Is The Topic Given True Justice?

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	• While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family Kathryn Harrison Random House, 2008 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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Defined by a horrible event

Kathryn Harrison has done a thorough and insightful job of understanding and relating Jody's story without bringing too much baggage with her. She gets dangerously close to the brother who caused the devastation that split Jody's life into a "before" and an "after." This is a compelling survivor story with more depth than your typical true-crime chronicle.

Is The Topic Given True Justice?

Kathryn Harrison is an immensely gifted writer. I read one of her earlier novels, Exposure, many years ago, and was enthralled with her perceptions, intuition, and tone. As most of her fans know, she was also the victim of an incestuous relationship with her own father, which she documents in her non-fiction work, The Kiss.

And herein lies the problem with her latest non-fiction work, focusing on the April morning when young Billy Gilley, Jr., murdered his sleeping parents and younger sister, allowing only his cherished sister, Jody, to survive. Jody somehow psychically survives this violent night, and, in fact, becomes Chief of Staff for President Clinton's National Campaign Against Youth Violence, among other things.

Harrison conducts many face-to-face interviews with Jody and Billy, who are estranged. It doesn't take long, though, for the reader to realize that this book is less about their tragedy than Harrison's own. She writes, "For a long time I understand my pursuit of the Gilleys' tragedy as driven my identification with the two older of the family's children: with Jody, in whom I saw an outline of my better self, intelligent and capable...then with Billy, whom I allowed to represent the wounded and murderously angry child that I was..."

Based on her transference to the Gilley tragedy, Harrison goes into deep analysis of Jody and Billy. At times, I almost felt as if I were reading a psychiatrist's transcript. One example: "It seems likely to me that Billy's memory is inspired by his wish for a grandmother who was powerful enough to save him -- a woman with a weapon she was willing to use..." Examples like this abound. Since the author has had massive therapy but is not, in fact, a trained psychiatrist, these passages sometimes seem arrogant.

Moreover, Harrison seems unaware, at times, of how her own tragedy colors her perception of the Gilley tragedy. For example, her distaste of Thad -- who became a self-appointed guardian to Jody -- is palpable. My own read is that he made a major difference in Jody's life, but he is a father figure, which, I believe, is threatening to the author. (And yes, I'm aware I'm doing precisely what I'm accusing Harrison of doing!) There are other examples of this as well.

Ultimately, the reader finds out more about Kathryn Harrison than Jody and Billy Gilley. The escalating violence, the suspense, the redemption -- all are dulled and the characteristic nuances of this gifted writer don't show through. While I recognize the courage it took for her to accept and write this book, I believe it hits too close to home for her to give true justice.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Early on an April morning, eighteen-year-old Billy Frank Gilley, Jr., killed his sleeping parents. Surprised in the act by his younger sister, Becky, he turned on her as well. Billy then climbed the stairs to the bedroom of his other sister, Jody, and said, ?We?re free.?
But is one ever free after an unredeemable act of violence? The Gilley family murders ended a lifetime of physical and mental abuse suffered by Billy and Jody at the hands of their parents. And it required each of the two survivors?one a convicted murderer, the other suddenly an orphan?to create a new identity, a new life.

In this mesmerizing book, bestselling writer Kathryn Harrison brilliantly uncovers the true story behind a shocking and unforgettable crime as she explores the impact of escalating violence and emotional abuse visited on the children of a deeply troubled family. With an artistry that recalls Truman Capote?s In Cold Blood, Norman Mailer?s The Executioner?s Song, and her own The Kiss, Harrison reveals the antecedents of the murders?of a crime of such violence that it had the power to sever past from present?and the consequences for Billy and for Jody. Weaving in meditations on her own experience of parental abuse, Harrison searches out answers to the question of how survivors of violent trauma shape a future when their lives have been divided into Before and After.

Based on interviews with Billy and Jody as well as with friends, police, and social workers involved in the case, While They Slept is Kathryn Harrison?s unflinching inquiry into the dark heart of violence in an American family, and a personal quest to understand how young people go on after tragedy?to examine the extent as well as the limits of psychic resilience. The New York Times called Kathryn Harrison?s The Kiss ?a powerful piece of writing, a testament to evil and hope.? The same could be said about While They Slept.

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