35. While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family by Kathryn Harrison

35. While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family by Kathryn Harrison

This was (or so I thought) about the 1984 slaying of the Gilley family by their son, Billy Gilley. Billy Gilley killed his mom, dad, and little sister Becky with a baseball bat. He did this in order to save himself and his other sister Jody from further abuse by their parents. He killed Becky because she wouldn’t stay in her room while he was killing the mom and dad. He says he hit her to shut her up and not to kill her, but you know how 11 year old skulls and baseball bats go.

I would have probably enjoyed this book more if the author herself had not imposed her own life story and dysfuntional family into the story. Especially since her story was more incestual and not “my brother killed my fam with a ball bat.” If her brother had, in fact, killed her family, then I could see why she would bring up her story. But no, having an incestuous relationship with your father is not congruent to parricide. It’s just not. So to me it seemed forced.

Another thing I did not like about the book is that it psychoanalized EVERYTHING. But not from a doctor’s perspective. Not that that’s always bad, I mean doctors can be very dry and impersonal when describing things. But when the author questions Jody (the surviving sister) about the murders and her childhood and does so with all this psychological talk it comes across as more of a hobbyist asking questions than any kind of actual study.

I just did not enjoy this book. Do I think it’s interesting for a victim to write about another victim? Yes. Do I think it works in this instance? No.