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    While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man's Descent into Madness
    Unavailable
    While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man's Descent into Madness
    Unavailable
    While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man's Descent into Madness
    Audiobook9 hours

    While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man's Descent into Madness

    Written by Eli Sanders

    Narrated by René Ruiz

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    On a summer night in 2009, three lives intersected in one American neighborhood. Two people newly in love--Teresa Butz and Jennifer Hopper, who spent many years trying to find themselves and who eventually found each other--and a young man on a dangerous psychological descent: Isaiah Kalebu, age twenty-three, the son of a distant, authoritarian father and a mother with a family history of mental illness. All three paths forever altered by a violent crime, all three stories a wake-up call to the system that failed to see the signs.

    In this riveting, probing, compassionate account of a murder in Seattle, Eli Sanders, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his newspaper coverage of the crime, offers a deeply reported portrait in microcosm of the state of mental health care in this country--as well as an inspiring story of love and forgiveness. Culminating in Kalebu's dangerous slide toward violence--observed by family members, police, mental health workers, lawyers, and judges, but stopped by no one-While the City Slept is the story of a crime of opportunity and of the string of missed opportunities that made it possible. It shows what can happen when a disturbed member of society repeatedly falls through the cracks, and in the tradition of The Other Wes Moore and The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, is an indelible, human-level story, brilliantly told, with the potential to inspire social change.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateFeb 2, 2016
    ISBN9780147524560
    Unavailable
    While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man's Descent into Madness

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    Reviews for While the City Slept

    4.5/5

    32 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This true crime story set in Seattle was written by the man who won a Pulitzer for his newspaper coverage of the events. It is compassionately and well written and is a resounding indictment of the failures of both the legal and mental health care systems in the US. Both are overburdened and underfunded. (more later)
    • 3/5
      This book covers such an important issue, mental health being a cause of crime, but it was so tedious to get through. The book recounts the sexual assault of Jennifer Hopper and Theresa Butz with Theresa succumbing to her wounds. The ladies were sleeping when Isiah Kalebu broke into their home and attacked them. It was a very tragic crime made even more so by the fact that Isiah was so clearly mentally ill and had been for some time. To understand how this could happen you have know a bit about the history of mental illness in this country, a topic not really covered in this book. In the 1950's people were housed in institutions without a clear diagnosis. Women were particularity vulnerable to being locked away by men who were threatened by their growing assertiveness as they fought for equal rights. John F. Kennedy's own sister was lobotomized because she was supposedly sexually promiscuous. As a result when Kennedy became President he attempted to reform the health care in America by shutting the big institutions down. Now we have swung so far in the other direction that mentally ill people cannot be forced to take medication unless they are a danger to themselves or other people. This sadly can result in tragedy as was the case here. Everyone who knew Isiah knew he needed mental help but he was unwilling to take the medication to stabilize and his family did not have the means to force him. Being poor, African American, and frequently homeless did not help matters. It all adds up to what should be a fascinating study of the mental health system in this country. In my opinion however it got bogged down in an unnecessary details while more important aspects that should have been examined were ignored. One of US: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacer in Norway is an example of how examining this issue can be done in the right way. Anders Breivik was a mentally ill man who committed one of the worst crimes in the history of Norway. Many parallels can be made to Ander's upbringing and Isiah's and if you are interested in this topic it is a book that should not be missed.While reading this book I kept thinking about Ann Rule and how good she was at covering the crimes in the Pacific Northwest. She had a talent for really putting the reader in the place and time as well as painting an intimate portrait of the people involved. When you read her books, especially when she was on top of her game, you really got a feel for the people involved in the crimes and her approach to crime reporting is one that I miss, especially while reading this book. My final thoughts about this book involve what the author chose to leave out. For instance while reading the book I wondered how Isiah got in the house. A quick googling of the case revealed that Theresa refused to have air conditioning and so always kept the window open when it was hot out. Why did the author leave this out? I am not insinuating that it was right for Isiah to enter the house and do what he did but by leaving the house open it made Jennifer and Theresa vulnerable to attack and was extremely risky. I don't live in the Pacific Northwest but I don't know anyone on the east coast who leaves their house open when they are sleeping or otherwise vulnerable. I just wonder why the author left that out and what else did the author pick and choose to report. Like what happened to Isiah's dog? Long after his family deserted him and left him to the streets (with good reason), the dog was the only one who stayed with him. Wherever he was he had the dog with him. I know the dog's fate is minor compared to what happened to Theresa but I just want to know what happened to the one creature who didn't desert Isiah through his madness.The most compelling part of the book and the one I take with me is Jennifer's compassion. Her ability to wish Isiah peace after what he took from her is the true grace. If you believe in justice reform than you know we are all worth more than the worst thing we have ever done. Isiah needed help before he got to prison and now that he is there it is even less likely that he will get it. Jennifer could see Isiah as a person, a brother, a son, someone sick in need of help. That is how we all need to see the mentally ill so that we can reform the mental health and justice system so that people are free and able to get the proper treatment before they harm themselves or someone else.
    • 5/5
      An extremely well-researched account of a horrendous crime by a young man with obvious mental issues, including a detailed look at the lives of the two female victims -- and all the families involved. A piece of true and good journalism. This story -- and the many like it -- raise light on the fact that the U.S. does not have a handle on how to best treat the mentally ill -- and have not since we shut down the big mental hospitals and asylums many decades ago. Moving, interesting, powerful.
    • 3/5
      After reading this, one has to wonder what would have to be the flashpoint for government to take mental illness seriously and re-fund it it the extent that people like Isaiah can actually get help and support to manage their illnesses. Unfortunately I think it will take many more tragedies like Jennifer and Teresa's, and billions of dollars in court and incarceration costs to chip away at this reticence until attitudes start to change. This is a book to make you think. The most unsettling section is during the trial testimony.
    • 5/5
      In reading this book, it's easy to see why Eli Sanders won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on this case. His writing style is engaging, compelling, and honest. The content has a seamless flow from beginning to end.Sanders' approach in writing this book works exceptionally well. We start by getting to know each of the two victims. We learn their gifts and their flaws and their challenges. Sanders doesn't simply tell us who these women are; he plants us right in the mist of their lives and lets us meet them ourselves. I felt like I understood them and I rejoiced in the happiness they'd found, making what was to come all the more devastating. In first focusing on Teresa Butz and Jennifer Hopper, in truly humanizing them for us, Sanders gives us a gift that is often lost in news reports and true crime books that focus mostly on the bad guy and the evil deed.Then we next meet the so-called bad guy, the killer we want to hate. But Sanders doesn't make that so easy or comfortable for us. We get to know Isaiah Kalebu as a person. We see how he loved and was loved by others. We also see the abuse he endured, the building psychological problems, and the warning signs of a young man on the edge. We then move on to the trial. We see the explosive culmination of Isaiah's messy life, not just on Teresa's family and on Jennifer, but also on Isaiah's family. Perhaps most profound here is how, despite countless attempts at intervention, the system catastrophically failed Isaiah, his family, and his victims. Though, rivaling that sense of outrage is the hope, love, and genuine kindness of those left behind in his wake. I want to comment on the details of Isaiah's attack on Teresa and Jennifer. Sanders handles this aspect beautifully by giving us just enough. He doesn't sensationalize this crime. We don't need to know all the horrible details. He gives us what we need to understand, and then offers us the reactions of those in the courtroom as they hear the detailed testimony Jennifer gives them. This is a poignant moment and has profound impact.We, as a society, need far better methods of caring for the mentally ill, and of intervention, so that people like Isaiah are not destroyed by their own minds, and do not destroy others along the way. It's easy to hold Isaiah Kalebu up as an example of evil, when really our broken justice system and abysmal mental health options are also complicit in the outcome of his life. *I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.*
    • 4/5
      The true crime genre has come a long way since I worked in bookstores and it consisted of a few rows of red and black books, spines inevitably cracked at the point where the crime scene photos were located. A co-worker dubbed it the "how-to section" and there was no denying that it was a creepy, creepy selection of books. While I'm sure that these kinds of books still exist, the genre has become more thoughtful, less sensational, and downright respectable. While the City Slept is written by Eli Sanders, who won a Pulitzer for his journalism on this specific murder, and focuses mostly on mental health services or, more exactly, the lack thereof. On a hot July night in 2009, a man broke into the small house shared by a lesbian couple in the South Park district of Seattle. He raped both women and managed to kill one of them. It was a brutal and inexplicable crime. Sanders begins with the lives of the three people present on that night, showing how Jennifer Hopper and Theresa Butz ended up living in that house as they planned their commitment ceremony and lived their lives. He also looks at Isaiah Kalebu's life, beginning with his childhood living in a house where his parents battled, sometimes violently, and how the early signs that he needed help were lost among the family turmoil, poverty and the inability of the school system (in this case, a church-based school) to take action. As Isaiah's issues became more and more apparent, he still failed to receive help, the over-worked court system and over-burdened mental health systems being geared to keeping him on the street without sufficient support. (It should, of course, be noted that the vast, vast majority of people with mental health issues (Isaiah's never having been formally diagnosed, as he had only brief encounters with mental health professionals who gave conflicting diagnoses) never commit even a single act of violence.)This is a sobering account of how little we do for the mentally ill in our communities and how that constant need to not spend taxpayers' money on basic services results in much higher costs as the police and prison systems become the help of last resort. While the City Slept is a work of solid journalism.
    • 5/5
      A page turner. Riveting. If you like true crime that is written like literature this book is for you. Set in Seattle one gets the feeling of place. Worth a detour.
    • 5/5
      The author makes a compelling argument for the United States to place more funding into mental health programs with this case. The perpetrator who murdered one woman and tried to kill the other had a long history of mental illness that was not treated despite the efforts of family and friends to engage the system. The author points out the low cost of treating mental illness early with the staggering costs of incarceration after a crime is committed, not to mention the emotional toll of the loved ones involved, that not funding more of these programs is unreasonable. However, we still continue to follow this path while our prisons are being filled more and more with the mentally ill. This is an extremely well written and insightful look at one such criminal, his victims and the history surrounding this crime.
    • 4/5
      Although well researched and written, this true-crime story is not very satisfying—a person died, lives were unalterably changed for the worse, multiple opportunities for prevention were missed and the beat goes on. Eli Sanders probes deeply into the lives of the two victims and their assailant to give an unsettling portrayal of the crime, a compassionate telling of its backstory and its disappointing outcome. His ultimate aim is to point an accusing finger at deeply flawed mental health and overburdened legal systems that fail both the afflicted and society in general.On July 19, 2009, Isaiah Kalebu inexplicably brutally assaulted Teresa Butz and Jennifer Hopper in their home in a working-class neighborhood of Seattle. The details of the attack are hard to read, especially Hopper’s testimony at Kalebu’s trial for Teresa’s murder. However, readers who consider this to be the centerpiece of the book would be mistaken because the crime was quickly solved and Kalebu was apprehended. Instead, Sanders devotes most of his book to the three principals in an effort to understand the rationale for the crime. Teresa came from a large and loving St. Louis family, while Jennifer grew up in a dysfunctional home in New Mexico. Both women had recently become close while living in Seattle. Sanders expertly evokes the details of their individual pasts as well as the setting where the crime occurred—South Park— a neighborhood struggling with the loss of jobs at Boeing and isolation from the rest of the city by the polluted Duwamish River and a decrepit bridge.His excellent coverage of the crime and its victims, notwithstanding, Sanders’ tour de force is his handling of Isaiah’s life. This intelligent 23 year-old African-American came from a family with a history of mental illness on his mother’s side and a father who was a refugee from Idi Amine’s Uganda. His father was distant from the family, but was a strict disciplinarian. His mother and sister observed Isaiah’s increasingly bizarre behavior and unsuccessfully sought help from the police, the courts and mental health professionals after concluding that Isaiah had become a “danger to himself and others.” In this regard, Sanders’ title carries a double meaning because the crime literally was committed “while the city slept”, but the city figuratively also slept through Isaiah’s descent into madness. Sanders argues that instead of treating the mentally ill, we lock them up, a tactic that ultimately costs taxpayers more than timely treatment would. Moreover, most mentally ill individuals are non-violent and thus not a danger to society. Using this as a case study, Sanders makes a compelling case for better funding of mental health.