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You are here: Home / Book Reviews / ‘Into the forest and all the way through’ by Cynthia Pelayo

‘Into the forest and all the way through’ by Cynthia Pelayo

November 13, 2020 By Alice

Cynthia PelayoCynthia Pelayo is is an International Latino Book Award winning author and an Elgin Award nominee. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, a Master of Science in Marketing, a Master of Fine Arts in Writing, and is a Psychology Doctoral candidate. You can follow Cynthia on Twitter.

Her family brought her work to my attention, and I thank them for sending me her book.

The Book

Into the Forest is not the typical book reviewed here as it is poetry. It presented a new challenge.

The book centers on missing and murdered children and women. One hundred and six poems telling stories about female victims who vanished or were found murdered.

As Pelayo correctly points out “Hispanic, Black, Asian, and particularly Native American women go missing at much higher rates than the general population.” She is also correct when she writes in her preface that someone knows something.

In every case, someone knows something. So, where she had the information, she posted the victim’s full name, race, the date they vanished or were found murdered, and contact information about the investigating agency.

Two Poems, three victims

I wish to highlight two poems here. The first poem tells the story of Alexia Anne Reale‘s murder. These are the last lines of the poem:

“Not until a teacher found chemical burns on my skin that I
could finally tell the story of the little sister I had and the
demons who threw her away and told me never to tell.”

From the Charley Project we know that “Larry and Barbara [mother and stepfather] were convicted of Alexia’s murder and additional child abuse charges in 2000. Larry is currently serving a 40-year-to-life prison sentence, while Barbara is serving 15 years to life. Alexia’s remains have never been located.”

The other poem I wish to highlight was inspired by the Delphi case. The murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German are still unsolved. Again, here are the last lines of the Pelayo’s poem:

“Things happened there, wrists wrapped, and only
each other’s eyes to look into before we knew we
were never going back.”

Critique

The book by Pelayo needs a format editor. At the end of many pages, poems are cut off, the last line appears alone on a page, the paragraph with case and contact information is broken up, and the poem’s lines do not seem to fit the page’s width.

Other than that, I enjoyed reading about unsolved cases in a different format.

Note

I received a copy of this book from the author’s family in exchange for an honest review. All my other book reviews can be found here.

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Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Reviews, Cynthia Pelayo

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Author Notes

On my website, I write about old, unsolved cases. Most are from the pre-DNA era and need renewed media attention. I only do research and leave active investigation of these cases to the professionals.

My posts are about homicides, missing and unidentified people, wrongful convictions, and forensics as related to these cases.

On book reviews: I only review select works of true crime, crime fiction, and historical fiction/mysteries. The stories have to fit my website's theme and research. It remains my prerogative to not review a book. Please check the FAQ page for more!

My database has hundreds of cases listed by the victim’s last name. You will find a brief description there as well. The database is free to the public.

All writing suggestions for cases that come in by email are added to my to-do list in the order in which they were received. Please be patient. My to-do list is very long but no case gets dropped and I will get back in touch.

If you have any questions about my website please check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, the about page, and the tabs in both menu bars. If you still cannot find the answer there, please contact me.

Thank you,

Alice de Sturler

Copyright

If you use my work, please add a link back. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. Thank you!

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Copyright: Please add a link back if you use my work. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. If you need help with this, just contact me. Thank you, Alice de Sturler

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