Tho' to be fair Robert Coombes makes a much more interesting subject than Anton Woode. His crime (premeditated matricide) is more suggestive of true evil than Woode's (impulsive murder & robbery which wouldn't even have happened if Anton hadn't had a shotgun) and his resurrection is far more dramatic. Woode lived an uneventful mediocre bourgeois life, leaving essentially no trace of himself; Coombes was at Gallipoli, was actively admired by his neighbors, helped a child who desperately needed help. It's like the difference between The Murder of Helen Jewett and The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, better material infinitely better handled.
no subject
Tho' to be fair Robert Coombes makes a much more interesting subject than Anton Woode. His crime (premeditated matricide) is more suggestive of true evil than Woode's (impulsive murder & robbery which wouldn't even have happened if Anton hadn't had a shotgun) and his resurrection is far more dramatic. Woode lived an uneventful mediocre bourgeois life, leaving essentially no trace of himself; Coombes was at Gallipoli, was actively admired by his neighbors, helped a child who desperately needed help. It's like the difference between The Murder of Helen Jewett and The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, better material infinitely better handled.