"Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one." In Fall River Massachusetts, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were gruesomely murdered, and Lizzie (daughter of Andrew; stepdaughter of Abby) was charged with the crime before eventually being acquitted. In See What I Have Done, Sarah Schmidt gives a fictionalized account of the Borden murders, one of the most notorious unsolved crimes in American history.

I love true crime, I love fictionalizations of real people and real historical events… all things considered I was really excited for this book.

Unfortunately I didn’t like a single thing about it.

This isn’t eerie and twisted and sinister like I was hoping it would be… it’s mainly gross? And I mean, really, really gross. I think the author uses a lot of these disgusting descriptions to try to shock a visceral reaction out of the reader, and I don’t have a lot of patience for that. What’s so shocking about vomit or pieces of mutton in some man’s beard? Nothing, really, it just creates an atmosphere I have no interest spending any time in. It was such a struggle to pick this book back up every time I put it down. I very seriously considered DNFing this book at 85% because I just couldn’t gather the motivation to push through. I ended up skimming through to the end.

I thought See What I Have Done read like a first draft – a very rough, underdeveloped first draft. The structure of this novel is confusing and hard to follow; the prose is jarring and the pace is odd and uneven. It was kind of like trying to walk through a path in the forest that hasn’t been manicured, and constantly tripping over roots and branches, i.e., frustrating, painful, and more time consuming than it needs to be. The prose gets rather experimental at times, especially in the chapters told from Lizzie’s point of view; e.g., “the clock ticked ticked,” which I think was meant to be evocative and unsettling, but for me it served only to irritate. Here’s another example:

“I thought of Father, my stomach growled hunger and I went to the pail of water by the well, let my hands sink into the cool sip sip.”

I’m sorry but this just did not work for me.

All of the characters were rather loathsome, but not in a particularly intriguing way. This is a book about truly repulsive people who act a fraction of their age, and it gets old fast. I didn’t care about Lizzie, I didn’t care about Andrew and Abby Borden, I didn’t really care about Lizzie’s sister Emma… the only character who was even remotely sympathetic to me was the maid, Bridget, but her few point of view chapters (complete with dialogue that includes a truly horrendous transcription of the Irish accent) weren’t enough to hold my interest.

One star seems harsh, especially given that I am clearly in the minority here, but I just… didn’t like this book. At all. I really wish I could have seen in this book what so many other people seem to. All I can say is that if you’re interested in the premise (and have a strong stomach) I encourage you to give it a shot, because you never know. No two people ever read the same book, I guess!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley, Grove Atlantic, and Sarah Schmidt for the opportunity. Quotes taken from an ARC and may be edited before publication.

This book was interesting to say the least. I used to fascinated by the Lizzie Borden story, you know did she or didn't she!?! Did she make a deathbed confession or is there a long lost diary waiting to be found belonging to her or her sister. This book definitely gives you some things to ponder. My only complaint is the way the story is told. It has way too many varying stories and points of view without really saying much. Example the book has the opinions of Lizzie, Emma, Bridget, and Benjamin who I guess was thrown in to make the story pop. You get lost in their melodramas and not in a good way.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

**3.5**

This book had a slow-burn type of feel to it. It was hot and sticky and smelly and it made me feel anxious and sometimes a little scared. You'll know why as soon as you start reading it.

The way Schmidt navigated her narration through each character was important to the pace of the book. Each chapter was a different perspective from a different character (I LOVE when authors do this, by the way) and it was just enough information at the right time.

From the very first couple of pages, you basically know what happened, but like I said, it's a slow-burn type of book. The author really did a wonderful job with each character. You really get to know them; their personalities and habits, but also up close and personal. That's a good way to describe it. This book is up close and personal. The way she describes things...like the rancid mutton broth. Your stomach will turn.

Also, my favorite characters were Bridget, Mary and Emma...in case anyone was wondering :)

But this is based on a true story...so are they REALLY characters?

Thank you again to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy!

I couldn't connect with this book. I tried to read hoping something would pull me in but sadly that didn't happen

I've been reading a lot of fictional re-imaginings of Lizzie Borden lately. In the last book I read, Cherie Priest transformed Lizzie into a stoic monster hunter, with her axe her weapon of choice. In "See What I Have Done," the lives of Lizzie and her family are realistically portrayed, beginning a night before Mr. and Mrs. Borden were murdered. We see the sad, suffocating lives of the Bordens through many eyes: that of sister Emma, maid Bridget, a man-for-hire named Benjamin, and Lizzie herself.

I appreciated many of the details. Abby Borden, Lizzie's stepmother, was suffering from some ailment, and was often described as "rotting from the inside," with a gray tongue. The mutton soup the family ate the morning of the murders was tainted, and everyone except Lizzie was vividly, grotesquely sick. Emma's account was the most illuminating, as she felt more and more suffocated by Lizzie's demands, her own body straining and shrinking under her sisterly responsibilities.

I knew many of the facts of this sensational murder before reading "See What I Have Done," but I appreciated Bridget's POV, as through her eyes we discovered the kindnesses and cruelties of Abby Borden. We also get a glimpse of the Irish experience, as many of them came over to America in hopes of better lives, and instead became ensnared in terrible working conditions with manipulative masters/mistresses.

I didn't think Benjamin's section was needed. He was an interesting character in his own right, with a violent past, but there was no insight he could give us about the Bordens that we couldn't get from, say, Bridget. I felt that he was placed in the novel as a red herring, but the Borden case is so infamous that I'm not sure it worked.

All in all, I enjoyed reading "See What I Have Done." I think it did a fabulous job of placing us plop in the middle of the strange, stifling Borden house, watching each member of the family spin inevitably toward the terrible events of that day.

I’ve long been fascinated by our fascination with gruesome murders – does that make sense? When I hear about a horrific crime, I feel that urge to know every tiny detail, but then I immediately feel totally grossed out at my own weird obsession. I’ve long wondered why we are so interested in the crime scene photos, the witness testimonies, the nitty-gritty details of murder and violence. Is it an American thing? Is it just a human thing? Does it make us feel better to learn everything about the victims so that we can prove to ourselves that nothing so random, so terrifying, could happen to us?

I haven’t ever read much about Lizzie Borden and the murders of her father and stepmother – I knew the general outline, but not much detail. Schmidt sticks to the known facts of the case, but expands the story into a richly told, disturbing tale.

Told from alternating perspectives (most alarmingly through Lizze’s eyes), the action mostly takes place in the days leading up to and following the murder of Abby and Andrew Borden. With the inclusion of eerie details (the pears!), and some major fictionalized elements, Schmidt tells a compelling story that kept me engaged to the end. Her use of language is striking, and it ranges from very structured to disjointed and eerily repetitive, especially in Lizzie’s chapters. Her repeated use of parallel phrases (pigeon feet tacky-tacked across the roof,” “teeth on teeth sound”) is especially creepy, as it seems to echo the “chunk – chunk” sound of an ax.

I think it’s the tiny details that have been lost to history and reimagined in this novel that make it so deeply affecting. The pear tree in the backyard of the Borden home provides the striking imagery of “soft flesh,” that is repeated many times. There is near constant description of teeth – being removed, tearing food, chattering, etc. It is these tiny details that make the violence of the crime feel so intrusive; we know the shapes and movements of these people – they sweat, vomit, and take up space with abandon until they are brutally killed – an act made all the more human by how intimately we know their bodies.

Schmidt has drawn this world for us in too much detail, and I couldn’t look away. One character (the only fully fictional one), obsessively follows the trial and news coverage following the murders. In his words, “the jurors would poke their old fingers into everything, pretend they were investigating facts when really they wanted to touch the spaces dead people had been.”

And isn’t that what we’re doing here? Why do stories like this fascinate us so deeply? Why do we want to touch the spaces dead people have been? Regardless of the reason, this is a great way to scratch that itch in a fully immersive reading experience.

In her debut novel, Schmidt tackles a historical fiction version of the Lizzie Borden story.  I would imagine most people have at least a vague knowledge of the case.  Borden was accused and acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother in the 1800's.  Perhaps the reason the case gained such notoriety as to be remembered even today is that the accused was a woman and the murder weapon an axe.  

In the novel, along with Lizzie and her sister, Emma, other main characters include:  Mr. and Mrs. Borden, Uncle John, Bridget, the maid.  Chapters are told in an alternating manner between these main characters except for Uncle John.  His chapters are told from the perspective of Ben, a man he hired to 'talk to' Mr. Borden.  At first, I did not care for the chapters told from Ben's perspective but I soon came to realize the value of the outside perspective he provided.  He was not part of the family and as such made valuable observations.  

The novel takes place over three days basically.  The day before the murders, the day of, and the day after.  It is not a fast or action packed book.  Great attention to detail is given.  Descriptions of even minor details are included.  It is in this area, I think some could have been cut back and made for a quicker moving novel.  Overall, See What I Have Done is a well written novel and Schmidt has potential as an author.  

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel.

I was first drawn to this book by the simplicity of the beautiful cover. Once I learned the book was a fictionalized account of the Lizzie Borden story I was all in.

Told from the imagined perspectives of various parties involved, See What I Have Done focuses on the mysterious Borden murders of August 4, 1892. Lizzie claims to have discovered her father's body once the vicious and bloody attack was over. Yet, many things don't line up like they should. Is it due to shock or did Lizzie play an even bigger role than she let on?

I'll admit this story did seem a bit slow at times and I didn't really find it to be quite the page turner I had expected. That being said, I still I enjoyed the premise and overall presentation. The author's portrayal of all the key characters was believable and truly captured Lizzie's bizarre personality. Well done!

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with this early release and review opportunity.

The opening line was evocative enough. I thought the ditty was just that but now I realise its based on true fact.

Lizzie and Emma are two spinster sisters from an affluent household. A father and a rather scheming step mother and a maid comprise the main characters. Brought up without any love or affection the two sisters are different but close by ties of blood alone.

Finding her father's body brutally murdered, Lizzie is almost clinical at the very onset. Finding her step mothers body as well just added to the cold bloodedness of the murders. Taken in for questioning eventually Lizzie is released but questions remain. Both sisters wanted their independence badly which was being denied them. Was that the reason for getting rid of the impediment which held both back. Lizzie and Emma sought different things but both knew that obtaining it was almost impossible.

Lizzie is almost child like in her mannerisms, thoughts and behaviour. But the fact is that there were two murders and finding out who did it was the crux of the novel.

A rather unsettling story which highlights once again that you never know the depths of the human mind, and what each of us is capable of doing or not doing.

For a debut novel, this was amazing.

Goodreads and Amazon review up on 20/7/2017. Review on my blog early November.

You had me at fictional retelling of the Borden murders! I'd review this story at 3.5 stars but I'm rounding up to 4 for the writing. The writing of this story was lyrical in an incredibly visceral way-constant references to heat, humidity and putrid smells. The story is told from multiple points of view-it starts with Lizzie right after the murders and it was hard to read from her point of view. Her thought process was so fractured that reading it was almost like reading poetry. The rest of the POVs round out the story. Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this ARC in return for my honest review.

This is good, gruesome fun. This retelling of the Lizzie Borden story is told from multiple perspectives and doesn't leave the reader any doubt as to who Schmidt thinks done it.

The creepiest book I've read all year. I know the story of Lizzie Borden, but I've never heard it told like this. The story gives a lot of background into what lead up to the murders, and takes you on an emotional ride as Emma comes to the realization that her sister is the one who did it. This book was a rollercoaster of emotions and thrills. Loved it.

I think everyone knows the old rhyme about Lizzie Borden. But I would think that most folks, like me, never knew the actual facts of the murders. Well, this book sets out to tell the story of the days before, of and after the murders. The Bordens are just some strange people. No one really gets along with each other, let alone loves or cares for each other. Lizzie’s mental state is questionable and her character the most unlikeable. Emma is the only one for whom I felt any sympathy.

Each chapter is told from a different person’s perspective - Lizzie, Emma, Bridget (the maid), Benjamin (a thug). I can tell you, Lizzie’s initial chapter was so odd with its singsong narrative that I almost set the book aside before I had finished it. The author does do a good job of giving each character a unique voice. Benjamin is not a historical figure but is used more as a device to show what is happening from an outside perspective.

This book is not your typical historical fiction. It doesn't particularly give you a sense of the time or place. It's more of a historical psychological thriller. It gives you the willies, it's so creepy.

My thanks to netgalley and Hachette for an advance copy of this book.

A stupendous read, and a great take on the famous Borden case. Ms. Schmidt writes with such a visceral style, and a fierce grace throughout the book. I'm also so impressed by the idea that she made them so flawed, human and real. And, she gracefully walked the line between the literary and the thriller. A thrilling debut destined to exoplode.

Unfortunately I just couldn't get in to this book, so I ended up not reading it and taking it off my Kindle. The writing was fine, good even, but the dialog didn't sit right with me. I couldn't engross myself in the book and ended up feeling frustrated. I think this could have to do with me researching the topic before reading it and I just wasn't that impressed with the real story, as there is no closure or unraveling of the truth.. so things like the made up "lesbian" twist..nah, didn't do it for me.

I was so excited to finally get to read this book, as the publishing date is finally approaching. However, I was distinctly disappointed. I found this book to be a mess, from beginning to end. Changing viewpoints is a solid tactic, but it was quite poorly done. The voice for Lizzie was extremely hard to follow - I understand perhaps the author was trying to show her insanity, but there is a way to show 'crazy' without losing an audience. Ditto for the strange psychopath thrown in as the uncle's killer-for-hire; that person was never fully developed and just seemed to be a 'one off.' Emma could have been developed much more deeply to create some empathy, but she was shallow and one-dimensional. The relationship between Lizzie and her father had great potential, but was not delved into well either. The writing style overall I found sloppy - perhaps as a former English teacher, I'm rather particular but it's rare when I see consecutive sentences start with the same words in a published piece, but I did multiple times in this one. I am not posting this on my blog as a courtesy, as it would be a very negative review. Great historical story to write about, but just poorly done in my opinion.

This book started and my head became a whirling dervish because Sarah Schmidt lands readers right into the unsettled mind of 32 year old, Lizzie Borden. With her father and stepmother brutally killed and neighbors asking questions, the atmosphere about what could have happened in the Borden household continues to haunt many 125 years later. Schmidt adds the voices of the Borden maid, Bridget, older sister, Emma, and a mysterious stranger named Benjamin to the mix. By the time I finished the book I had so many theories that it became pretty clear why these murders still are discussed in the USA. I found so many recent articles online that were intriguing regarding the murders, court case, and the sad end to the lives of the Borden sisters. Is Lizzie Borden a victim or a cold blooded killer? This book will certainly get the wheels in your head turning!

Lizzie Borden had an axe
She gave her mother 40 whacks
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father 41

Were you familiar with this rhyme previously? I wasn't, but when I told a friend what I was reading she recited it to me.

This novel is historical fiction based on the murders of Andrew and Anna Borden in the late 1800s. It follows the storylines of the "baby" Lizzie, her sister Emma, the Irish house maid/servant Bridget, and a man, Benjamin, brought to town by Uncle John. I had no difficulty following the four different perspectives as it is completely clear both in layout and voice who is speaking in a given passage.

Despite some rather gory passages and a character who completely spooked me, I enjoyed this book. What I felt was lacking in the historical fiction accounts was a wrap-up to Bridget's story. I found her to be the most uncomplicated (and thus likable) character. I was left with a lot of unanswered questions about how she managed to leave Fall River, if she ever got her money back, if she ever went home to Ireland, and how she ended up in Montana.

The Lizzie Borden story has, like most true crime, always been fascinating to me. I knew the story and the rhyme of course. I even tried to watch the mini-series on TV with Christina Ricci that aired a few years ago. Unfortunately, I'm not a big Christina Ricci fan and gave up on the show. So I was super excited about this book and it did not disappoint. It's told from a few perspectives. There is Lizzie, her sister Emma, their maid Bridgett, their Uncle John and a mysterious man named Benjamin. For fear of spoilers, I won't divulge too much more. The book covers the times immediately before and after the murders of Lizzie's father Andrew and her step-mother Abby. It also spends time covering, via flashbacks, the years well before the murders and some time a decade or so after. As most know, Lizzie was acquitted and spent the remainder of her life in the town. At some point, her and her sister became estranged and never reconciled. Why? I would have liked to know more about this but I believe that's something we will never know. The other more pressing question is, did Lizzie kill her Dad and step-mother? I've always felt that she did and this book didn't do anything to change my mind. I don't think it was aiming to do so. It did give lots of really interesting information about the other people in the Borden household and planted seeds that there may have been other people involved. At the very least, there was cause for Mr. Borden and Abby to be disliked by more people than just Lizzie. In any case, I had a hard time putting the book down. It was an addicting read.

Interesting and disturbing, with a different writing style. Some people will love this book, and some will really dislike it. I’m somewhat in the middle.
See What I Have Done tells the story of Lizzie Borden and the murders of her father and stepmother in August 1892. August 4, 1892 to be exact! Before reading See What I Have Done, I just had a vague recollection of the story, pretty much just because of the rhyme that starts out with “Lizzie Borden took an axe”, so much of this story was new information for me. I stayed away from the Internet and didn’t look anything up about the facts of the murders until after I finished the book, and now I can say that Sarah Schmidt did a lot of research about the murders and the family, and her version of events is entirely plausible. I liked reading about the murders online and seeing how Schmidt wove certain details into her story.
Told from multiple POVs, we hear from Lizzie, Lizzie’s sister Emma, their maid Bridget, and a man named Benjamin, who is hired by the girl’s uncle “to take care of a problem”. The voices are all distinct, with Lizzie being the most compelling for me. Lizzie is an unreliable narrator, which is something I love, so I was drawn to Lizzie’s sections, as bizarre as they were. Lizzie’s sister, Emma, and also their maid, Bridget, are told in a more straight-forward way, although there is an element of back-and-forth in time (from the day of the murders to events that happen days and years before) that make it confusing sometimes. We also get to see into the mind of Benjamin, a drifter, and his sections were the worst for me. Benjamin is, uh, oddly fascinated with blood and bodies (so is Lizzie to an extent), and some of his sections were definitely gross and downright creepy. Whenever I read his sections, I was just cringing at all of the different images.

Repetitive phrasing is used throughout the book, and this type of writing is not for everyone. Sometimes this style really irritated me and I couldn’t tell if it was a typo or intentional, sometimes I could ignore it, and other times I really enjoyed it and felt it brought almost a musicality to the text. Here are some examples, and keep in mind these quotes are from an ARC, so might be different in the published version:
“The clock on the mantel ticked ticked.” (This sentence is sprinkled throughout the entire book, and I counted it being used 22 times.)
“My heart beat nightmares, gallop, gallop,”
“Bridget came down, brought with her the smell of decayed meaty-meat.”
“I thought of Father, my stomach growled hunger and I went to the pail of water by the well, let my hands sink into the cool sip sip.”
“The sounds of pigeon feet tacky-tacked across the roof and I thought of Father.”
“Over there, men wearing rabbit-felt fedoras sat in circles drinking mud-heavy coffee. Over there, girls dressed in Virginlaced communion. Over there, three people reading. Over there, pigeons shaking out wings, pecking seed. How I wanted one to take home. Over there, over there, over there.”
“There were voices in the sitting room, voices in the kitchen, voices above me a muffle-muffle and dragging feet.”
‘It’s best you stay downstairs with us, miss,’ the officer said, gobble, gobble, gobble.”
“I lay on my bed, rolled over and looked at my family, heard their voices in my ear, the sweet singing of ‘Noreen Bawn’, their sweet goodbyes before I took to the ship. I hummed along. I hummed along, my throat tight and homesick, my cheeks wet. I hummed along, kept my family close.”
“She sniffed the air, said, ‘What on God’s earth is that smell?’ She went back to the kitchen. Sniff, sniff. She went into the sitting room. Sniff, sniff.”

So, if this type of writing style doesn’t bother you, then you might really love this book, as it does have a more literary feel than most historical fiction does. I went back and forth with this technique, and am still not entirely sure how I feel about it. Sometimes it was a bit much, other times I felt it really worked.
There is a feeling of uneasiness and suspicion that permeates this book. The Borden’s are an odd family, and there is a definite cloud of darkness that hangs over the Borden house. Some abuses are hinted at, others I can only infer, and this really contributed to the sense I had while reading that something is very, very wrong in the Borden house.
I can’t really recommend this book to everyone as there were scenes that were incredibly disturbing and downright gross, but I was never bored while reading this. The characters are fascinating, Lizzie especially, but they are all so unlikeable that I didn’t care about any of them.

Bottom Line: Fascinating and disturbing. The literary style is not for everyone.