A Killing In Iowa: A Daughter's Story Of Love And Murder (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
I would like to see this developed into a full-length book and not a Kindle Single. However, the purpose of the Singles is to present compelling writing in a short form, and as such, Corbett's book certainly fits the bill. However, as a writer of books from real life, I am aware that real life does not always conveniently adjust itself to fill more pages, much less to a tidy resolution. It is possible that Corbett has taken this as far as she can, at least at this time, since she was personally involved, and because it is extremely painful to the others who were close to the situation. Sometimes one has to remove oneself several decades from the time period of a story before it can be expanded, so maybe she will do so at a future date. The opening chapters were stunningly written and at first I was excited to find a freebie that would be a good read, although puzzled about the 45 pages. How can you spend a chapter describing small town Iowa and still get to any kind of story in 45 pages? One would need to be a skilled storyteller to pull that off. Unfortunately, not the case with this author.This was more like a class assignment "write about an experience that greatly impacted you and what you learned from it" than a story. Because it wasn't a story. There was some lovely writing before it wandered off into "telling" instead of "showing." A promising start but a disappointment overall. I skimmed the last 20% and found it got worse instead of better. Reading the author's qualifications, I expected better.
What do You think about A Killing In Iowa: A Daughter's Story Of Love And Murder (2011)?
A short, quick read, but interesting and slightly thought provoking.
—AlexK
This was pretty depressing but held my interest all the same.
—Tessy
