Berkeley student Roberta Lee went running with her lover Bradley Page in 1984. Page came back alone and Roberta's battered body was found five weeks later. Within hours, Page confessed to Roberta's murder--and then recanted. Written by Roberta's closest friend, this haunting, multi-layered work is a superb collage of memory, loss, and redemption. Illustrated throughout. Movie rights have been optioned by Warner. HC: Pocket.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
This stirring elegy for the author's murdered best friend has been praised by such writers as Harold Brodkey, Helen Vendler, and Harold Bloom--writers whom one doesn't usually associate with the true crime genre. Indeed, this is not a typical true crime book. The focus is not so much on the crime itself, as on the character of the murdered Asian American college student, Bibi Lee, on her relationship with Melanie Thernstrom, and on Melanie's intensely self-observing response to the tragedy. The style is that of stitched-together journal excerpts, remembrances, anecdotes, poems, and letters, which add up to such an abundance of details and impressions that some may find it overwritten, or at least overly long. Those who choose to surrender, though, to the unfolding process of the author's grief, will find much to admire and learn from--not only about the impact of a violent death, but about the nature of female friendship.
From Publishers Weekly
Thernstrom gives an account of her best friend, UC-Berkeley student Roberta "Bibi" Lee, murdered in 1984 while jogging with her boyfriend, Bradley Page. stet "An innovative if self-indulgent approach to the true crime genre," said PW. "Putatively about Bibi, her death, the investigation and Page's murder conviction . . . the book is really a coming-of-age story about Thernstrom herself," said PW . Illustrated.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The impact of death on a young best friend,
By J. Smith (Oregon) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dead Girl (Hardcover)
I am reading this book for the third time -- something I do rarely. Be not deceived, this book does not belong housed with the True Crime genre. It is not about murder and the hunt for a killer although that appears to be the foundation of the story. It is written by a literary writer and not a sensationalist journalist. It is about the impact such a crime has on the lives of those who loved the victim, in this case, the best friend of the victim, through her perceptions and emotions. The book may be more fully appreciated by those who, in their late teens and early twenties, have lost significant relationships through death and by those who study the impact of such trauma.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This isn't a True Crime Book,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dead Girl (Hardcover)
If you are hoping for a true crime story, you will be dissappointed (and probably annoyed) by this book. I wish someone would write a true crime book about this particular murder, but unfortunately The Dead Girl is more of a long, self indulgent journal entry- I learned way too much about the author's own emptiness and overly abstract,needy, and self-referential thinking style and not enough about the tragedy the book was purportedly about.I read the first third, skimmed the second, and then skipped to the epilogue. Ms. Thernstrom's other book, Halfway Heaven, however, is BRILLIANT and a must read for true crime fans!
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
JOURNAL OF SORROW,
By
This review is from: DEAD GIRL (Paperback)
Roberta "Bibi" Lee was murdered by her boyfriend in 1984. She was a close friend of the author and this book is about her murder and subsequent trial and sentence of the boyfriend.Melanie Thernstrom does a sterling job of researching Bibi's murder and including letters that, according to her, "sound like what Bibi would have written." The only drawback is that this book is very verbose and could have been cut down in places. I also felt the author's description of her devastation over her break up with her boyfriend Adam was extraneous. As bad as one felt for the author, her love life really had nothing to do with Bibi. It is to Ms. Thernstrom's credit that she cared so much about Bibi that this book was ever written. It is a loving testamony to the strong bonds of friendship. Had this book been less verbose, it would have gotten more stars.
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