Kitty Genovese

Wow, read this only if details does not annoy you.

Kitty Genovese: A True ..By Catherine Pelon narrated by Dina Pearlman.

A research, crime narration of the true story of the murder of Kitty Genovese this book was fascinating even though a lot of repetition was present due to the nature of the story line. The book chronicles the Kitty Genovese case from start to finish. Detailing her life and personality to a degree. Focusing on her murder and the complete disdain people in the neighborhood showed when she was murdered in front of their eyes.

I loved the fact that 911 was a result of this murder and how it was dealt with. The psychological research that went into to disinterested bystander etc kept me riveted. Like I said, this is not a novel. It is a chronological look at as many facets as the author could regarding Kitty's life.

With this type of journalism repetition to prove a point etc or to go from hearsay to semi-proven fact is a given and it does get to be a bit much but I understood the reasoning behind it and if true life stories is your cup of tea then I am sure you will really enjoy this book and the look into the reasoning behind events.

WaAr

29 of 32 people found this review helpful

EXCEPTIONAL TRUE CRIME BOOK

As a "woman of a certain age", I remember when this crime was committed. All the media talked about was the apathy of Kitty Genovese's neighbors during the 1/2 hour it took for her to be savagely murdered. Author Catherine Pelonero gives a complete and unbiased account of this heinous crime. Instead of focusing on the more sensational headliner-grabbing fact of a white woman being killed by a black man, Pelonero tells the good and bad about everyone, including the 30+ witnesses who didn't help Kitty that night.

For the first time, I learned that Kitty was a lesbian - considered "deviate" for that era - and had a criminal record and worked in a bar. Not that her lifestyle made her at risk for this savage crime. However, the media of the time made no mention of any of this. Her killer, Winston Moseley, heretofore shown only in a booking photo, was a middle-class professional husband and father with no criminal record. He owned his own home and two cars. His wife was a registered nurse. Again, I don't remember these facts being told by the press. That said, Pelonero gives each of these two very disparate persons equal weight, choosing to focus on FACTS of the crime.

What no one knew was Moseley was a serial killer and rapist. He'd previously terrorized women of his own race so not much investigation was put into those crimes. In fact, Anna Mae Johnson, a black woman, had been murdered on her porch then dragged into her living room where Moseley raped her post-mortem, with her husband asleep upstairs. The medical examiner stated that the woman had been stabbed. It wasn't until Moseley confessed to that murder and saying he'd SHOT the victim, did an exhumation reveal bullets in the dead body. (While much has been written about Kitty Genovese, I've yet to find any books written about the life and death of Mrs. Johnson.)

Moseley, a prolific but undetected criminal has gotten less attention in history than Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahlmer, John Wayne Gacy and other white serial killers. It is this very racial oversight which led FBI profilers into mistakenly predicting that the DC Sniper had to be a white male. They should had done the research that this author put into her book.

This is one of the best true crime books that I've read in years. Pelonero does get a bit weighty in some places, giving a blow-by-blow account of some court testimony. But her attention to detail in other areas is well done. This story is not just about 3 dozen people who failed to act by merely not calling the police - although not much has changed in many decades since then, as evidenced by the recent murder in a yoga wear store while 2 Apple Store employees next door listened with their ears to the common wall. This is a story about a horrific crime, an innocent victim, a mentally ill killer and the question of the public's MORAL duty to assist a fellow human being fighting for his or her life.

23 of 28 people found this review helpful

Good book, not so great narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I thought the book was very interesting. It was well researched and thoughtful. The only downside was the narrator. She did not have a good cadence to her reading.

18 of 23 people found this review helpful

When Indifference becomes Evil

Novelist Stephen King (1947 - present) makes places evil and sometimes sentient characters in his novels. "'Salem's Lot" (1975) was the first chilling fictional King town I read. Later, he created the adjacent, inimical town of Derry, Maine, in "It" (1986). Derry's utter indifference is its most deadly trait.

In 1964, the chilling indifference of real-life Kew Gardens, NY, met the psychopathic Winston Mosley. The combination was deadly. Mosley slaughtered a screaming, bloody Kitty Genovese in front of at least 37 neighbors who admitted seeing or hearing him over 45 minutes. There were hundreds more neighbors who didn't admit to seeing or hearing Mosley attack her twice outside large apartment buildings.

I don't remember when I first heard about this murder, but I do know even 50 years later, it's often cited as the ultimate anecdote of apathy, fear, and - as I remember it, contempt for the victim.

Growing up in the Midwest long before the internet age, I heard stories that Genovese shouldn't have been out as late as she was; that she'd dressed proactively; or that she'd been killed in a domestic dispute with an angry boyfriend and the neighbors thought it was just one of the couple's regular spats. Catherine Pelonero's "Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder and Its Private Consequences" (2014) dispelled the myths I'd too readily accepted. Kitty Genovese managed a bar, and was on her way home from work. She wasn't wearing a miniskirt and high heels. She was a lesbian in a loving, committed relationship, and she did not know her murderer, Mosley, a serial killer.

The 1964 Kew Gardens was complicit in Kitty Genovese' murder, an 'unindicted co-conspirator'. Mosley knew his hunting grounds so well that he counted on the neighbors 'willful blindness' At trial, his attorney unsuccessfully argued that his flagrant attack was proof that he was 'schizophrenic' and should be found "Not Guilty by Reason of Mental Defect". Mosley even managed to terrorize a New York neighborhood 4 years after he was convicted and sentenced to death, escaping from a hospital visit and terrorizing a small town for a week.

[Reviewer's note: The term "schizophrenic' was used in 1964 to refer to people who have what is now differentiated as the mental diseases bipolar disorder and separately, schizophrenia; and mentally disordered sociopaths and psychopaths. See, for example, Robert Hare, PhD, who developed guidelines for diagnosing psychopathy (someone without conscience) in the late 1980's, publishing the PCL-2 checklist in 1991. Schizophrenia is commonly defined today as a disease, sometimes treatable, where the affected person cannot tell the difference between what's real and what's not real. Mosley does not fit the modern definition of schizophrenia.]

Kitty Genovese' killing did spur an important change in public safety: it lead to the creation of what is now the 9-1-1 system. In 1964, calling the police meant calling an Operator, and hopefully being transferred to the right police department; or trying to figure out the right department yourself. It took some work, and at least some Kew Garden residents thought it would be a pain, and that anyway, someone else was probably already calling anyway. Surely they were.

There have been follow up reporting and other books. According to Pelonero and other writers, Kew Gardens in the 21st Century remains defensive, insular, and maintains no interest in 'getting involved'. It's as if the place itself is bad, like the fictional Derry.

Dina Pearlman's narration was almost robotic in the second section, which distracted me.

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16 of 22 people found this review helpful

Interesting Account

Although I found the story interesting, the book lacked organization, had too many repetitive phases and was at times difficult and tedious to listen to.

Excellent story of the infamous murder of Kitty Genovese

Excellent story of the stabbing, rape and murder of Catherine Genovese in 1964 and the 38 people in surrounding apartments who either saw or heard or both and did not call police or try to help. This was the event that started the national conversation about the apathy of people and then the start of the national 911 emergency response number to reach emergency responders. The author told the story remarkably well, of the woman Kitty Genovese was, her friends and life, as well as the life and character of the man who murdered her. If you have a memory of or have of this murder before I think you will be surprised at the information revealed in this book.
The narrator was excellent as well.

lacked the chilling nature of the actual story..

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I admit I have stopped one third way through and not yet returned to finish it. With authors like Jack Olsen, I've been spoiled. I just can't seem to enjoy story told in simple terms, redundant sentence structure, limited vocabulary and lacking creative style and something expressed in a new or unique way., It just wasn't very well written, and the story itself could have been much more chilling.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The beginning of the day of the incident, the recounting of what was simply an ordinary day and how a series of actions and coincidences put the victim right where this killer was. It was eerie and wishing the author could have sustained the suspense.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Dina Pearlman?

not necessarily but I wouldn't avoid her like I would that guy who used to read for Phelps...Ray Charles or something like that. That's not his name but it has a Charles in it, and he an awful narrator--ruins a story.

Did Kitty Genovese inspire you to do anything?

Not yet--probably because I didn't give the book the chance it deserves by finishing it. I will.

Any additional comments?

Only that I was pretty young but living in the tri state area when this crime became a huge story--more for the exposure of apathy in the neighborhood and the horror it must have been for a victim to assume she'd be saved by hundreds of neighbors and then realize she was totally on her own. That is what made this story so scary--and of course the random nature of the crime--that it could have been anyone. Those crimes are always unnerving while the perpetrator is at large. I think the author did a good job in portraying the callousness of the crime and its randomness of the strike that leaves every nearby geographical area terrified and constantly adjusting behavior. Reminds me of Son of Sam and how everyone in 3 boroughs felt at risk.

A sad story of a sweetness taken to soon.

I remember the story from when I was very young. Hearing the details of of both Kitties life and the evilness of Winston was something new. I can't help but wonder about the strange and incredible series of events that brought these two paths together. I wonder what the world would be like if even one of them had changed. Most of all I wonder why our society has let this monster live after almost everyone else involved is gone. My only thought is that it must be so we don't forget.

It was OK

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend the book if the friend liked this type of story.

Would you be willing to try another book from Catherine Pelonero? Why or why not?

I don't think so.

What aspect of Dina Pearlman’s performance would you have changed?

I liked the performance

Was Kitty Genovese worth the listening time?

almost

Well Researched but poorly narrated.

Would you try another book from Catherine Pelonero and/or Dina Pearlman?

The author provided a thorough account of this crime and events surrounding it. The narrator was mediocre and took away from the overall enjoyment of this book.