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jansbookcorner's review against another edition
2.0
Read too much like a history book and not enough like a life.
candacesiegle_greedyreader's review against another edition
4.0
Forget that romantic couple of the 1960s film, sleek and handsome in slim '30s fashions, driving vintage cars along Southern backroads, Tommy guns blazing as banjo music plays and the cops are always a half mile behind.
Instead, imagine two worn-out folks exhausted from sleeping in the car or on the ground, bony from having to grab food where they can--they are too well known to go to a restaurant or store. Plus, they're jittery from anxiety and booze, some drugs, and it scares people. Their bodies hurt from gunshot wounds and car accidents. They are worried all the time.
Clyde Barrow was a psychopath from a poor family filled with them. What was Bonnie Parker's excuse? She was smart, educated by the standards of the time and place, wrote poetry, and did not smoke cigars. Sure, her prospects were limited to waitressing or marrying and having a bunch of kids, living poor, but from that to murder and kidnapping?
Christina Schwarz tells the story from Bonnie's point of view, revealing how this impatient, loving, hopeful girl ended up riddled with bullets on a Louisiana backroad. Money was never the object--with all that killing and stealing they were always on the run and rarely had time to spend any--but the excitement was contagious. Schwarz does not delve into the powerful sexual aspect of their relationship: her Bonnie and Clyde are too exhausted and anxious. I think this is a miss. There had to be something so intoxicating about their bond that it would keep Bonnie tied to him until the end, even though both their families begged her to get out.
Schwarz gives us the dusty, poor, ramshackle South of the Depression where people dress in flour sacks and just hope to get on to the next day. The story of Bonnie and Clyde gave them excitement but also scared them to the core. This crazy couple popped up all over the midwest leaving ordinary citizens dead in their wake. You could be next. It's a fascinating look at a mindset that exists today, well told, and hard to look away from.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this title.
~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader
Instead, imagine two worn-out folks exhausted from sleeping in the car or on the ground, bony from having to grab food where they can--they are too well known to go to a restaurant or store. Plus, they're jittery from anxiety and booze, some drugs, and it scares people. Their bodies hurt from gunshot wounds and car accidents. They are worried all the time.
Clyde Barrow was a psychopath from a poor family filled with them. What was Bonnie Parker's excuse? She was smart, educated by the standards of the time and place, wrote poetry, and did not smoke cigars. Sure, her prospects were limited to waitressing or marrying and having a bunch of kids, living poor, but from that to murder and kidnapping?
Christina Schwarz tells the story from Bonnie's point of view, revealing how this impatient, loving, hopeful girl ended up riddled with bullets on a Louisiana backroad. Money was never the object--with all that killing and stealing they were always on the run and rarely had time to spend any--but the excitement was contagious. Schwarz does not delve into the powerful sexual aspect of their relationship: her Bonnie and Clyde are too exhausted and anxious. I think this is a miss. There had to be something so intoxicating about their bond that it would keep Bonnie tied to him until the end, even though both their families begged her to get out.
Schwarz gives us the dusty, poor, ramshackle South of the Depression where people dress in flour sacks and just hope to get on to the next day. The story of Bonnie and Clyde gave them excitement but also scared them to the core. This crazy couple popped up all over the midwest leaving ordinary citizens dead in their wake. You could be next. It's a fascinating look at a mindset that exists today, well told, and hard to look away from.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this title.
~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
4.0
This last year I've consumed one non fiction, one movie and now this about Bonnie and Clyde. Have a gauge memory I've read another fiction as well. But anywho I found their story to be extremely fascinating. I wasn't very intrigued by them before but this year I changed my mind. They are very human, flawed but also had rather good qualities to them even though they choose another path in their life. This book was just as an intriguing read and while it's a fiction that probably added some stuff to make it readable I think Christina Schwartz did a good job giving the overall feeling of them
callistolexx's review against another edition
5.0
I won this book in a giveaway, though that has not biased this review. What may have biased this review, however, is my love for the myth and facts of Bonnie and Clyde. I don’t know what it is, I can’t remember when it started, but I have a deep love for the duo. I have never seen or read anything B&C that I have not loved, regardless of adherence to the facts. And this book is no different. I love the voice that Christina Schwarz has given to Bonnie, that rings true to the impression I have always gotten from what I’ve learned of her. This entire book, though technically a fiction novel, has an air of authenticity about it. If you want to read a very well researched novel about these infamous lovebirds, definitely check this one out. This is one I’ll keep in my collection for years to come and continue to read and reread.
brooke_review's review against another edition
4.0
A little known fact about Bonnie Parker is that she was quite the gifted poetess. Who knows what kind of life she might have led if she hadn't gotten tangled up with the likes of Clyde Barrow. But fall for him she did, becoming half of the infamous robbing, kidnapping, murdering duo Bonnie and Clyde ... and as they say, the rest is history. You likely know how this story ends on a winding country road in north Louisiana, but do you know where it begins? Christina Schwarz is here to bring "Suicide Sal" to life in her novel Bonnie, a biographical fiction account of Bonnie Parker's childhood in the Dallas, Texas area to her later highly-publicized crime sprees with Clyde Barrow.
Going into Bonnie, I knew little about Bonnie Parker's life aside from the fact that she traveled around the country committing crimes with the man she loved, Clyde Barrow. Prominent during the Public Enemy era, Bonnie and Clyde's offenses were splashed across newspapers far and wide, and they achieved a level of fame akin to A-list celebrity status. Frankly, I didn't need to know anything about Bonnie before picking up this book because Schwarz describes her life in great detail from childhood to her death at the hands of the police. Schwarz paints a sympathetic portrait of Ms. Parker, highlighting her more sensitive, feminine side, and suggesting that all that she did, she did out of love.
Schwarz captures the mood and atmosphere of the 1930s, completely enveloping readers in this era when gangsters ran wild, robbing and murdering whoever they pleased. As distasteful as Bonnie and Clyde's transgressions were, I was enraptured by their tale of life on the run. This novel builds such tension and peril, and had me on the edge of my seat as I was reading, both wanting and not for Bonnie and Clyde to make their escape. My only fault with it is that Schwarz's writing could sometimes be vague and succinct, and events, such as a getaway, would happen before my mind had time to process that they had. The ambush that resulted in their demise also happened quickly and without much fanfare, and I wish that Schwarz would have slowed down and let us absorb the scene. Then again, Bonnie and Clyde, moved like lightning, thieving and killing with the pedal to the metal, so maybe Schwarz was trying to capture their essence in the pacing of her novel.
Bonnie is recommended to anyone who is naturally fascinated by the story of Bonnie and Clyde, as well as though who are curious to surmise how a woman of the early 20th century could and did turn so violent and bold.
Going into Bonnie, I knew little about Bonnie Parker's life aside from the fact that she traveled around the country committing crimes with the man she loved, Clyde Barrow. Prominent during the Public Enemy era, Bonnie and Clyde's offenses were splashed across newspapers far and wide, and they achieved a level of fame akin to A-list celebrity status. Frankly, I didn't need to know anything about Bonnie before picking up this book because Schwarz describes her life in great detail from childhood to her death at the hands of the police. Schwarz paints a sympathetic portrait of Ms. Parker, highlighting her more sensitive, feminine side, and suggesting that all that she did, she did out of love.
Schwarz captures the mood and atmosphere of the 1930s, completely enveloping readers in this era when gangsters ran wild, robbing and murdering whoever they pleased. As distasteful as Bonnie and Clyde's transgressions were, I was enraptured by their tale of life on the run. This novel builds such tension and peril, and had me on the edge of my seat as I was reading, both wanting and not for Bonnie and Clyde to make their escape. My only fault with it is that Schwarz's writing could sometimes be vague and succinct, and events, such as a getaway, would happen before my mind had time to process that they had. The ambush that resulted in their demise also happened quickly and without much fanfare, and I wish that Schwarz would have slowed down and let us absorb the scene. Then again, Bonnie and Clyde, moved like lightning, thieving and killing with the pedal to the metal, so maybe Schwarz was trying to capture their essence in the pacing of her novel.
Bonnie is recommended to anyone who is naturally fascinated by the story of Bonnie and Clyde, as well as though who are curious to surmise how a woman of the early 20th century could and did turn so violent and bold.
directorpurry's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
rossakamcfreakyd's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this take on the infamous Bonnie Parker. There were times, however, where it felt a little monotonous and circular to me? And perhaps that's the point. That's how Bonnie felt her life with the Barrow gang was feeling, and the book gave off similar vibes.
emmaemmaemma08's review against another edition
5.0
This book was amazing. I love Bonnie and Clyde and this book gave and amazing view of what life was like for them. It was very interseting to learn about Bonnies younger life and how life was for her when she was a kid.