Customer Reviews

Ed Gein -- Psycho!

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Any book about Ed Gein, the infamous Wisconsin cannibal, is bound to contain some distasteful material. What is particularly galling about this book is the camp way that it is written. We get a retelling of Ed's exploits and then how Gein has influenced pop culture, with a cult of "Geinophiles" arising in books, comic books, music and movies.

The author takes great liberties in telling us Gein's story, inserting thoughts that no one could be sure were ever part of what happened. The list of what cops found when they went into Gein's farmhouse is truly nauseating, and there are some pretty sick pictures in the book as well, including one showing Gein's last victim, gutted and hanging from a hook.

This is not to say that there aren't some good factoids in the book. Who knew that Anton LeVay, the founder of the Church of Satan, actually helped interview Gein and supposedly could do a perfect impression of Gein? It's also neat to see Gein's death certificate, which is included in the book.

I think this book should have been marketed as more of a pop culture reference guide. As a true account of what really happened, look somewhere else.

Ed Gein was a man who went from grave robbing to murder and whose exploits shocked the town of Plainfield, Wisconsin, in the 1950s. His crimes inspired several films, including to one degree or another "Psycho," "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," "Deranged" (1974), "Three on a Meathook," and "The Silence of the Lambs." Unlike latter-day serial killer Ted Bundy, Gein was hardly a charismatic figure, and yet he has inspired a cottage industry that includes a fan club. Paul Anthony Woods's book skirts a very uncomfortable line between documenting the crimes and exploiting them.

"Ed Gein--Psycho!" does document the crimes Gein, though much of the material is apocryphal, but the book is as much a study of the fascination with and even worship of Gein. A significant portion of the book is devoted to the films mentioned above and to the merchandise that seeks to capitalize on the Gein notoriety. Unfortunately, what could be an insightful sociological study is instead a rather insipid and sometimes uncomfortably close to admiring look at the killer and the phenomenon that is the interest in him. For readers who are squeamish, the full-page photo of the eviscerated body of one of Gein's victims should be most uncomfortable. Even for those who are not so squeamish, it becomes necessary to question the degree to which this book further exploits the victims while canonizing their killer.

I bought this book because I thought it would give me more details about weirdo serial killer Ed Gein, after I had read Deviant by Harold Schector. I was sorely disappointed. Psycho doesn't really go extensively into more facts about this interesting man and I firmly believe that Deviant does. This book is too short. The final chapters rave on about the movies,songs and comics they made about him and even though that has some indirect relationship to the man, I mean really... what does it have to do with Ed Gein? Ed Gein was probably unaware that any movies were being made about him while he was in the institution and he certainly wasn't like the Zodiac Killer; he didn't care.
The story is that Ed Gein was raised by a strictly religious mother, Augusta Gein and an apathetic father who took to drinking heavily to escape his mundane existence. Ed Gein idolized his mother, like his brother too but Edward Theodore Gein was more of a momma's boy.
Ed's brother Henry dies in a fire and there is suspicion that Ed had something to do with it but there is no proof.
Later, when Ed's mother dies, after his father, Ed takes to grave-robbing and wearing human faces as masks over his face.Not to mention he makes furniture out of human skin. Ed denies that he has sexual intercourse with these corpses because they smell too bad but who knows?
After Ed dies in 1984 of respiratory illness, he becomes a hero.Maybe we are living in a sick society where a murderer of two, possibly three women is considered a hero.
I recommend Deviant by Harold Schector. Avoid this one.

Sick though he may have been, Ed Gein nonetheless remains a morbidly fascinating individual. In this putrid little tome, however, Woods fails to add anything either interesting or significant to the admittedly skimpy body of work on Gein. This sophomoric little potboiler is a disjointed mess, combining half-witted commentary with outright fabrications, including ludicrous "dialogue" between Gein and others. Woods seems particularly interested in the line of junk Gein-related "memorabilia," most of which appears to be as shoddy and third-rate as Woods' writing. This book is a dreadful waste of the reader's time. For a scholarly and informative treatment of Gein, read "Deviant" by Harold Schecter, which is well-researched, highly readable, and vastly superior to this sad, sick piece of garbage.

This book reminded me a lot of being trapped on an airplane and forced to listen to the person next to you drone on and on about their favorite person, record, videotape, politician, etc.

The writing style is haphazard and uneven. The author switches from first to second to third person with no warning. Sections are put in Italics for no clear reason. He creates fictional conversations throughout the book that are laughably idiotic. I get the impression that the author is really just a fanatic of Ed Gein who had the time to write a short book. It should be noted that, under the guise of "photographs" of Gein statuettes, carvings, busts and the like, the author reserves precious space in his book to advertise merchants who peddle in Ed Gein memorabilia.

The true merit of the book, if there is any, lies in the sections at the end which examine the pop culture influence of Gein and his strange life. The tone and the author's style were fine and at least I believed that he was an informed person for those sections.

To sum it up: I regretted purchasing the book and was angry at myself for a couple of days.

I've always been pretty interested in serial killers, and naturally came across Ed Gein's name in a few "collections" of serial killer biographies. Wandering through the bookstore oneday, I picked up "Ed Gein: Psycho." That's what it says on the cover. Inside, it's called "Ed Gein: Psycho!" The exclamation mark tells you all you probably need to know about the mentality of Paul Anthony Woods, the "author" of this self-loving piece of garbage.

Many, many reviewers already have pointed out the things that turn one's stomach about this book. The writing is sophomoric and ridiculous, and way, way, WAY too much liberty is taken with the story, which, ideally, is non-fiction. The imagined conversations, thoughts, and feelings of Ed that the author relays are ridiculous, and the tone of the book is really grating. I mean, Ed Gein was a really odd duck who did some really creepy and bad things, but he's a person of some note. To read Woods refer to him as "our boy" in certain passages makes me angry. The cavalier style with which it is written is really smarmy, and one can imagine Woods sitting at his typewriter, smiling at his own wit, patting himself on the back.

Beyond the incredibly obnoxious way in which the book is written (and trust me folks, the author's skills are far below that of the average writer who gets published) and the silly "conversations" between Ed and his fellow Wisconsonians (who, in the book, have a kind of...gulp...southern drawl?), there is the fact that no new information is presented, and I didn't learn anything I didn't already know from reading 10 or 15 pages in another book. And the last part, where the author "examines" the pop-culture that has been created around the Gein legend only confirmed my suspicions throughout the rest of the book...he's just a silly, pseudo-psychologist fan with no respect for his elders.

Pass!

If you're a serious student of criminology, you won't enjoy this book, but then most True Crime books are not written for the scholars among us. They are written for the sensationalism and voyeurism that most fans of true crime are after- even if they don't abmit it. I grew up in the Fifties, in the area of the country where these horrific crimes took place. Ed Gein was the Boogy Man for all the children who lived around that area during the 50s and 60s.(He still may be) I remember my Mom warning me to stay away from the railroad tracks- "Ed Gein is down there"...Don't go near the river, "Ed Gein will get you"...Don't stay out after dark... Camp-Outs were a plethera of Ghoulish Ed Gein stories. I was thirty years old before I saw the first book about him and realized that the stories were TRUE! This book has the same sort of campy feel as the stories and myths I grew up with. I loved it for that reason.

This is without a doubt the worst book about Ed Gein yet written, comprised of 164 pages of pure rumor, speculation, and misinformation. Phony conversations and thoughts are scattered throuought, as though the author would like the reader to believe he was right there alongside "old Ed" while he lived and worked. Woods' use of what I can only assume is his take on the local vernacular is a transparent and pandering attempt to lend a feeling of authenticity - an attempt which in my opinion is both halfhearted and unsuccessful. This book reads more like it was written by an adoring teenage fan than a serious biographer, and relies purely on shock value in relating a story that needs little help in that area by any author. At best, it is a cursory and sensationalistic account of Gein's life and deeds, and I don't think I'm too far from the truth in suggesting that it's simply a paraphrasing of 2 longer, far better and much more complete, accurate and intelligent books on the subject: Schechter's "Deviant" and Gollmar's "Edward Gein." If you're interested in the Gein case, do yourself a favor - pick up a copy of Schechter's book (which is an excellent biography), or Gollmar's (which deals more with the trial as taken from court transcripts), and do your small part to allow this piece of junk to disappear into obscurity.

The quality of this book is the kind I normally find littering the fictional section of bookstores. I was truly appalled to discover the shoddy workmanship hidden behind the covers of "Ed Gein - Psycho!". I have seen better research and work in high school English Lit papers!

The entirity of his "research" apparently comes exclusively from books written upon the subject by other authors who _did_ do their homework, magazine articles and movies which only use _pieces_ of the truth of Ed Gein. He also felt compelled to use language which would never pass muster in the average English class or editor's office. Language, which I might add, which did not add in any fashion to the book or the subject.

As well, his cavilier attitude and joking fashion of writing left an extremely sour taste in my mouth. His attempts at expressing a form of "camraiderie" or connection between himself and Mr. Gein in the form of refering to him as "our boy" were truly disgusting. And the use of photos randomly throughout the book, apparently just to take up space as were the annoying movie reviews, was as unnessicary as they were out of any form of logical order or revelance to the progression of the book.

Also, beware of the annoying southern dialect used by pretty much anyone who opens there mouth to say anything. Don't worry, you can't miss it. It's spelled out dialectially, i.e. poorly.

Just as a random comment, I might call this nothing more than tabloid trash, but even tabloid trash has a level of compentancy which is never even touched by Mr. Woods.

All in all, if you're looking for an example of how _not_ to write a true crime novel, or any other kind of novel for that matter, this is a book for you. Otherwise, don't waste your money, instead save it for a book like Deviant by Harold Schechter. This one is just a waste of time, money, paper and ink.

I must say, I was horribly disappointed with this book. Do not buy this if you are looking for accuracy! It is historical FICTION! I will say this, Paul a Woods has a talent for blurring the lines between fact and fiction, truth and lies! This book is nearly useless to a person who is interested in learning about the True case... Paul a Woods has created a monstrosity of truth diluted with lies... I won't read another book of his- EVER!