12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"You're gonna have to put up with a lot...", August 25, 2005
This review is from: The Co-ed Call Girl Murder (Mass Market Paperback)
THE CO-ED CALL GIRL MURDER is a true crime retelling of the life and death of Tina Biggar, college student by day and call girl by night, who was murdered by a delusional john.
The authors, Fannie Weinstein and Melinda Wilson, try mightily to cast Tina as the prototypical midwestern All-American Girl, and a previous reviewer and friend of Tina's laments her death in moving tones. Still, it becomes clear that Tina Biggar was in part a very troubled young woman with serious issues relating to her self-esteem, self-worth, and body image (at 5' 7'' she weighed 150 lbs.). Offsetting this, she was personable, pretty, intelligent and diligent. Had she mastered her demons she would have excelled at life. She certainly had the potential.
Weinstein and Wilson all but gloss over her unexpected teenage pregnancy and early relationship with an abusive boyfriend, but it is easy to imagine that Tina suffered a great deal of emotional travail from these experiences, especially coming as she did from a staunchly Catholic "military brat" family. All of this is said in respect to Tina, who certainly did not deserve to be murdered.
It is easy to see that some of Weinstein's and Wilson's insights ring all too true. At the time of her death, Tina was living a sordid double life, keeping her identity as a call girl from her family and her live-in boyfriend. Weinstein and Wilson cast the boyfriend as somewhat of a goodhearted boob, repeatedly making silly comments, being arrested (and rearrested) for alcohol offenses, occasionally straying during the several emotionally stressful periods in their relationship, and being generally clueless when it came to Tina's wants and needs.
It's clear that Tina could be immature, vindictive and unforgiving when provoked. She repaid her boyfriend's infidelities with her own (ultimately becoming a call girl), and was emotionally distant and neglectful---even psychologically abusive. Perhaps she was, in truth, punishing herself for some self-perceived flaw. All-American Girls do not generally choose prostitution as a job; nor do they cling to men who are clearly losers at life's game.
Yet, Tina remained overlong with her first abusive boyfriend, maintained a personal friendship with her killer outside of her call girl role, and kept up a relationship with her long-suffering boyfriend even as she berated and belittled him. She carried on as an escort for far longer than she should have. She innocently gave the benefit of every doubt to a man with a mysterious past who eventually killed her. Tina Biggar did not make "a terrible mistake"---she made a lengthy series of them, which in the aggregate led to her death. Tina deserves our compassion, never our scorn.
THE CO-ED CALL GIRL MURDER is a sad story of a promising life cut short under horrible circumstances.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written and easy to follow, an enjoyable read, July 9, 2000
This review is from: The Co-ed Call Girl Murder (Mass Market Paperback)
This book was written with an easy to follow timeline. The characters come to life and seem real; the reader can feel sympathy for each of them, even those one doesn't expect to. Little is said about the actual murder itself because, of the only two people that were there, the victim is dead and the killer keeps changing his story. So the reader is left not knowing how Tina really died, but it doesn't seem so important by the end of the book. What matters is that she is gone from this world; I feel it would've taken away from the story to sensationalize on the gory aspects. All in all, this book is definitely worth reading.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Marbles on Call Girl Murder, May 21, 2001
This review is from: The Co-ed Call Girl Murder (Mass Market Paperback)
The Coed Call Girl Murder, written by Fannie Weinstein and Melinda Wilson, is your basic murder story involving 23 year old Tina Biggar and her double life as a prositute. Both Weinstein and Wilson equally contribute theit talents to create a well told story. They use excellent descriptive detail in specific parts such as when police break into Ken Tranchida's appartment and find him "bleeding like a stuck pig" (239). Another example is when Mr. Tranchida states that he wanted to be a general, Weinstein and Wilson describe this as, "...he said with a shy smile, sounding like an eight-year old boy daydreaming about his toy soldiers" (282). Despite this wonderful characteristic of the authors' writing style, Weinstein and Wilson have a habit of changing point of views, alternating from third person limited and third person omniscient. Also, Weinstein and Wilson seemed to draw out their version of the story, causing it to be monotonous and dull. At the same time, Weinstein and Wilson do keep readers attention by adding their opinion of the situations to give the novel that extra umph. This novel would seemingly be enjoyable for mature teenagers and adult readers who are interested in true crime and are entralled with man's inhumanity to another of one's kind.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
