women and children, this book has been compared to Truman Capote‘s In Cold Blood.
Covering this in one of my research courses, it was interesting in that I haven't read anything of this sort before, and enjoyed reading it, though the crime is haunting. Garner evokes sympathy without forcing the reader to tears, and covers the court case without putting the reader to sleep.
pickCompelling read. Hard to tell whose side the writer was on allowing an objective and a strangely narrative description of the trial. I remember this horrifying story in the media-this was compounded for me in the book. It is gripping, complex and insightful into the craziness of human nature and the love that binds us especially when children become involved. Sad, tragic and true story. Helen Garner seems to have grasped the truth amidst it all.
so-soSad story with a few dramatic twists, but unfortunately boring in some parts. Content is centered on the trial, the presentation of the evidence and is laced with author‘s personal observations, detailed descriptions of the people present in the courtroom, which doesn‘t bring surplus value to the story. My impression is that the author wanted to highlight the question-how can you love a killer, or how long you can stand on his side.Hard to answer.
I read this true crime book a couple of years ago. It's written by an amazing Australian writer and focuses on a father who killed his three young sons by driving them into a damn. It's harrowing by also incredibly insightful. #SEEWHATIHAVEWON @Liberty
Article in the Weekend Australian.
Australian author Helen Garners award winning unputdownable true crime novel.A separated father a drive with his kids in the car an accident he plunges off the road into the water he survives the kids drownHelen Garner becomes obsessed with this case attends the trial daily.Was it an accident or murder ?
pickCW: child homicide and suicide. There were some fascinating and beautiful insights into the trials and the key players. Unfortunately, other "insights" were trite. Similarly, at times the writing was incredible and others it was disjointed. Still, for me, the positive outweighed the negative.
"When I first came into court today, I was filled with wave after wave of rage. You see this is what these men do. This is the most appalling, savage, cruel revenge a man can take on a woman - to make out it was all her fault."
I'm not sure what I think of "This House of Grief." It's interesting, but I'm not really enjoying the writing style. Perhaps I'm just still consumed by the exquisiteness of The Red Parts.
I read this like I listened to the podcast Serial; obsessively. Did he do it?
