Customer Reviews

Raging Heart: The Intimate Story of the Tragic Marriage of O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just read this book. I had already read Faye's book after the trial, then I just read OJ's If I did it book, I then re read Fayes and now this one. Its really a great compilation seeing everything fit together.

I really like a lot of the backdrop and various accounts on stories, more detail to stories already told or some that I never knew.

Such as Nicoles Breasts being slashed not being mentioned, or that Nicole kept Dr. Susans Forwards Obsessive Love Book around the home and met with her twice for counsel on her situation.

Accounts from various friends in their lives and Nicoles own family, this one has more bio on Nicoles life and family as a child and up until OJ entered the picture.

You can see where a woman was trapped by control, by expectations from friends and family, by lack of help from the police the numerous times she phoned them.

How Nicole had a mixed up sense of Love with OJ, and how young she was when she met him(how she came home with her pants torn and held them shut after their first date) He tore them to have sex with her.

Nicole was truly formed as a teen and was now trying to find her own identity but also deal with the insanity that was OJ. A quote in the book I think sums it up....

"It was precisely that charm, alternating with rage, precisely that Jekyll-Hyde quality, Dr. Forward explained to Nicole made OJ so dangerously hard to deal with. As she observed: "The switching from charm to rage leaves you totally off balance. Everything thats right on Monday is wrong on Tuesday. So your always watching- your on emotional alert all the time."

I recommend this book if you devour info on this case! And a good book for those dealing with Domestic Violence because you can see Nicoles back and forthness on trying to reconcile vs getting him out of her life, she never really could get him away.

This great book is a warts and all expose of the tragic, twisted relationship that began in 1977 and ended in June 1994 when Simpson slit his ex-wife's throat on the steps of her townhouse. You feel as if you are a part of the couple's inner circle, watching the events that led up to the tragic, brutal murders of Ron and Nicole unfold, and you want to jump into the book and yank Nicole away from her pig of a husband who did not deserve to be married to the fine, beautiful, and caring woman that she obviously was. Although Sheila Weller offers no physical evidence of Simpson's guilt, her description of the unhealthy, obsessive bond between this egomaniacal man and this poor, sweet, unfortunate woman leads the reader to believe that OJ Simpson was the only person on earth who had the motive and the reason to commit these murders, and we all know that OJ Simpson IS guilty of these heinous crimes.

This book seems to dish as much dirt on Nicole and her "inner circle" friends as it does on O.J. himself--at times, Weller seems to simultaneously praise and criticize many of the key players in the O.J. Simpson saga. The fact that she particularly criticizes and talks badly about Faye Resnick (and indirectly accuses her of having led Nicole into a lifestyle that angered and enraged Simpson) is very unfroffessional and done in poor taste. The fact that the Brown family had a well-publicized dispute with Weller because of the things she wrote here comes as no surprise (as does the fact that the Goldman family refused to be interviewed by her).

This book gives a true inside look at the relationship between O.J. and Nicole from the very beginning. Since so many of the sources were family and friends of both O.J. and Nicole's, I tend to believe them. Such a sad story, but well worth reading for a rounded picture of their life together. So many books on this subject focus on the trial, while this book ends at that point. When looking at the whole story, it seems to be a textbook case of a battered woman...especially seeing as how young Nicole was when she hooked up with O.J. and for his part, a textbook case of an abuser and in my opionion, a selfish killer. I recommend this book to all of those interested in personal information not told in the "trial" books.

If you want a vivid and riveting book to read, this is it. I loved how you got a clear understanding of oj and nicole's childhood and family connections/relationships.