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Product Description
It seemed the case of the notorious Yorkshire Ripper was finally closed when Peter Sutcliffe was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1981. But in the early 1980s Gordon Burn spent three years living in Sutcliffe's home town of Bingley, researching his life. A modern classic, Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son offers one of the most penetrating and provocative insights into the mind of a murderer ever written.
'A book which will, with some justice, be compared to In Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song. It's as if Thomas Hardy were also present at the writing of this account of the Yorkshire Ripper.' Norman Mailer
From the Back Cover
It seemed the case of the notorious Yorkshire Ripper was finally closed when Peter Sutcliffe was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1981. But in the early 1980s Gordon Burn spent three years living in Sutcliffe's home town of Bingley, researching his life. A modern classic, ‘Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son' offers one of the most penetrating and provocative insights into the mind of a murderer ever written.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Many people over the years have published books about the 'Yorkshire Ripper' but this must have been the first, and maybe the last, to be written about Peter Sutcliffe. The distinction? the 'Yorkshire Ripper' is largely a media phenomenon, a tabloid bogeyman, an inhuman monster, but in this book Burn shows us that Peter Sutcliffe, despite his crimes, was very much in many ways your average Joe. He was and is: somebody's husband and somebody's son.
One might imagine that such a portrayal would therefore tend towards a liberal 'bleeding heart' style representation of someone who is still, to this day, an extremely controversial and newsworthy figure. That is where you would be wrong. The opposite in fact is true. Like Hannah Arendt's famous depiction of Adolf Eichman, what Burn's discovers is that it is the banality of Sutcliffe's evil that lends it it's most sinister aspect.
We do not read the words 'Yorkshire Ripper' untill 150 pages into the book and up till that point the significant figure in the book is not Peter Sutcliffe but John Sutcliffe, Peter's dad. Burn takes us deep into the heart of the world in which Peter Sutcliffe grew up, replete with the poverty, working class chauvinistic culture and the individual family members with their respective idiosyncracies.
Burn spent 3yrs living in Bingley and speaking with the people who knew Sutcliffe, not least his immediate family, and it shows. What emerges is a Sutcliffe who is human, all too human. His shyness, social awkwardness, devotion to his mother and love of motors are all here alongside the murder and gore.
Burn writes as a novelist rather than a journalist and therefore avoids the pitfalls of sensationalism and hyperbole to create a vivid picture of the world in which Sutcliffe emerged, a world of which Sutcliffe was a product of and not an unintelligible aberration. Burn's Sutcliffe is thus all the more unsettling for he is one of 'us' and not the constitutive 'other.'
Colin Wilson has described this book as "a book that will undoubtably become a classic in the field of investigative criminology" but to my mind it is so much more than that, in fact it is not criminology at all in it's classic sense but a novelistic yet naturalistic account of a particular time and particular place put in to sharp historical focus by the actions of a man born in Bingley, Yorkshire, in 1946 to John and Kathleen.
One might imagine that such a portrayal would therefore tend towards a liberal 'bleeding heart' style representation of someone who is still, to this day, an extremely controversial and newsworthy figure. That is where you would be wrong. The opposite in fact is true. Like Hannah Arendt's famous depiction of Adolf Eichman, what Burn's discovers is that it is the banality of Sutcliffe's evil that lends it it's most sinister aspect.
We do not read the words 'Yorkshire Ripper' untill 150 pages into the book and up till that point the significant figure in the book is not Peter Sutcliffe but John Sutcliffe, Peter's dad. Burn takes us deep into the heart of the world in which Peter Sutcliffe grew up, replete with the poverty, working class chauvinistic culture and the individual family members with their respective idiosyncracies.
Burn spent 3yrs living in Bingley and speaking with the people who knew Sutcliffe, not least his immediate family, and it shows. What emerges is a Sutcliffe who is human, all too human. His shyness, social awkwardness, devotion to his mother and love of motors are all here alongside the murder and gore.
Burn writes as a novelist rather than a journalist and therefore avoids the pitfalls of sensationalism and hyperbole to create a vivid picture of the world in which Sutcliffe emerged, a world of which Sutcliffe was a product of and not an unintelligible aberration. Burn's Sutcliffe is thus all the more unsettling for he is one of 'us' and not the constitutive 'other.'
Colin Wilson has described this book as "a book that will undoubtably become a classic in the field of investigative criminology" but to my mind it is so much more than that, in fact it is not criminology at all in it's classic sense but a novelistic yet naturalistic account of a particular time and particular place put in to sharp historical focus by the actions of a man born in Bingley, Yorkshire, in 1946 to John and Kathleen.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Neither romantic nor hysterical, we are drawn into the underbelly of 1980s Northern England. Memories of 'Look North' and black and white newspapers are superbly resurrected; Sutcliffe's crimes played out against bitter and bingo. Beautifully paced, detailed without becoming dull, this account is as much a social commentary as an exploration of a disturbed (?)mind. As mentioned above,, read with Bilton's 'Wicked beyond belief' for the Police's part in the events. A fascinating insight into pre-computer, pre-DNA investigation.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an excellent book to read if you are interested in finding out more about Peter Sutcliffe and his background and upbringing. the writer spend nearly three years living in Sutcliffe's home town of Bingley, speaking to friends and relatives and building up a biographical picture of his life up until his final arrest. It's a truely gripping book, I found it hard to put down. Read this book first, then for a view from the police and victims' perspective, read "Wicked Beyond Belief" by Michael Bilton which is also fantastic.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
lovely read
plenty of good pictures some i have not before..good writing and what a story please try and buy it makes good reading
Published 1 month ago by M. Fells
Let down by poor kindle transfer
Not a review of the book as such, but a comment on the quality of the kindle transfer,
I found it a very difficult read, as there are entire chapters without any punctuation... Read more
I found it a very difficult read, as there are entire chapters without any punctuation... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. J. Pickles
somebody's husband, somebody's son
Fascinating insight into the background and personality of Peter Sutcliffe. Based on interviews with his family and friends at various stages in his life, this book reveals how... Read more
Published 4 months ago by hetty
Somebody's Husband Somebody's Son
I was inspired to read this book after I had read 'Happy like Murderers.' I really enjoyed this book too as, being written by Gordon Burn, it was in the same style of writing. Read more
Published 7 months ago by foxy lady
An Exceptional Read
Not only is Gordon Burn a fabulous writer, he's articulate, precise, and exact about every piece of information he submits. Read more
Published 8 months ago by VictoriaRaw
not as good as expected
From other reviews and the blurb-quotes on the cover of this book I had great expectations of it, which were not really met. Read more
Published 9 months ago by wordparty
Many facts
I enjoyed reading this book(if you can call reading about a mass murder enjoyment). It presents a very believable and I thought quite well rounded portrait of Sutcliffe. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. John Bartlett
The best one
As a young female Police recruit in the West Yorkshire Police at the time the Ripper was on the loose and caught I have an insight into the Police and public side of the effect... Read more
Published on 25 April 2010 by C. Richardson
He never lost his temper with anyone ever or betrayed his feelings...
I read recently of the death of Gordon Burn and it reminded me that I had read this book so I got it out and reread it. Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2009 by Peter Wade
Best one about Sutcliffe
I really like Gordon Burn. I've read but two books by him, but thoroughly enjoyed them both. He is one of those authors who just have something in their narrative style that draws... Read more
Published on 28 May 2007 by R. Wooldridge
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