Customer Reviews

Sweeney Todd: The Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

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

 

 

Haining claims to have discovered documentation that proves the existence of The Demon Barber of Fleet Street during the late 1700s - early 1800s. Unfortunately, nowhere in the book does he cite his references or make clear exactly where he found this documentation. Without this vital information, it's difficult to accept Haining's claim that Sweeney Todd actually existed. The book is a work of fiction and should be marketed as such.

While I'm grateful anyone wrote a book on the topic, this is a numbing look at the "facts." It's hard to believe such a slim book on such a rich topic is this dry and uninteresting. Half the problem is that the three or four antecendents of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd are awash in weak indistinguishable characters and developments that do not benefit from close study. The details of melodramas like "The String of Pearls" et. al. just do not engage me.

Haining himself is tight-lipped and emotionally indecipherable. Just try to figure out what his tone is. It's not a good late-night tale of murder, it's not a crime dossier, it's not thrilling or even disturbing. There is no dramatic arc to his writing. You get the sense that he would have preferred the whole story composed as a giant chart of figures, or that his actual task was to trick readers into belief by sinking them in made-up citations.

It was an enormous effort to pick this book up after each pause, and continue.

Sweeney Todd's crimes struck horror into the hearts of eighteenth century Londoners, and continue to chill and fascinate two hundred years later. According to the legend, Todd was a barber with a grimy shop on Fleet Street. When solitary victims settled into his chair for a shave, the `Demon Barber' would pull a lever that opened the floor beneath the chair and pitched them into the dark cellar below. If the fall did not kill them, he would cut their throats, and then help himself to their valuables. Todd disposed of the bodies with help from accomplice Margery Lovett, who baked their flesh into meat pies that she sold in her Bell Yard shop. The nightmare pair claimed over 160 victims before authorities stepped in and brought their spree to a halt.

The unbelievable victim count, the fantastic revolving chair, and the two centuries that have passed since he cut his last victim's throat have led crime historians to question whether or not Sweeney Todd really existed. Even the flesh-into-pie method of concealing his crimes has a Grimms aura of unreality about it. Peter Haining attempted to set the record straight in this book, which was originally published in 1993, and re-released in 2007 in the wake of the popular film starring Johnny Depp. He doesn't fully succeed.

`Sweeney Todd: the Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street' is a well-written account of both the Demon Barber's deeds and the London that he lived in. But the problem is that Haining does not list his sources. In 1993 footnotes were not the norm outside of academic texts, but authors usually compensated by identifying source material in the book itself i.e. "According to the People's Periodical of November 1, 1846..." We're given a lot of intriguing information that cannot be verified. Haining describes Todd's trial and execution in vivid detail, yet neither event appears in the official records. Discriminating readers are left with a sense of hollow enjoyment. We want to trust such an entertaining book, but we can't.

This could have been a five star book, but the sense of uncertainty it leaves me with forces me to accord only three.

It seems that the previous reviwers who slaged this book and author wanted all this deep insightful detailed facts when in fact the author from the begining stated their were very few hard concrete facts !!! I too wanted all sorts of detailed facts but the author stated early on that after years of research on Mr. Todd amd Ms. Lovett there was very little documented information on Sweeney Todd and Ms. Lovett their arrest,her suicide and his hanging !!!

The Author clearly tells what is fact and what is fiction and what is conjecture and leaves it to reader to decide for themselves what is a reasonable conculsion with the information that is available !!! Again the Author just gives you the information he could dig up and by his own admission there is more stories then facts....but there are some facts...he can not be held reasponsable because the actual facts are very little....and he also explains why there is such little information on these two people.

The author does not hold back anything....he gives you all the stories past and current....stage plays or bedtime....and how some of these stories stem from some of the actual accounts that are known about Sweeney Todd and Ms. Lovett....the exploits of Mr. Todd have been sensationalized for entertainment purposes to be sure...but those stories do not change the fact there was in fact a serial killer barber and a psychopath pie maker....how did they met!? No one knows....how long they do these evil deeds...again no one knows....The author tell you that !! He does not give you something thats just not there !!!

So....just read the book...take it for its worth...its not the bible nor does it claim to be....but I liked it....and found it very informative....its all good !!!!!

Fantastic glad i bought it so very interesting to read. All you people out there especially studying social work and psychology its the book for you to read.

Well-written and entertaining (as is most of Haining's work), makes a pretty plausible-sounding argument that Sweeney Todd was a serial killer who actually existed, and was not simply a character inspired by a "penny dreadful." I'm not entirely convinced, because some of the "evidence" is impossible to validate, and some of the arguments Haining presents are a bit of a stretch, albeit well presented. Despite the typographical errors, it's an entertaining and interesting read, even if it doesn't leave you completely convinced of Todd's actual existence.

Even while you are reading this, you realize, that while Sweeney is PROBABLY based on some actual events or person, he really never existed, certainly not to the degree he is protrayed as. The story is good though. You can tell that the author REALLY wants the Sweeney of legend to exist. There was a good historical geography lesson of old London in here with the author's attempt to authenicate Sweeney, but to no avail. We can be GLAD that he didn't though. That was one MEAN serial killer!!!!

The author tries desperately to convince the reader that the mythical tale that inspired the Stephen Sondhiem musical in based in reality. He relies on fictional accounts of the Demon Barber to support his hypothesis. Still, it makes for quick reading, if only to hear the various accounts of the story of Sweeney Todd.

The author claims to have discovered evidence that Sweeney Todd was real person, yet never once offers any documentation--not even footnotes, in a book purporting to be an investigative work of non-fiction! Todd was "born in 1756"--how do we know this? No idea. We get "we are told" this, and "evidence shows" that, but no cites of sources, leaving us to conclude that the author is pulling this stuff out of his, umm, hat. He quotes 15th-century accounts of the demon barber and his pie-making associate, then claims Todd worked in the 18th century?

The frequent typos ("candies" burning in windows, Dickens writing in the 18th century) are pretty funny, though not enough to nudge this over to the humor shelf.

Haining actually claims to have been a working Fleet Street journalist--the downfall of the newspaper is a little less mysterious now.

I found some of the facts mentioned in the book interesting. Those that had nothing to do with sweeney todd but, the history of London. It was a very slow and painful read. I wish there was a way to return all the wasted time i spent trying to get through this book.