You Meet Such Interesting People Book

In 2017, I read a book called The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit written by journalist Michael Finkel and that compelling story stayed with me throughout the year. Looking for anything else Michael Finkel may have written, I found True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa which is a mixture of things... part true crime, part memoir and also a story of redemption. To truly understand how this story came to be,it is important to provide some background.

In 2001, Michael Finkel was employed by 'The New York Times' and was pursuing a story in West Africa. The story he BELIEVED he would find was one of children selling themselves into slavery on cocoa plantations; but as it turned out, that WASN'T the story he found. After numerous interviews with boys working on the plantations and with plantation owners, what he discovered was NOT child slavery but extreme poverty and deplorable living conditions. Upon his return to New York, he realized after meeting with his editors that he did not possess the story they wanted him to write. Fearing the loss of his job and the end of his career off he could not deliver the story his editors wanted, he created a composite character to use in his story and ran this story with a photo of this composite character... which happened to be a photo of one of the very REAL boys he had interviewed... a boy by the name of Youssouf Male. Mr. Finkel's deception was discovered and he was subsequently fired by 'The New York Times' for violating journalistic ethics.

Interestingly and coincidentally, on the day that 'The New York Times' announced that Michael Finkel had been fired, he received a phone call from a reporter in the state of Oregon who informed him that a man named Christian Longo had been arrested in Cancun, Mexico for the murder of his wife and three young children.... and what's more, he had been using Michael Finkel's identity. Mr. Finkel was dumbfounded but also intrigued and the seed of an idea began to form in his mind. This was an incredible story... perhaps it was a story which could rehabilitate his reputation and save his career.
And this background sets the stage for an incredible story I could NOT put down.....

Michael Finkel requested an interview with Christian Longo at the Lincoln County jail in Oregon where he was incarcerated while he was awaiting trial and to his surprise, Mr. Longo agreed to see him. The two men would continue to meet, talk by telephone and exchange letters during the months leading up to Mr. Longo's trial. I began to develop a picture of who Christian Longo was... or maybe I should say that I THOUGHT I began to form a picture of the man. In retrospect, perhaps all I really knew about the man were the basics.... he was from a middle class, religious family from Michigan. He married his wife, Mary Jane when he was just 19 years old and started a construction clean-up business and he and Mary Jane had three children.. Zachery, Madison and Sadie. His business was not successful but as he had been living far beyond his means, he could not allow anyone to know of his failure. This business failure led to his writing counterfeit checks and renting a car illegally which he then drove out of state with his family and ended up in Oregon.This series of events seemed to culminate with the murder of his wife and children in December of 2001. But what really happened?

Although True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa has been described as a game of 'cat and mouse', it didn't take long for me to realize that it os impossible to know which man was the 'cat' and which was the 'mouse.' My impression is that the dynamics between Christian Longo and Michael Finkel became quite complicated. Because Michael Finkel was narrating the story, all the information the reader obtained was filtered through his eyes but I believe it would be fair to say that both men were engaging in a bit of self-serving manipulation. Obviously, Mr. Finkel wanted badly to resurrect his damaged journalism career and needed Christian Longo to confide in him.. to tell him what really happened to his wife and children. And after reading this entire story, I came to the conclusion that Mr. Longo was also attempting his won manipulation. He needed to be able to convince the court that his arrest had been a mistake... that he was really a good guy who loved his family, tried hard to give them a good life and would never harm them. If he was able to test his story on Michael Finkel and convince HIM of his innocence, then maybe he would have a chance of convincing the court. Having said all of this, I also have to say that Chritian Longo and Michael Finkel DID seem to develop some sort of bond or relationship during their many months of communicating. Perhaps it wasn't friendship exactly but I do think they became comfortable with each other.

Did Christian Longo strangle his wife and youngest child and throw his other two children off a bridge in Oregon in those early morning December hours? And what did the court in Lincoln County ultimately think of his story? I don't want to spoil what eventually happened in this case.. read the book!

I have to admit that Christian Longo seemed charming and likable and I think Micheal Finkel felt much the same way.... and that becomes a kind of dilemma for society. If this charming and likable person could also be a lying, manipulative murderer, how do we ever feel safe? Society often feels the need to separate ourselves from people who do terrible things.. they somehow become 'other' or less than human.. monsters. But as Micheal Finkel points out.. whether we want to accept it for not, they ARE human and possess the same sets of chromosomes we all have. Obviously, there are no good answers to this dilemma... but plenty of questions to ponder.

I don't feel I can wrap up my review of this book without mentioning the redemption aspect of this story. I know from reading several online reviews that there are plenty of reviewers who do not believe Michael Finkel's contrition over his lying in his 'New York Times' story is sincere. I have different view. Of course, only Michael Finkel knows what he truly feels and for some people, no act of contrition on his part will ever convince them. I agree that he should not have lied in his 'New York Times' article and he DID violate his journalistic ethics; and given the negative feelings toward the media, it os understandable that many people do not trust or believe him. But I happen to think that his story also raises questions about the state of investigative journalism and perhaps it also says something important about society.

Michael Finkel began with the intent of investigating the modern-day slavery of young boys in West Africa. He did not find evidence to support THAT story; however, he did find a different story.. a story of extreme, soul killing poverty. It wasn't perhaps a sensational or titillating story... but it WAS a story of hardships so severe that young boys worked in horrible conditions for just a few pennies per day and the owners of these plantations were no better off than the boys they employed. But 'The New York Times' knows its readers and they believed their readers would not be interested in a story about extreme poverty.Maybe our society is too easily entertained and distracted by that which is sensational or fantastic and we feel we must avert our eyes from that which makes us feel uncomfortable, powerless or even angry. So yes, Michael Finkel violated his journalistic ethics but I feel this story is much more nuanced and complicated and provides much to think about.

I hope Micheal Finkel continues to write such thought-provoking stories... I will be reading them.



Apparently, Hollywood was as enthralled with this book as I was. They made a film about it in 2015 called 'True Story'. Christian Longo was portrayed by James Franco and Micheal Finkel was portrayed by Jonah Hill. If you're interested, here is the official trailer....