tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post4965895175795310204..comments2024-03-29T20:41:34.103+13:00Comments on Reid's Reader – A Blog of Book Reviews and Comment.: Something NewNicholas Reidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05497366104216216952noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-39791210329655803102014-07-29T14:55:18.820+12:002014-07-29T14:55:18.820+12:00The question is not simply, 'Shouldn't we ...The question is not simply, 'Shouldn't we forgive, (or at least forget) what Anne Perry did in light of her current life as a bestselling author and presumably, as well a functioning member of society'? Ok, it's a mouthful. But really, did Perry think her past would remain dormant/'secret' when she is a bestselling author of books plotted around murder, and a confessed murderess?? Most writers cannot keep pen-names secret if they try, (Stephen King/Richard Bachman as example). She even uses, (as per your above reference) a sociopathically insensitive reference to killing someone in her first book that eerily reflects how she killed Honora Rieper nee Parker. <br />The problem is what she does now, and what she says now that indicate she has never, as she puts it, 'repented' or 'found repentance'. <br />To repent you have to admit culpability in the first place and take full responsibility for your actions. If you put the blame on everything and everyone else (Anne Perry has cited everything from harmless antibiotics to Yvonne Parker's depression as justification for Anne's part in the murder and still states, 'I helped' to murder. As if she did not hold down Honora's head and beat her 40 times with a brick).<br /><br />Repentance and denial do not go hand-in-hand. If you want to be truthful with anyone, especially yourself, start by admitting your guilt without the 'ifs', 'ands' and 'buts' and hemming and hawing that make everyone roll their eyes and doubt your credibility, much less your conscience.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01589143301060037199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-3156136257078178212012-11-16T19:58:58.462+13:002012-11-16T19:58:58.462+13:00I have just finished reading Drayton's book, a...I have just finished reading Drayton's book, after hearing her speak at the 2012 Vancouver Writers Fest. Although she is an engaging and warm personality on stage, her book did not at all live up to my expectations. Drayton stressed the need for a biographer to be free to interpret, analyse and evaluate her subject without interference, but her book reads like gushy fan mail. Like you, I don't think Anne Perry is a good enough writer to merit this kind of attention. Her biographer should have focussed on providing new, personal insights about the psyche of Juliet/Anne, and perhaps even hazard an opinion about what Anne is NOT apparently doing: donating some of her time and money to the victims of violent crime, for example, or to the rehabilitation of young offenders, to name two of a limitless number of ways she could use her experience to benefit people other than her very partisan agents and herself. (How lovely that instead she spent millions building herself such a beautiful home...!)<br /><br />I agreed so much with your review that I had to punctuate it with an enthusiastic 'Yes!' every line or so. Thank you for not being cowed by the need to keep Perry's legion fans happy! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-51214760111198255382012-10-18T01:41:52.356+13:002012-10-18T01:41:52.356+13:00Just so you know, Carl, Joanne Drayton admitted in...Just so you know, Carl, Joanne Drayton admitted in a recent interview she did not ask Anne Perry why she had committed murder. Surely that should be the first question on the list of anyone interviewing Anne Perry.<br /><br />The list of questions should be:<br /><br />Why did you murder Honora Rieper?<br />Why did you say you and Pauline Parker were not lesbian lovers?<br />How did your so-called 'repentance' manifest itself?<br />How much money in total have you paid (in compensation) to the Rieper family?<br />Why did you decide to write about murder?<br />What psychiatric treatment for psychosis have you had over the years?<br />Why have you given five different reasons for your decision to kill?<br />Why did you call Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh 'idioytic film-makers'?<br />Do you want to meet Pauline Parker?<br /><br />Any interviewer not asking Anne Perry any of those questions is not interviewing her properly.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-81288731286082095362012-09-26T07:45:56.558+12:002012-09-26T07:45:56.558+12:00Carl, you say 'it is always sad to read commen...Carl, you say 'it is always sad to read comments or reviews on a person or event, by people who already have an established bias', but as you've said the same things over and over again on many online forums, does it not seem obvious to you that you're the one with the biased view? You always attack and insult anyone who criticises the murderer, Juliet Hulme. She co-murdered a defenseless, unarmed woman. She is very deserving of criticism. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-70542196765608233572012-09-25T15:32:27.609+12:002012-09-25T15:32:27.609+12:00Greetings Carl. I genuinely appreciate your heartf...Greetings Carl. I genuinely appreciate your heartfelt expression of a point of view about this particular book and case, in which you appear to have something emotionally invested. In spite of what you may suspect, you have not at any stage been "censored" off this blog until now; but at this point I think you have stated your case clearly and I will therefore remove any further comments. Regrettably, your method appears to be abuse and generalization. I repeat the point I made in the original review - if the author is going to pride herself on conducting informed interviews, then she owes it to her readers to ask obvious and important questions. Cant about 'non-invasive' interviews carries no weight at all. It merely provides a platform for Anne Perry to give the world her version of the murder as she now chooses to imagine it. As for your statement that Anne Perry has been a "gentle, good, intensely moral" person for over half a century, there is nothing in my review that says any otherwise. Please actually read what you are criticising. This is my own standard technique when I review books. Nicholasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-419498543756374102012-09-25T07:10:34.976+12:002012-09-25T07:10:34.976+12:00Hi Nicholas,
You have falsely accused Joanne Dray...Hi Nicholas,<br /><br />You have falsely accused Joanne Drayton of having a very evasive tone in her book 'Searching for Anne Perry'<br />Joanne Drayton used a very sensitive and non-invasive approach with Anne Perry. Non-invasive, not evasive.<br />She did not bulldoze in asking anything and everything, putting Anne Perry on the spot or trying to corner her and coerce and force answers from her. <br />Anne Perry has said she has tried to be honest about the situation in 1954 and Joanne Drayton showed her respect and a gentle approach. Imagine attempting, when 73 years of age, trying to explain how you felt and thought when you were a 15 year old schoolchild, with people waiting to shoot down everything you say, and don't say. <br />Joanne Drayton has exhorted us all to move away from that 1950's period, which she has stated is punitive and embarrassing.She is to be highly commended for her approach, which enabled her to spend time and interview Anne Perry in the first place and then write the Biography. Without that non-invasive approach it would not have happened.<br />We now know more of a woman who had had experiences fraught with extreme stress and trauma from a toddler until she was 21 years of age and who has risen above all that and made a success of life. And as described in 'Searching for Anne Perry'she is a gentle, good intensely moral person and has been for over half a century. And this is 2012.<br /><br /> Carl RoselCarlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10553073063907411207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-86760503279079116202012-09-02T13:27:36.685+12:002012-09-02T13:27:36.685+12:00Hi Nicholas,
I wrote comment on this page and cli...Hi Nicholas,<br /><br />I wrote comment on this page and clicked, Publish, so it is hard to understand.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10553073063907411207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-59511103878613931192012-09-01T07:13:38.471+12:002012-09-01T07:13:38.471+12:00Apologies Carl, but I don't know myself. I was...Apologies Carl, but I don't know myself. I was notified of it by e-mail [as I am for all new comments], but when I looked for it on the blog I couldn't find it. Are you sure you attached it to the right posting?Nicholasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-35766423538059273782012-09-01T07:06:46.952+12:002012-09-01T07:06:46.952+12:00Where has my last comment goneWhere has my last comment goneCarlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10553073063907411207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-89740105958796005052012-08-27T09:05:17.884+12:002012-08-27T09:05:17.884+12:00Sorry, Carl, but you resort to mere ad hominem arg...Sorry, Carl, but you resort to mere ad hominem argument here ("Peter Graham was a police prosecutor, therefore you can't trust him.")and you fail to address the very evasive tone of much of Drayton's book,and Drayton's failure to address some obvious questions. Nicholas Reidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-68057693658745964282012-08-27T08:48:24.258+12:002012-08-27T08:48:24.258+12:00it is always sad to read comments or reviews on a ...it is always sad to read comments or reviews on a person or event, by people who already have an established bias. As in the 'Parker - Hulme' case. There was a bias against Juliet Hulme (Anne Perry)from day one in 1954, by a mentally ill crown prosecuter, inept doctors, sensationalist newspaper reports and gossiping rubbish.it continues to this day by people who have first learnt about that sad saga from those 1954 sources and reports. it is why The Author of the book 'Searching for Anne Perry' has exhorted people to move away from the 1950's mindset that still exists and obviously why she chose the title of the book.Therefore Joanne Drayton is to be highly commended for having the compassion and the guts for taking on that project against such huge opposition and putting the Biography together. Anne Perry is to be highly commended for making a success of life after the extremely adverse experiences she had endured from a small toddler until she was twenty one years of age.<br />As an aside. Peter Graham, (author of, so brilliantly clever.) was a crown prosecuter in Hong Kong for close to thirty years. You will not find a crown prosecuter anywhere in the world who would go against a police case.<br /><br /> Carl Rosel Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10553073063907411207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3690077250072100801.post-40866045421469205062012-08-21T12:56:53.543+12:002012-08-21T12:56:53.543+12:00Nice review! I made similar conclusions when readi...Nice review! I made similar conclusions when reading the book.<br />The method of citing from old interviews in the biography was also used in Peter Graham’s book “So Brilliantly Clever” (2011). Drayton likely adopted that method on citing articles, interviews and statements from newspapers. This surprised me a bit, why not ask Perry instead of citing old interviews, some of them has been on the InterNet for 18 years, free for everyone to read! Graham obviously didn’t have any choice since Perry refused him an interview, but Drayton who had all opportunites asking everything – didn’t! I also found possible errors of fact: In chapter nine Drayton state that Pauline didn’t talk about the murder to her sister Wendy until her sixties. If based on in Chris Cooke’s article, that information is wrong. Chris Cooke’s article in New Zealand Woman’s Weekly (Jan.1997) state: “Wendy chose not to confront her about what happened and they never talked about until 10 years ago. She says she (Pauline) was an extremist. When things went against her, Hilary (Pauline) went overboard the other way. She did this right from when she was a little girl." In 1997 Hilary (Pauline) was 59 which mean she was in her mid-forties when first talking about the murder to Wendy. Such errors of fact may slip for an ordinary reader but for many of us who has followed the case over the years, it doesn’t. <br />I also found little analysis on the relationship between Pauline and Juliet. Drayton usually confirm previous statements or leave them out completely. There are no references to Pauline’s diary on how their relation deepened during the final days before the murder. There are no references to “hectic nights” or “enacting how the saints make love in bed” or learning “the joy of the thing called sin”. Why didn't she ask Perry about her view on Pauline's diaries? As suspected any reader with a serious attempt to understand all the events leading to the death of Honora Parker will not get much from this biography. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com