Review: Catch and Kill

4 stars. This is harrowing and haunting and an absolute must-read. It's not just about the Weinstein story, it's about men and women and hard workers and free thinkers and predators and victims and journalism and the media and America and the truth and the immense, terrifying lengths to which men will go to hide their secrets. I've been thinking a lot about social evolution and how we call ourselves "advanced" - and yet in so many ways we are truly just finding new, techy ways to tear each other apart. How to cope? Well, reading well-written investigative journalism is one reliable way.

Catch and Kill tracks Harvey's crimes, his cover-ups, and his (successful, shameful) efforts to squash the story at NBC. Ronan Farrow documents his experience with the story start to finish - the original assignment, his mind-blowing interviews with sources, his failed attempts to push further and put real evidence on the air, and finally his decision to take the story to The New Yorker. The rest is history. Down with Harvey and the greedy weasels who enabled and empowered his crimes over the years. 

It's one of those sort-of happy endings that leaves you feeling a bit disgusted, maybe in need of a quick shower. It's satisfying to see Harvey caught and jailed and ultimately punished, but the taste of victory is tainted by the bitterness of his crimes. And by the manner in which so many - so, so many - were complicit. And by the way his victims' lives were destroyed, most of them suffering to this day. And by the way even after everything, the psychopath is essentially incapable of comprehending that he is the ultimate evil villain in this story. He is a monster. 

The book itself is well-written. I enjoyed the short chapters and the personal quotes. I enjoyed Farrow's frankness about his background and his own personal connection with the story. He's such a smart guy. I would maybe point out that the book needed a bit more editing, especially toward the end (that’s why I docked a star, honestly), but this truly is a captivating page-turner that you can hardly believe is true. I know when the story first broke and the term "open secret" became slang everyone kept asking "how?! how?! how?!" Well, this is how. And it's just as amazing and awful as you'd expect.

I hope there’s more. I hope this book ends up updated or something. There’s a podcast, for sure, and probably a movie adaptation in the works, but this story continues to unfold and you know what? It feels like progress. I want that documented. I want to roll around in it. To be a woman in this country is to experience hopelessness, injustice, inequality, instability, confusion, rage, powerlessness, fear, and hurt. Farrow is no less than a hero for trying to fight what feels like such an inevitability.

I would also say this: there is absolutely no denying that Farrow has character and stands with strong moral sensibilities. He has a clear objective here; an intention, and it's the right one. I wouldn't dream of undermining his intelligence, his accomplishments, or his immense contribution to this cause. That being said, whenever you write a book about yourself Doing The Right Thing, there's going to be a whiff of self-indulgence; a pinch of self-righteousness. Farrow, for the most part, toes this line and resists any obvious temptations. Did he REALLY act like such a pure super savior literally every step of the way? *Shrug* It doesn't matter in the end. Even Superman saved lives in a flashy uniform. 

Catch and Kill on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads