Book Discussion: "Furious Hours," by Casey Cep, A Real Lives Book Club Selection
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Our latest #reallivesbookclub selection, Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee,” reveals the stories of a place and of people in three distinct parts. As the reader settles in, they become familiar to the small town of Alexander City, Alabama, as well as some of its history and the climate of the community in the 1970s when a series of murders took place.
First, we meet Willie Maxwell (aka Reverend) who commits white-collar insurance fraud, and who also appears to be a serial murderer. He conveniently holds life insurance policies on family members who become the victims of inexplicable deaths.
Next, there is Tom Radney, the wily attorney who successfully defends Maxwell in each murder trial, and who is later the defense for Robert Brown, the man who shoots and kills Maxwell.
In the third section, there is Harper Lee, the famous author of To Kill a Mockingbird. She is ardently researching the incidents of the murder cases, the subsequent trials, and the people involved. She intends to write the true-crime non-fiction story of the events, much like her friend and contemporary Truman Capote did with his book In Cold Blood.
My assumption when I got this far was that the connection between each section was the story of the crimes and the courtroom drama. However, by the end, I felt that the overarching theme that tied each subject together was notoriety.
For the murderer Maxwell, his infamy in the community was problematic. As people became suspicious and fearful, he was unable to efficiently continue his crime spree undetected. In contrast, Tom Radney craved and sought fame and recognition all of his life, and even when he had it, he wanted more. And finally, there was Harper Lee, who had more celebrity than she could have imaged and who was ultimately smothered by it throughout the rest of her life.
GROUP DISCUSSION OF FURIOUS HOURS
I found Furious Hours to be a fast read (which is saying a lot, because I’m a slow reader), which I credit to the fine writing of Casey Cep. She is an adept writer who parlayed the rich texture of the small town and the curious people there. I found many of the insights in the book poignant and worthy of underlining, and even succumbed to dog-earing several pages that really struck me.
Our book club discussion confirmed that most of us enjoyed the book, although there was some question as to why Cep wrote it in three parts. In the end, I felt it would have been confusing for the reader had Cep chosen to intertwine the stories into one.
We also considered whether it is ethical to write about someone who was private and worked to remain that way all of her life. Harper Lee did not provide interviews or much else in the way of information about her life while she was alive, and yet she is a public figure because of her iconic book.
I often find the backstory of famous creatives fascinating because of the insights into their process. And so, Lee’s section of the book was easily my favorite. Next, I found the story of Tom Radney compelling for his personal motivations, a truly epic-worthy character in the place where he lived.
Everything in Furious culminates in bringing us back to Lee’s life-long agony to write her next book, which consumed her for 30 years. Can un-paralleled success be a bad thing? How does one deal with personal doubt about their abilities?
OTHER MAJOR TAKEAWAYS
Although the story of Maxwell and his crimes was the key that brought the three subjects “together,” I thought his story ranked third in terms of keeping my interest.
It was nonetheless fascinating to glean an understanding of how this man, a former sharecropper, managed to become a part-time Reverend, operator of his own pulp business, and a life insurance fraudster and murderer. Maxwell’s motivations and backstory are more elusive than I would have liked.
After Maxwell was acquitted in each murder trial, he went on to collect large sums of money that far surpassed his debts, plus he worked fulltime as well. The question left unanswered is why did he attempt to continue with his crime spree? And where was the money going that he received?
Tom Radney was fascinating for his courtroom theatrics, his charismatic antics among his neighbors, and his political role as a yellow dog democrat in a world of southern republicans. His charm was juxtaposed to the fact that he defended Maxwell, who clearly was guilty. I was ready to dislike him when he garnered wins and money as a result.
However, Radney later defended Robert Brown, who murdered Maxwell, and won that case, too. Radney’s motivation was driven more for his love of law and his belief that all clients deserved legal representation, and then his strong desire to win.
I especially enjoyed the section about Harper Lee. We glean insights into her life, which dealt with interesting subjects, including:
o The stifling impact of a first huge success and how that influences her future efforts to write.
o The invaluable role of editors and influential book publishers back before everyone had the ability to have a public platform to publish. To Kill A Mockingbird would never have happened had it not been for Lee’s editors.
o Lee’s fascinating childhood, her eccentric personality, and her friendship with Truman Capote.
Harper Lee professed herself to be more of a “rewriter than a writer,” and seemed burdened with perfectionism. She was extremely private and pushed back against the fame directed toward her, which ironically may have made her even more alluring to her fans.
As to why Harper never finished the book about the murders in Alexander City, Cep provides reasonable conjecture based on her extensive research of all those involved. But the true thoughts of Lee, like much of her personal life, went to the grave with her.
And now, all these years after she published the beloved American classic, the interest in her story still remains. The storytelling of Lee’s life will be left in the hands of others. As Cep points out, “history isn’t what happened but what gets written down.
Postscript: Spring is a time of thinking refresh and organizing of our spaces. I was in the mode BEFORE the pandemic required we all stay inside. If you need help and inspiration, I recommend the Get Organized Gal’s courses for support.
I used her course to organize my office, and it is in pretty good shape these days. Success in one space has lead to cleaning channels to other rooms and photos as well. Check out he courses here.
Sherry and Alexandra Borzo together in Lima, Peru
Sherry is the founder of Storied Gifts a personal publishing service of family and company histories. She and her team help clients curate and craft their stories into books. When not writing or interviewing, Sherry spends loads of time with her grandchildren and lives in Des Moines, Iowa.
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