Customer Reviews

Forever And Five Days (True Crime)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In the interest of accuracy to serious readers, I feel it necessary to respond to Roxanne Marcianti's review here. Ms. Marcianti makes a number of charges and assumptions which have no basis in fact. First, not a single sentence of "Forever and Five Days" is "padded" and the book contains not a single passage of "fictionalization." Everything in the work has been meticulously researched and documented with hundreds of hours of taped interviews, court transcripts, police reports and other proven methods of journalistic research. Furthermore, Ms. Marcianti's charge that I did not interview the two perpetrators in this book is simply careless reading on her part. The book's "Author's Note" makes quite clear the sources of all the material in "Forever and Five Days," including stating that the perpetrators were interviewed extensively. Apparently, she didn't bother to read it, or chose to ignore it completely -- which, by the way, makes her "review" libelous in that it maliciously ignores the facts. I would suggest Ms. Marcianti apply the same standards of research and accuracy she expects in my books to her own reviewing skills.

I have been a fan of Mr. Cauffiel's books for several years now.
His books are NOT tedious or difficult to read--they are meticulously researched and the subject matter revealed layer by layer to the interested reader. Infused in the narrative of his books is a deep respect for the parties involved and dare I say, some subtle humor as well. For me, this makes for wonderful reading. Fans of superficial, rush-to-market, cheap accounts of lurid crimes and criminals should look elsewhere, not criticize one of the finest true crime writers out there.

I do agree with other reviewers-a good editor could have made the difference in this book. It was long and detailed in sections, difficult to wade through, but, nonetheless, a worthwhile story. The only part left undone for me was how the nursing home management could allow such employees to behave in the manner as they did on the third shift. Cathy and Gwen were such heartless human beings to have cheated these older people out of what little dignity they had left. It appears that Cathy will always continue her sadistic, manipulative behavior; never sorry for what she has done nor the lives she has selfishily destroyed. Ashamed to admit it, but this is one person I would like to see sitting on death row.

I read true crime constantly and to the two top "reviewers" who put down this book so blatantly....lighten up.

The book is interesting enough. I find typos in practically everything that I read anyone. I proofread for a living and I could get through it without so much annoyance. Relax people.

What hit me most, was Gwen Graham's childhood. Kids who are brought up around so much violence are always affected.

I would recommend this book to the true crime lover. It is not Helter Skeleter but it's a good read.

It's has been a while since read this book but it has never left my mind.It was interesting so it kept my attention.The end result left me wanting to know what happened after their sentence was handed down.This is one I would read over and over.

Admit it. For years now you've had a wistful yearning for a true crime story featuring a 300 pound, manipulative, bleached blond lesbian narcissist.
And in your dreams, said narcissist, an aide at a Grand Rapids, MI. nursing home, would orchestrate a relentlessly out of control sleaze-athon in which her co-workers - many of them married women with families who leave their husbands and kids - engage in mass out-of-control drunkenness, senseless physical and emotional violence, and rampant sexual promiscuity.
And you know that in your heart of hearts you long for the cellutic ringmaster of this sociopathic circus, Cathy Wood, to decide that it would be fun if she and her main squeeze, aide Gwen Graham, were to begin killing random residents of the home. I mean where is there to go but up?

Well yearn, dream, and long no more! Lowell Cauffiel's FOREVER AND FIVE DAYS is the answer to your prayers. There is no earthly reason for me to further describe the plot, since if the above paragraph doesn't have you salivating uncontrollably, you shouldn't read the book, and if it does, you'll love it.

Lowell Cauffiel is a very good true crime writer who has written my favorite true crime book of all time, MASQUERADE. FOREVER AND FIVE DAYS is very good, though in my estimation not quite as good as MASQUERADE. Though not frequent enough to be a serious problem, the book suffers from less than outstanding editing, leading to misspellings, misuse of words, and improper use of homonyms, for example "in the throws of winter" and "...two bright lights...hung by long chords from the ceiling".
And some of the conversation Cauffiel quotes, as well as some of the thoughts he attributes to the story's players, feels fabricated. But Cauffiel's research into the facts of the case is exhaustive. He has worked hard to produce a good read and he has succeeded. I'd actually give FOREVER AND FIVE DAYS 4 and one-half stars if Amazon's system allowed it. True crime fans should like this one.

Although it is clear from the start that the two women are responsible for the murders of the nursing home patients, the author does keep back some details until the end. The shifting accounts from witnesses and interviews opens new thinking as the tale unfolds.
I had to really mentally shift gears at the end once all the details were laid out and even then I'm glad I wasn't on the jury.
Some of the incidents cropped up over and over, but I began to realize the different points of views given to each retelling. Sifting out what was real, what was staged, and who was covering for someone makes it a really complex case.
True crime readers will find it worth wading through.

I just finished this book yesterday and it is set in my old hometown of Grand Rapids. It is interesting to read of places I know of and it is truly a interesting book that leaves you to come to some of your own conclusions as there are two sides to the story

This book grabs your attention from beginning to end. It also is very haunting in the lifestyle of these two people and their psyche. It is unreal all the things that apparently happened at this nursing home and all the individuals that became involved in each others lives. An interesting book and very hard to put down. Leaves you wondering long after the end.

Nothing wrong with the author, his writing or anything like that. I just cannot handle two gross, filthy and I would use the word but would likely have my review stricken from this site but you know what these girls were. Not lovely sweet girls but nasty trash who hated themselves so much that they had to drink to be together and then moved to the high of killing old innocent people to smother their own head voices that were telling them to off themselves. Their pics make me sick, fat Cathy Woods should die in prison...may her own daughter "Jaimie" never read these words and this book made me lose sleep, and I am sorry that these girls had hard home lives or whatever that was not really clear...some animal abuse for Gwen and a mean mom for Cathy....if you want to read a good book by this author read "Masquerade" and avoid this and "House of Secrets" both are too disturbing to deal with.