It's A Lego Advent - Day 9

 

Finally

 So, not only did we go shopping on Saturday I got slightly carried away online.  My excuse is Christmas is coming, even though we don't really bother with it much these days it is the best I could do excuse wise.  Goodness knows my Credit Card isn't happy and neither will I be when I get the statement later this month.

What the hey, just need to juggle the budget a little bit.  To be honest my hope is that I will rack up so much debt on my CC that I finally give up smoking.  Anyhoo, that aside I had a little Amazon shop which was all supposed to be delivered on Sunday.  Got part of it just fine but the Saturn V was shipped via Hermes and we know what that means don't we - yup, late delivery.  Only 1 day but it still frustrates me.  Why I'm moaning when my Lego.com order isn't even shipped yet I don't honestly know but there we go.

So, what did I splurge on:

It's A Lego Advent - Day 8

 

It's A Lego Advent - Day 7

 

Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman

 I was looking forward to this book as the Hasidic Community fascinates me.  I have seen a couple of documentaries online about male members of this ultra-strict sect leaving but nothing about women trying to break free has been committed to film.  I suspect this is because they are in hiding and fear repercussions from their family and the wider community.  The only information on women leaving have been text based with names changed.  So, based on that Ms Feldman is to be congratulated for coming forward to tell her story so boldly and honestly.

However, it did all get a bit Groundhog Day.  The same set pieces would be revisited again and again and I did find that this became a distraction from the story.  Whilst I am interested in the day to day life of a Hasidic Community the telling is necessarily biased and we will sadly never see an account of daily life from someone that is happy with their life within the community.  Instead the book focuses entirely on the negative emotions of the author towards the community, particularly after her marriage.

The book left me feeling conflicted but not with any additional information about Hasidic Judaism and that is something I was hoping for.  Certainly the information given tallies with other accounts I have read or seen but it did not bring anything new or unknown to the table.

This review has been a long time coming.  I actually read this book between the 30th July and 3rd August 2020 so my memory is a bit foggy about all the plot lines.  Fortunately, I have a notebook where I jot some initial thoughts on the book and an overall ranking so between the book blurb and that I did have a reasonable handle on what I thought at the time of reading.

Fred & Rose by Howard Sounes

 3.5 Stars

Whilst there is a lot of investigative work gone in to this book it still felt, in my opinion, that it was going for shock value in several sections.  Particularly in the description of exactly what happened to the victims of Fred and Rosemary West.  The problem I have with this is that a lot of it is merely supposition and is an extrapolation of the limited information that could be gleaned from the post mortem examination of the skeletonised remains.  Much of what is described as having happened would have left extensive soft tissue damage but no bone markings.  Neither Fred or Rose ever admitted to what exactly happened so rather than being entirely factual it does take a leap of imagination in places and a very dark imagination it is too.

Where this left me was wondering what happened in the intervening years when no murders are thought to have been carried out purely because no remains from this period were found.  In my opinion they had run out of grave sites at Cromwell Road but had not stopped their activities so how many more murdered women and girls are there and where did they end up?  Psychological research in to serial murderers has shown that they don't stop unless they are caught so why are there 10 years+ unaccounted for where they seem to have just stopped.  Very disconcerting thought but one that is never touched on by this book.  Yes, it would be mere supposition but the consensus seems to be they only committed the murders that bodies were found for which does seem vaguely ridiculous if you stop and think about it.

The details of the early lives of Fred and Rose are well researched and it does give you an idea of why their moral compasses just did not exist.  Rose in particular seems to have been born with severe brain damage and whilst Fred was relatively normal the brain injury received in his crash seems to have removed any last vestige of restraint he may have had.  So brain injury seems to be a connecting theme, throw in childhood abuse both physical and mental and you can begin to see how a murderer can be "created" by circumstances.  Put two such people together and it is going to be a recipe for disaster and this is definitely what happened here.  

It really interested me that Rose was the dominant partner, not something I had ever considered before but Fred certainly seems to have been in thrall to her.

Overall this is an interesting book and well worth picking up if you want ot know more about the background of The Wests.

This review has been a long time coming.  I actually read this book between the 27th and 30th July 2020 so my memory is a bit foggy about all the plot lines.  Fortunately, I have a notebook where I jot some initial thoughts on the book and an overall ranking so between the book blurb and that I did have a reasonable handle on what I thought at the time of reading.

Lego Fire Fang 70674

 First off can we talk about the mini figures in this set.  I am absolutely overjoyed with the snake men that are included, they genuinely made this kit so much, much better for me.  The Boy was strangely impressed with the moulded detail on the spinner which I get but the Snake Men are where this kit is at.

Some great build techniques for Fire Fang his/her self.  The construction of the main figure was a great deal of fun and I really enjoyed myself.  I liked the amalgamation of a rattlesnake with a cobra and the building of the rattler tail made me grin and it even works to rattle.  The articulation method means that as you move the snake the whole tail gently waves back and forward in an almost hypnotic way which is strangely satisfying.

To be honest it does feel more like a display piece than a play piece but that could just be my age showing.

Number Of Pieces: 463

Approximate Price Per Piece: £0.09

Build Time: 1.5 Hours