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Whitney's Reviews > Bright Young Women
Bright Young Women
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"Bright Young Woman" is a peculiar genre: fictionalized true crime dealing with the Ted Bundy murders. While rife with details one might find in a true crime podcast, a large portion of the book is fiction. While Knoll does her best to focus on the women rather than on the killer in an attempt to keep from romanticizing or glorifying him, while reading "Bright Young Woman" one wonders... why? Why write about Bundy at all, when so much of what you write is fiction to begin with? Why not keep this entirely fictionalized? So no, I was not convinced that this book needed to exist in its present form, particularly when so many of the victims and victim's families are still alive to remember this horrifying time. My distaste at how this book was conceived unfortunately bled into my enjoyment of it; while this was well-written, I did not enjoy it.
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Julia
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rated it 3 stars
Sep 28, 2023 07:32AM
Completely agree! I had the same issues. It was too similar to Ted Bundy that it was almost exact with different names and I think there could have been a similar story about a fictional crime or person. I also feel like the victims and families should have gotten more of a mention etc for it really to be about them.
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Agree, seems wrong to write a fictional book about real victims… she used some victim’s real names and not others which I find strange. It was also just boring and hard to follow.
Just started it and finding it to be sensationalized and gory. Will read a bit more and decide if I’ll keep on.
This needed to be said, I’ve been reading this book and thinking these same thoughts.
I feel like she did exactly what she was putting down in the book. The reporter wrote a book. At least that reporter owned what it was about instead of pretending it was any other than ripping off this case.
Yes!! This is what I am struggling with! By over fictionalizing the victims while clearly identifying TB this book seems to do the opposite of what it set out to do. I also think the fictional first person perspective takes away from the opportunity to highlight the actual victims and their lives.
I'm reading this right now and just feel like this is such a problematic book. You're making money fictionalizing a horribke event in recent history.
