Sweeney Todd: The Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Summary and Reviews

Sweeney Todd: The Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
by Peter Haining

Sweeney Todd: The Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
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Book Summary Information

Author: Peter Haining
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-12-15
ISBN: 1861059892
Number of pages: 191
Publisher: Anova Books

Book Reviews of Sweeney Todd: The Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Book Review: Fascinating Life Story of Mass Murderer
Summary: 4 Stars

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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