| Murder -- British Columbia. |
| Juvenile homicide -- British Columbia. |
| Murder -- Investigation -- British Columbia. |
| Trials (Murder) -- British Columbia. |
| Teenage girls -- Crimes against -- British Columbia. |
| Virk, Reena, 1983-1997 |
| Ellard, Kelly Marie |
| Glowatski, Warren |
| Criminal homicide |
| Killing (Murder) |
| Juvenile murder |
| Youth homicide |
| Murder trials |
| Adolescent girls |
| Female adolescents |
Available:
Library | Shelf Number | Shelf Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Wareham Free Library | 364.152 GOD 2005 | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
In the tradition of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, this work is a gripping, true-crime story of a group of middle school teenagers who beat a female classmate to death, and then tried to cover up the crime. Includes a new Afterword by the author.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
With a gripping journalistic style, novelist Godfrey (The Torn Skirt) recounts the story behind a horrific murder in a small British Columbia town. One November night in 1997, 14-year-old Reena Virk was savagely beaten and drowned under a waterway bridge. From a small East Indian community, Reena was alienated from her family and spent her time desperately trying to find a place with a tough crowd of teenagers, several of whom had been in trouble with the law. But one of the girls held a grudge against her, and Reena apparently was lured to her violent end by a promise of friendship. Seven girls and one boy initially were charged with assault. Two were convicted of murder: Warren Glowatski, now serving a life sentence, and Kelly Ellard, who was found guilty in 2005 after three trials. Godfrey is careful not to make judgments, but her informed writing reveals a remorseful Warren, an unrepentant Kelly (who denies her guilt) and other psychologically damaged members of the group, sharply etched, whose casual brutality, enabled by drug use, led to a brutal and senseless death. Godfrey's account contains some recreated dialogue but overall is meticulously researched and harrowing to read. B&W photos. Agent, Emma Parry. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Godfrey reconstructs a horrific murder with a vividness found in the finest fiction, without ever sacrificing journalistic integrity. The novel The Torn Skirt (2002) showed how well the author could capture the roiling inner life of a teenager. She brings that sensibility to bear in this account of the 1997 murder of a 14-year-old girl in British Columbia, a crime for which seven teenage girls and one boy were charged. While there's no more over-tilled literary soil than that of the shocking murder in a small town, Godfrey manages to portray working-class View Royal in a fresh manner. The victim, Reena Virk, was a problematic kid. Rebelling against her Indian parents' strict religiosity, she desperately mimicked the wannabe gangsta mannerisms of her female schoolmates, who repaid her idolization by ignoring her. The circumstances leading up to the murder seem completely trivial: a stolen address book, a crush on the wrong guy. But popular girls like Josephine and Kelly had created a vast, imaginary world (mostly stolen from mafia movies and hip-hop) in which they were wildly desired and feared. In this overheated milieu, reality was only a distant memory, and everything was allowed. The murder and cover-up are chilling. Godfrey parcels out details piecemeal in the words of the teens who took part or simply watched. None of them seemed to quite comprehend what was going on, why it happened or even--in a few cases--what the big deal was. The tone veers close to melodrama, but in this context it works, since the author is telling the story from the inside out, trying to approximate the relentlessly self-dramatizing world these kids inhabited. Given most readers' preference for easily explained and neatly concluded crime narratives, Godfrey's resolute refusal to impose false order on the chaos of a murder spawned by rumors and lies is commendable. A tour-de-force of true crime reportage. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Godfrey approaches a brutal crime in an unlikely spot the way a novelist would, by tracing, first of all, how the victim and persecutors came to be in that place, through all the tangled byroads of families seeking a better life. In November 1997, the body of a 14-year-old girl, whose family had emigrated from India, was found in the waters off Victoria Island in British Columbia. The victim, Reena Virk, had been beaten to death. Seven girls and one boy, all high-schoolers, were charged with the crime. Godfrey follows the case from discovery through verdict at trial, seeking to answer the one question the trial testimony could not: Why did a gang of mostly well-off teens commit casual murder? Her interviews with all the principals, ranging from the police scuba team that found the body through prosecution and defense attorneys, suburban families, teachers, and the accused themselves, bring this case disturbingly alive. --Connie Fletcher Copyright 2005 Booklist