Customer Reviews

Spoken in Darkness: Small-Town Murder and a Friendship Beyond Death

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a difficult book to describe. Although it is classified as such, it is not at all "true crime" and those who are looking for strict true crime will be disappointed.

Ann Imbrie's "Spoken In Darkness" is basically the author's search for the memory of a murdered friend, both externally through research which includes courthouse searches and interviews; and, to a greater degree, through her own memories of her friend, Lee Snavely. The author was best friends with Lee for only a couple of years, but when she heard Lee had been killed she began her search, and in doing so she beautifully and honestly uses the experience to also examine her own childhood and her relationship with her parents, and to contrast that childhood with Lee Snavely's in an attempt to explain to herself how a friend she truly loved could end up so differently from herself - Lee a murdered prostitute; Imbrie a college professor. And, in fact, the book is at least as much about the author and her emotions as she remembers her friend as it is about the friend herself.

This is a highly literate work written at an unusual level of tenderness and honesty. Lee Snavely's murder, and some of her adult life, are described by Imbrie only as products of her imagination. This does not at all detract from the purpose of the book, which is to a great degree more emotional than factual. The pain in Imbrie's writing about Lee Snavely's childhood is palpable and explains why Lee's life unfolded as it did.

"Spoken In Darkness" is a truly soulful book.

This book took my breath away with the beauty of its lyricism and metaphors. Many writers attempting to tie a traumatic event in with their own lives fail to do so with total clarity - Imbrie is not guilty of this flaw! The violent loss of a friend and its implications to the author's own life are brilliantly set forth by this author. As a former student of Imbrie's I can attest to the sincerity of this book as well as to her innate gift with words. Women whose lives have been touched by violence will especially appreciate this book, a real work of literary art as well as a beautiful tribute to a lost (stolen!) friend.

The book is touching, I'll give Ann Imbrie that, but really, she doesn't have enough material to warrent a full length book. Because she lacks many facts, she invents what she doesn't know and does a good job doing it, but the book should be marketed as such i.e. it is really about her feelings and reminisces of her dead friend, not what happened to her. An excellent book to borrow from a friend, check out from the library, or purchase used, but i wouldn't pay full price for it.

Spoken in Darkness is the book The Dead Girl wanted to be. It is more a memoir about growing up in a town that doesn't care and beginning to question why it doesn't care, than about the actual incident. Imbrie asks how her and her friend's lives ended up so different...and why she didn't know about the darkness in her friend's life...how they lost touch...and how her friend slipped away. At the end, Imbrie asks how this world can hold such evil as the animal that took out his hatred on her friend that slipped through the cracks in our fragile world so long ago. Every woman knows that the line between a safe, protected life and being lost in a dark basement forever is thin. Very thin. Every woman knows that our safetey depends on the caring of each other. This is what this book is about. The Dead Girl has some passages I underlined about safety, but Spoken In Darkness is elegaic. Neither book is really about the victim or the perpetrator. Both are about why we care and look out for each other ... or lose sight of each other , let go of eather other's hand, in our dark, dangerous world

I really enjoyed reading the book. I am an eighth grader at Bowling Green Junior High. I felt like I understood alot about the Lee and that I could relate to some of her problems. I thought that the book was wonderful. Thank you Ann Imbrie!

This is not even remotely the type of book I would normally read. But I started reading it and wow, I was hooked into what became one of the most fulfilling literary experiences I've ever had. This book was thrilling, emotional, flawlessly written, made me gasp, made me cry. Could not have asked for anything more. Just amazing!

Overall I really liked Imbrie's telling of this awful crime. When a book makes me feel like I am actually there I am impressed. I often read true crime accounts and sympathize with the victims, but Imbrie's writing really gave me that eerie feeling like Lee could have been any one of us. I think her writing style is different and I really liked the book.

Simply put, I could not stop reading this book. At first, I believed it to be a work of fiction, and when I realized it wasn't, I was chilled to the bone. Gary Taylor and his crimes bothered me enough without them being true. I think the book drew me because it reminds me of my own best friend from middle school. The one you don't have anything in common with, but keep in touch with because of what you once had. I loved this book, and hope others will, too.

This book, which details the downward spiral and eventual murder of a small town girl is well-written and powerful in its depiction of the lives of both the victim and the author. The brilliance of this book is its quiet but forceful demonstrations of the injustices against women in our society. The insight it gives into the world of two young women -- one who went on to become a professor at a prestigious college and the other, a prostitute, who was brutally murdered at the hands of a sociopath -- is enlightening and cutting as a commentary on both this country's justice system and on American society.

I have never read a book so poetically written. I wish I had known Lee. I am sorry she is gone. My favorite part was the comparison with the "Weegee" photograph and Lee's own childhood "eyes." The part that made me smile, because I have seen it, is the comparison with Detroit and Windsor. Anyway, if you are planning to buy this book, do so, it is a thought provoking and beautifully written book. I am so glad I read it. Thank you Ann Imbrie, very much.