Absolute total false rubbish
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Erm...people...people. Sweeney Todd is a work of fiction. He is not a real person. Sweeney Todd was a piece of fiction published in 1846-1847 in a penny dreadful (which is a really good read by the way). He was not ever real, and so any book researching him as a real person are totally invalid. He was not even inpired by a real character. You may as well research the real sex life of Mickey Mouse. I say again...the character is made up; this book is talking absolute and total bollocks.
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A splendid read!
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Just a few words - Firstly, like it says, this book was first published in 1997 so there simply no justification in saying that Peter Haining is simply trying to cash in on the hype surrounding the current Johnny Depp film. Secondly, despite occasionally drifting from the point and spending a little too much time with background detail, the evidence he does put forward, especially concerning the trial, seems pretty watertight. I read this book when it was first published 11 years ago and found it a smashing read. Highly recommended for any fan of the genre.
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Spel Chcek, Accuracy and Substance? Never heard of them.
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I recently purchased this book on the Demon Barber, and was so disappointed within the first four chapters that I'm afraid I'm not prepared to read on. Perhaps that disqualifies me from reviewing it. Then again, perhaps four chapters was plenty.
Aside from the multiple typing errors ('candies' flickering in the window, apparently! What a mood killer! - and yes, I know this is not likely to be down to the author)the book very quickly shows itself as being void of even basic research. Charles II, for example, reigned from 1660 - 1685; a fairly easy one to remember as it marked the start of the Restoration period. Not according to the author. He enjoyed a much longer reign, and stayed admirably below Cromwell's radar. This is not me picking holes or trying to sound clever; this is important history, and people learn from books. There is, I would strongly argue, a responsibility there somewhere. And as for Todd's parents? Mr and Mrs Todd - no forenames; I didn't have time, the movie is out soon! Please.
And then there's the prevarication. George III was the contemporary monarch, to be sure; but is it really necessary for Mr Haining to drift off and starts hammering on about the Mad King to the extent that he does? I say 'drift off' as it comes just as Sweeny Todd is being portrayed as a factual character. We are given a birthplace, a year and even a door number (well, three actually. You'll have to take a guess). And just as it appears as though the book might be getting to the flesh of something, Mr Haining breaks off, and stays off for far too long. Not so much tantalising as GCSE essay, and a mediocre one to boot.
Overall, I found the reasoning specious, the style provincial and the substance wanting.
I could go on, but I fear people will find this as interesting as I did the book. And I'd sooner have my throat cut in a barber's chair than inflict that on anyone.
Right, I'm off for a meat pie.
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Fascinating Life Story of Mass Murderer
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Peter Haining's little volume on Sweeney Todd lifts the lid on the real mass-murderer, as well as highlighting his more familiar fictional incarnations. Much historical detail puts Todd firmly in his historical context, while the (skimpy) details are colourfully etched in. Perhaps the prose is a little cliched and the facts somewhat thin on the ground, but the familiar street names and sheer audacity of the main protagonists (Mrs Lovett was his pie-maker accomplice) make for riveting reading. Haining draws together many sources to paint a grim picture of crime-ridden 18th century London and the grotesque dysfunctional barber-surgeon at the centre of these awful acts. What the book does not attempt to do is offer questions for Todd's deeds - psychoanalysis is absent from the gaudy melodrama here described. Just what did Todd hope to achieve by murdering so many clients? Was he twisted by his appalling childhood? Why did he not sell any of the purloined valuables and rise to a higher class of living? What was Mrs Lovett's motivation? Why was she attracted to him in the first place? These queries sadly go unanswered, and, whilst answers must surely be speculative, an appreciation of them would not have gone amiss. Overall, however, a fascinating story well told. Mark Campbell (Freelance Writer)
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