Writing Response, Week Seven

Reading Gail Griffin's The Events of October was quite the experience. It evoked a whole host of emotions in me; I was by turns sad, proud, and toward the end, paranoid. Above all, I was intellectually stimulated by the writing, which catapults one directly into the horrific murder-suicide and makes one consider the reasons why this happen, and what one should take out of observing such an event.

I was impressed by the sheer amount of sources Griffin had for the book. Any possible source of information on the event, and events surrounding the event, she had to have somehow learned of, tracked down, and interviewed. The only major source missing is that of the Odah family, the lack of which is later explained. I found myself wondering how the author managed to make all of her various sources comfortable in order to hear their stories, to get the information needed to make her project possible. The interviewees were probably spread across the country - did she conduct mostly telephone interviews, or did she drive cross-country to hear them in person? Driving to sources might seem preferable for talk of such a personal subject, but would mean much effort on the part of the interviewer. That said, how did Gail manage to tactfully tease out the stories of all these people? It's such a sensitive subject, I believe we in this class would have a lot to learn from how this was accomplished. I also liked the IM conversations as they were utilized in the book - I imagine that Maggie's family would want the whole story of their daughter told, and thus made her computer available for research purposes. And, given the massive amount of sources Gail used in order to put this book together, I'm also interested in how she as an author decided to weave these stories together - how she decided to put what pieces where. I look forward to learning how this hugely impactful piece was put together from the author herself.