I think a lot of people by now know about the serial killer,Jeffrey Dahmer. He has gained an infamous status through the various heinous crimes that anyone would have a hard time to explain. So how does that explanation look and feel like from the father of Jeffrey Dahmer himself? Well this book surely gave a first hand experience through what the father had to go through during what has to be the worst nightmare any parent can think of.
Lionel Dahmer has been a very hard-working and dedicated person throughout his life. He desired for a family that he can support through his hard work and be a father that his sons could be proud of. From what he recollected ever since the birth of his first child,Jeffrey Dahmer that is, he has been persistently trying to help and be there for his loved ones. His first wife was going through a crisis that even doctors failed to detect and it worsened over the years that finally led to a divorce. That left Jeffrey in a difficult position considering how Joyce Flint(the mother) left him alone in the house with Jeff's younger brother,Dave. Alone because Lionel stopped living there and started to dwell at a motel nearby.Lionel still knew the responsibilities that he holds toward Jeff and he consequently moved back in the house with his second wife,Shari. What follows from there has to be a rather massive attempt to try and make something positive out of Jeffrey's life. But with each individual attempt,came terrible disappointment and stone cold apologies from Jeff. But Lionel didn't look too deep into it because it's rather unreasonable to take such failures as signs to the possibilities of killing human beings. Sure the symptoms did suggest that Jeff was a teenager that is just slipping out of hand but there were moments of reassurance such as how Jeff thrived,although short-lived life,in the Army. As a loving father,Lionel thought of the very best from the little positives that Jeff displayed and no one has the right to judge such optimism. It is by human nature that you tend to care the most for your own blood. Yet Jeff was living a life well beyond anything Lionel could have ever imagined and although the details from the eventual trial did help Lionel to look back into his parenthood and spot those moments that now seem to be allegorical set-up of what eventually happened, it still was simply too late.
There is a specified portion of the book that was devoted to Lionel's childhood miseries that involved having vivid dreams about murdering people. They felt so real that the gravity of his actions could be felt by him even after waking up from such nightmares for a prolonged period of time. Lionel somehow now believes that while he was capable of coming out of such nightmares,his son on the other hand was falling further deep into it in reality. For a large portion of the book,Lionel blames himself for the failure that Jeffrey turned out to be. But honestly,if this book stands for everything that really actually happened during the life span of Jeffrey Dahmer, it's safe to say that Lionel simply cannot be blamed. Sure he might have missed out on some very crucial signs but that's like telling the world that if you have a child of your own,you have to assume a skeptical perspective towards the most trivial disruption by them.
I was fascinated by the whole Jeffrey Dahmer case primarily because while I don't support in no way as to what Jeffrey did during his lifetime,he at least happens to be one of those rare serial killers that came clean with about every inch of details that could help bring closure to those that lost their loved ones and create a sense of awareness to those that might not be in a proper mental state and should therefore seek help before it's too late. This book was a rather fresh perspective to such a gruesome part of human history and really shows the love that any parents has for their children and how much they are willing to go through for their betterment even if it might be a lost cause to the outside world.
RATING: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment