Customer Reviews

The Passing of Starr Faithfull

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I became interested in Starr Faithfull after learning that she was the original inspiration for the character of "Gloria" in John O'Hara's novel "Butterfield 8". I was surprised to discover that "The Passing of Starr Faithfull" appears to be the only work of non-fiction available about this headline-grabbing case. There is apparently also a work of fiction by Gloria Vanderbilt that fantasizes the contents of Starr's diaries, which, as reported in "The Passing of Starr Faithfull", were destroyed by her stepfather before they could be read. Although I've enjoyed Vanderbilt's non-fiction works about her own life, I'm not really interested in reading additional fiction about Starr's life on top of O'Hara's book; rather, I wanted to know about the real Starr.

Basically, the story is this: Starr, a beautiful young girl, is born to the sole impoverished members of a wealthy Boston family early in the 1900s. Various society relatives assume the responsibility of paying for her support and schooling. When she is 11, one of those relatives, who just happens to be the Mayor of Boston, begins to molest her, and this continues for years, finally culminating in full-on rape when Starr is in her late teens. Her mother and stepfather appear to be in denial for years that anything is going on, but when finally forced to face the situation, they decide to exploit it for financial gain, being as always broke and on the verge of losing their heavily mortgaged family home (which in the end they lose anyway). Starr herself gets some trips to England out of the deal, and develops a taste for hanging around on, drinking illegal booze on, and sometimes stowing away on ocean liners headed out of Manhattan. Until one day Starr is found dead on Long Beach, with lungs full of sandy water and a stupor-inducing dose of veronal in her blood. Was it an accident, suicide, or murder? And if it was murder, who was responsible - the former Mayor, or one of the other numerous rich or poor or shady men Starr encountered in her partying travels?

"The Passing of Starr Faithfull" begins with her body being washed up on the beach and is mostly an account of the police investigations and twists and turns of the journalistic coverage that followed. Starr's previous life is recounted primarily through the correspondence of her parents with various relatives prior to her death, and the stories told by her stepfather and her friends after her death. There's very little revealed of the voice of the actual Starr, save for a few letters. It's unfortunate that her diaries did not survive, but considering their likely contents it's understandable why her stepfather would destroy them. The book also provides some interesting and disturbing insights into the thought processes of that time concerning women, rape and sex: for instance, the police can't seem to understand why, if Starr had already been molested for years by the same man, she'd be upset about having finally been raped by him.

On the plus side, this book is very detailed and you get the impression that the author consulted most, if not all, of the research sources available in putting the story together. On the minus side, the writing style is extremely concerned with minutiae, includes a lot of facts that seem needless or pointless or just don't move the story along, and wanders off on tangents. For instance, the author makes a big deal of telling how Starr's stepfather Stanley may have taken several different routes by train, cab, walking etc. back to his residence, where the press were waiting, after he identified Starr's body, and how he might have met with someone on the way, but it's completely unclear how this is important. You find yourself thinking, "is the author trying to say Stanley met with someone to get his story straight? Or to tell someone else what happened? Just what is the point here? Is the author suggesting Stanley had something to do with it?" Other detail is just downright extraneous. For instance, the author brings up the Fitzgeralds of Boston and the Sacco-Vanzetti trial multiple times, presumably as some type of Dominick-Dunne style local color because they have absolutely nothing to do with the story of Starr. Most readers of modern true crime are likely to find this writing style annoying and distracting, although some details - for instance, the operation of the ocean liners and the organization of the Long Beach police force - is a little bit interesting if you enjoy reading about "old New York".

This book reminded me a lot of Charles and Louise Samuels' book on the Evelyn Nesbit Thaw scandal, "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing." I would note that since that book came out, a number of more accessible, easily readable books on Evelyn Nesbit have come out, and I'd suggest that some author looking for a historic true crime subject might do well to write a similarly streamlined book about Starr Faithfull. Her story is compelling, but not told to its fullest advantage here.

I was recommended this book by Amazon because of other purchases, and I thought, great: true crime, glamour, high society---all good stuff. I couldn't get more than a third of the way through this book, though, because of the author's rambling style. His run-on sentences can make you dizzy, and he'll go off on tangents in footnotes about the most irrelevant things. For example, there was a foot note that took up *half a page* about one detective marginally involved in the investigation: who his father was, how he'd joined the force, and a story about some big time gangster he'd busted---none of which had anything to do with the story of Starr Faithfull. I hope one day to be able to plow through the whole book, but for now I just set it aside.

interesting since "BUTTERFIELD 8" was based on this true life event---the writer is too flowery in his writing--JUST SAY IT!
over describes things--takes too long to reach facts--not my style of writer but good topic