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So this is about a guy who went to live in the woods for 27 years and avoided all people except to steal their food. And also a reporter who repeatedly harassed him and his family to write a book about it.
It honestly made me feel pretty gross. Like I've for sure read worse books and I didn't hate this, but listening to this made me feel like I was a participant in the harassment. Finkel wrote Knight a few letters, which he initially responded to. Then he stopped, so Finkel flew across the country (Montana to Maine) to visit him unannounced in jail. Finkel interviewed Knight (I think) 7 times in the jail for an hour each. By his own admission, Knight never seemed pleased to see him and didn't seem to want to talk to him. Knight never invited him to the jail. But Finkel kept going because that's where the story was. And Knight did willingly speak to him. He was able to refuse and didn't, and he did consent to the book.
But he also repeatedly told Finkel to go away. To leave him and his family alone. He wrote letters telling him under no circumstance should he show up and when Finkel did show up, Knight told him to leave. Several times. Knight's family also refused to talk to him despite numerous attempts, by phone, mail, and in person. Finkel doesn't leave him alone until Knight threatens to call the police. It was incredibly invasive and made me wish I hadn't picked up the book.
There's also a point when Knight tells Finkel he's considering suicide, which distresses Finkel enough that he sends many letters and flies across the country to check on him. But apparently not alarming enough for Finkel to inform the DA, Knight's therapist, or any of the other people involved in the case.
As far as the actual story, maybe Knight could've been an interesting person to read about, but Finkel doesn't offer any interesting insights. He kept going back to Knight's campsite like it was a shrine or something, which was kind of weird. I did enjoy the sections about Knight's day to day life and just generally how he functioned in the woods, but it didn't seem like he gave Finkel nearly enough material for the book because there was so much filler.
It mostly seemed like a desperate reporter trying to revive a career he killed by making stuff up for an article. I don't often genuinely regret reading books, but I do regret this one.
It honestly made me feel pretty gross. Like I've for sure read worse books and I didn't hate this, but listening to this made me feel like I was a participant in the harassment. Finkel wrote Knight a few letters, which he initially responded to. Then he stopped, so Finkel flew across the country (Montana to Maine) to visit him unannounced in jail. Finkel interviewed Knight (I think) 7 times in the jail for an hour each. By his own admission, Knight never seemed pleased to see him and didn't seem to want to talk to him. Knight never invited him to the jail. But Finkel kept going because that's where the story was. And Knight did willingly speak to him. He was able to refuse and didn't, and he did consent to the book.
But he also repeatedly told Finkel to go away. To leave him and his family alone. He wrote letters telling him under no circumstance should he show up and when Finkel did show up, Knight told him to leave. Several times. Knight's family also refused to talk to him despite numerous attempts, by phone, mail, and in person. Finkel doesn't leave him alone until Knight threatens to call the police. It was incredibly invasive and made me wish I hadn't picked up the book.
There's also a point when Knight tells Finkel he's considering suicide, which distresses Finkel enough that he sends many letters and flies across the country to check on him. But apparently not alarming enough for Finkel to inform the DA, Knight's therapist, or any of the other people involved in the case.
As far as the actual story, maybe Knight could've been an interesting person to read about, but Finkel doesn't offer any interesting insights. He kept going back to Knight's campsite like it was a shrine or something, which was kind of weird. I did enjoy the sections about Knight's day to day life and just generally how he functioned in the woods, but it didn't seem like he gave Finkel nearly enough material for the book because there was so much filler.
It mostly seemed like a desperate reporter trying to revive a career he killed by making stuff up for an article. I don't often genuinely regret reading books, but I do regret this one.