Elizabeth Kendall (1)Critiques

Great book! I did see the Netflix movie before reading this (which I hate to do) but it wasn’t so bad in this case. It was written and edited very well, the book filled in allot of the gaps from the nice which was helpful. And overall I find it very courageous of her to write this deeply personal account of a time in her life.

Elizabeth Kendall is a courageous women. Writing this account for the benefit of all of us who want to understand human nature better. She seems honest and straightforward. One never gets the feeling, she is holding back. Seriously, this is a must read for true crime fans

This is a very emotional and moving story of Elizabeth Kendall’s six year relationship with the notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy. Liz, with her young daughter Molly, were in a relationship with Bundy for six years.

For the longest time Liz stood by Bundy and believed in his innocence, even after he was arrested multiple times. Liz went to the police numerous times, but they mostly discounted her beliefs that Bundy might be involved in the murders. Her reports to the police seemed to be more of an effort to have them check out Bundy and prove he was not involved, rather than have him thought a serious suspect. However, over time the similarities were more than mere coincidences and Liz came to believe Bundy was guilty. But even at that point, she incredibly still loved him, despite his heinous crimes.

Liz had many faults and problems in her life. She was an alcoholic and drug addict, as was Ted. She often grew mad at Ted and never wanted to see him again, but she was addicted to the relationship and hated to be by herself, so time and time again, she let him back into her life in order to satisfy her need to be in a relationship, even if it was a toxic relationship. This was a part of her addictive personality.

The book has a section at the end of Molly’s story, told from the perspective of Liz’s young daughter Molly. This section is chilling. Molly tells of the ways Ted held her in order to be able to fondle her young body and how he would be naked in front of her when Liz was not home. Bundy was a very sick man.

The prose moves quickly and the book is a fast read. Liz provides an insight into Bundy and his mental state that no one else is able to provide as she was as close to him as anyone was for those six years. I highly recommend the book.

Throws light on a woman's psyche of getting fixated on a man and ignoring all the red flags. But to author's credit, she stepped up to confront Ted, after many tries. Ted, meanwhile, seemed to have love for her only in his love letters, and not his actions.
What a sexually crazed, rapist-murderer, infidel monster!

I've been trying out the Dublin Library's borrowbox app to borrow audiobooks that have nothing to do with my PhD so I can get my mind off of it for a little while, usually while doing housework or whatever. This was an impulse borrow, as I'm kind of entranced not by serial killers but by people who can completely manipulate other people, in this case to hide who they really are. What I got was an incredibly depressing account of an abusive relationship, written while still in Bundy's thrall, that gave me whiplash as she flew back and forth between jealous anger, fear that her boyfriend might be a murderer, and justifications and assertions that he could never and pleadings of love that were really difficult to listen to. I've been too close to similar relationships (minus the murder, i think) and it just made this mostly depressing and difficult. The preface and afterword where Kendall speaks directly to these issues was refreshing, and hearing her daughter's experiences at the end, in her own voice, was probably more along the lines of what I was looking for.

I was under the impression that I learned everything there was to learn about Bundy. Until I listened to this book.

Written by Bundy's long-time girlfriend during his killing sprees, the reader is provided with a different perspective than the normal true crime novel. A lot of people might think they know how they would act in a certain situation but this book takes you into the mind of someone so trusting in her love that she was blind to her surroundings.

One of the best parts of this book is the foreword and afterward narrated by Liz Kendall. But the part I was looking forward to was "Molly's Story" written and narrated by Molly, Liz's daughter and a young girl when her mother dated Bundy. Just wow.

Thank you to both Liz and Molly for sharing their stories. I hope they have found peace over the years.

Of course after watching Zac Efron on Netflix, this book popped onto my radar. Further pushing me to pick it up, the reviews on Instagram. I had different expectations going into this book, I'm not entirely sure what exactly I expected, but it is just so hard to wrap my head around it all. She had a feeling something wasn't right, but the police kept reassuring her something was and she would go on with her life. The Ted she knew was the polar opposite of the Ted we all now know and it is unfathomable that he could be loving and caring while sneaking away to commit rapes and murders. Molly's chapter at the very end was heartbreaking, to be honest. Having to wrestle with the fact that a man that was another father figure in her life was committing horrendous acts of violence and then reassessing every tiny moment of your life with him, I cannot begin to understand her pain. I loved though, hearing their perspectives and how one victim's mother was able to inspire Molly to live her life. I'd love to hear more, but I respect completely the need to stay out of the spotlight and move forward. Ted Bundy fascinates us because he lived a normal life, had a family, was well-educated and well-spoken, but underneath that mask he wore he was a cold blooded killer who would have kept on killing if allowed to do so.