Halfway Heaven: Diary of a Harvard Murder - Softcover

Thernstrom, Melanie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452280079 ISBN 13: 9780452280076

Publisher: Plume Books, 1998

Synopsis

A few days before the end of spring term, an anonymous note arrived at The Harvard Crimson. It contained a photograph of a student and a typed message: "Keep this picture. There will soon be a very juicy story involving this woman." Now, the critically acclaimed author of The Dead Girl reveals the never-before-told story of two girls - one from Ethiopia, the other from Vietnam - for whom admission to Harvard was like "halfway heaven, " the stepping stone to the American Dream that would ensure success for them and their families; and how they met instead with the darkest of all fates: a tragedy that might have been prevented. Based on Melanie Thernstrom's article in The New Yorker, here is the complete story of an unfathomable murder/suicide that shocked the country - and a groundbreaking expose of one of America's most distinguished universities.

About this title

Product Description

Halfway Heaven A brilliant synthesis of cultural analysis and psychological study, this book presents "a surprisingly moving and powerful investigation of the nearly unimaginable loneliness of an outsider at Harvard" ("Entertainment Weekly"). Full description

Review

"A book of rare illuminating depth... As she did with The Dead Girl (one of the best modern books about murder and its underlying effects), Melanie Thernstrom once again demonstrates a great, shattering gift for writing about forgotten people: the dead, those who kill them, the secrets and histories that bind the killer and the killed, and the lives that must survive beyond such intolerable losses."--Mikal Gilmore, author of Shot in the Heart

"Compelling... eloquent... fortunately, Thernstrom was ultimately tough enough to ask all the right questions."--Newsweek

"A gracefully written and moving book that combines first rate journalism, well-informed clinical discussion and a brief meditation on the nature of evil."--The Wall Street Journal

"Part mystery, part expose, Thernstrom's gripping account of a murder/suicide at Harvard combines fascinating case material with great seriousness of purpose... a cautionary tale of alienation's destructive power--even among the most talented."--Kirkus Reviews

"A complex and mature work of true crime."--Publishers Weekly

"More than juicy. It is a surprisingly moving and powerful investigation of the nearly unimaginable loneliness of an outsider at Harvard, written by the ultimate insider... a brave and chilling indictment of Harvard's reaction to the scandal. A."--Entertainment Weekly

"Engrossing."--Glamour

"Casts an unflinching eye on mental health services on American college campuses."--The Boston Globe

"Remarkably empathetic, well-researched and intelligent."--Harper's Bazaar

"Truly haunting, profoundly sad... Gracefully articulates our grief at losing the one who reached out to others, and summons our empathy for the one who tried, and could not."--Radcliffe Quarterly

About this edition

• Publisher: Plume Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0452280079
• ISBN 13: 9780452280076
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240