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VANITY: Jodi Arias
True crime maestro Lisa Wilson and photojournalist Nick van der Leek are finally back with yet another installment in their bestselling series covering Jodi Arias. How is VANITY different to AUTHENTICITY? VANITY is perhaps the most intimate look into the lives of Jodi and Travis to date. The authors have painstakingly combed through hundreds of new communications, many provided courtesy of Beth Karas, to bring you the reader an inside look at Travis’ life, not told through Jodi, but through Travis’ own words.
In Book 3 of the series, AUTHENTICITY, the importance of one-upmanship for Jodi is emphasized. She must win, she must have the last word, and she must satisfy her ego that she has gained the upper hand. According to Jodi the majority out there is evil, and Jodi is good. Not only is Jodi good, but according to Jodi’s first letter sent from Perryville, prison is damn fine too. In VANITY the authors visit Jodi’s cell and it’s not only clean, she even has pets to play with! It’s a major improvement on her last location. Errr… no Jodi, it’s jail, and your newfound obscurity is getting old fast. Perhaps now at last Jodi has begun to reflect on her transformation: from obscure waitress to killer chameleon.
Going where angels might fear to tread, VANITY ventures boldly into brand new territory. The authors show a side to Travis that has rarely been seen before including detailed discussion about six of Travis’ women.
The narrative also provides the most unambiguous signal from Jodi thus far, for what was brewing inside her, why it was, and how she dealt with it. Why did Jodi become a cunning chameleon? Why, despite her downward spiral was Travis unable to stop sleeping with Jodi? Why was he trying to sleep with so many women? What was driving Travis?
“In order to understand the darkness in ourselves it helps to examine the darkness in others. Jodi’s weaknesses, like it or not, are also our own. We all want a white picket fence, a home to call our own. It’s the how we go about it that is always less certain.”
“Travis had weaknesses too, make no mistake, and our refusal to see or acknowledge those mistakes is a major weakness. I don’t know if it is conceit, or arrogance, but the need to vilify Jodi and canonize Travis speaks volumes of our own schizophrenia, our own fragmented attitude to ourselves.”
The main question the authors interrogate is this: If Jodi’s sin was vanity, then what was Travis’?
VANITY is a cautionary tale, and the warning is clear. Can we master ourselves and our appetites, or are we doomed to lose everything we have?
In Book 3 of the series, AUTHENTICITY, the importance of one-upmanship for Jodi is emphasized. She must win, she must have the last word, and she must satisfy her ego that she has gained the upper hand. According to Jodi the majority out there is evil, and Jodi is good. Not only is Jodi good, but according to Jodi’s first letter sent from Perryville, prison is damn fine too. In VANITY the authors visit Jodi’s cell and it’s not only clean, she even has pets to play with! It’s a major improvement on her last location. Errr… no Jodi, it’s jail, and your newfound obscurity is getting old fast. Perhaps now at last Jodi has begun to reflect on her transformation: from obscure waitress to killer chameleon.
Going where angels might fear to tread, VANITY ventures boldly into brand new territory. The authors show a side to Travis that has rarely been seen before including detailed discussion about six of Travis’ women.
The narrative also provides the most unambiguous signal from Jodi thus far, for what was brewing inside her, why it was, and how she dealt with it. Why did Jodi become a cunning chameleon? Why, despite her downward spiral was Travis unable to stop sleeping with Jodi? Why was he trying to sleep with so many women? What was driving Travis?
“In order to understand the darkness in ourselves it helps to examine the darkness in others. Jodi’s weaknesses, like it or not, are also our own. We all want a white picket fence, a home to call our own. It’s the how we go about it that is always less certain.”
“Travis had weaknesses too, make no mistake, and our refusal to see or acknowledge those mistakes is a major weakness. I don’t know if it is conceit, or arrogance, but the need to vilify Jodi and canonize Travis speaks volumes of our own schizophrenia, our own fragmented attitude to ourselves.”
The main question the authors interrogate is this: If Jodi’s sin was vanity, then what was Travis’?
VANITY is a cautionary tale, and the warning is clear. Can we master ourselves and our appetites, or are we doomed to lose everything we have?
177 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 24, 2015
29 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Wilson
33 books9 followersLisa Wilson (aka Juror13) is a trial blogger who resides in California, USA.
She and South African freelance photojournalist Nick van der Leek, under the partnership of #SHAKEDOWN, have paired up to co-author many trial narratives.
She and South African freelance photojournalist Nick van der Leek, under the partnership of #SHAKEDOWN, have paired up to co-author many trial narratives.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 8, 2019
I went through a lot of hoops to write a review on this book- I am halfway through and it sucks!! I know all about this case-I live in Tucson, so it hits xtra close to home, first off to the Author, believe it or not- some women including me like anal sex! It’s not about “ hurting” and “ controlling “ someone! I didn’t like it in my 20s, but when it’s with the right person and your actually turned on, it can be really good and it can happen regularly!!!! Second, I’m halfway through this book and it’s been about the authors views and stupid stories. I really hope it gets better
July 5, 2021
This book is my favorite Arias title. Both of these individuals, Jodi Arias and Travis Alexander, were up to their eyeballs in vanity and bullshit. I’m not saying Travis deserved his horrific death. But I am saying if for one moment, he had looked at his life and saw it for the mess it really was instead of seeing bullshit, things might have gone a different way. Just watch his last “motivational” speech to PPL lemmings in April just 5 weeks before he was murdered. Any person who knows anything about this case knows that everything he is saying to these poor PPL lemmings is bullshit, and perhaps bullshit he too believed. Very, very eye opening case with a giant warning label on it: Pay Attention To Your Own LIfe sticker all over it.
December 17, 2018
Not too bad
Little too much with all the other stories about hanzel and Gretel, gladiator , etc. Overall pretty good though, saw some things I didn't know about .
Little too much with all the other stories about hanzel and Gretel, gladiator , etc. Overall pretty good though, saw some things I didn't know about .
March 20, 2016
Again?
The only question bigger than why do the authors keep writing these is why do I keep reading them? Not good, but addictive.
The only question bigger than why do the authors keep writing these is why do I keep reading them? Not good, but addictive.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews