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Bitter Harvest: A Woman's Fury, A Mother's Sacrifice
by Ann Rule
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (1998-02-03)
ISBN: 0684810476
EAN: 9780684810478
Dewy Decimal #: 364.152309781675
Hardcover: 352 pages
SKU: 12790
Condition: Like New
Comments: THE UNABRIDGED EDITION! Schuster, 1997. 1st print. Hardcover w/gilt lettering, Dust Jacket and pages are in Fine condition, clean & tight. Fast ship w/delivery confirmation. Air Mail.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
GIFTED WITH A BRILLIANT MIND, BLESSED WITH A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY -- AND CURSED WITH A DESTRUCTIVE MADNESS In this harrowing New York Times bestseller, Ann Rule is at her masterful best as she winnows horrific truths from the ashes of what seemed like paradise in Prairie Village, Kansas. Rule probes the case of Debora Green, a doctor and a loving mother who seemed to epitomize the dreams of the American heartland. A small-town girl with a genius IQ, she achieved an enviable life: her own medical practice, a handsome physician husband, three perfect children, and an opulent home in an exclusive Kansas City suburb. But when a raging fire destroyed that home and took two lives, the trail of clues led investigators to a stunning conclusion. Piece by piece, Ann Rule digs beneath this placid Midwestern facade to unveil a disturbing portrait of strangely troubled marriages, infidelity, desperation, suicide, and escalating acts of revenge that forever changed dozens of lives.
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Amazon.com Review
Fans of Ann Rule will find much to relish in Bitter Harvest, the tale of a brilliant Kansas physician who holds herself together well enough to put on a decent show for the outside world, but in the heart of her horror-struck family is a violent and baffling monster. She drinks, abuses drugs, spews invective, and even lights fires. At one point she learns from an Agatha Christie novel about a potent toxin contained in castor beans, and she starts poisoning her long-suffering husband. Yet until the final fire that consumes two of her children, they continue to love her and defend her to attackers. Rule tells the story with flair, conveying all of the heady feelings involved, but still the book has a flaw: Rule fails to understand the main character. When a psychiatrist testifies that the doctor is at a younger age than a toddler in her ability to process or sustain emotions, Rule writes, "That was a shocker. Could a woman with an IQ of 165 and a biting, facetious wit, a woman who had zipped through college and medical school, be a child emotionally?"Yes, she could. Bitter Harvest would've been a stronger book if Rule had shown us how.
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Customer Reviews
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Spellbinding Tale of a Mother's Madness and Jealousy, a fall from grace.
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-06-10
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have to say that I was more interested in this book than usual because it happened here where I live. So I was familiar with some of the details involved that lead up to the tragedy that builds throughout the book.
To be sure, there are multiple victims in the book. The first victim appears to be Deborah Greene's own husband, Dr. Mike Farrar who by all accounts had a glimpse of what hell must be like. Both he and his wife were doctor's in the Metropolitan Area of Kansas City and lived in Prairie Village, Kansas in an affluent neighborhood of mostly peaceful homes. They had moved there after a fire destroyed their previous home. The couple had separated but after the fire in their first home it appears he was motivated to move back to be with his wife and children once again, a grave mistake on his part, but also an indicator of the kind of man he was. He loved his children deeply and he apparently tried to love his wife as well.
At any rate, after moving back home again it did not take too long for their family life to deteriorate once again, propelled forward by Deborah's apparent insecurity, jealousy and delusions. If Mike Farrar had been able to see into the future and recognize the consequences of his well-meaning actions he surely would never have returned.
It seems that he became ill and that for quite some time the cause of his illness escaped the physicians who treated him. He wife Deborah witnessed his illness and one has to wonder if she felt pity for him or only vengeance. I think it must have been vengeance because he had come so close to death yet miraculously managed to pull through and had barely been returned to his home to continue his recovery when he again became ill even before he had a chance to appreciate and enjoy his return home. Unsure exactly what is going on that causes such illness it is shocking to discover that the reason for his illness (which included extreme bouts of dysentery and vomiting) is that he was being poisoned with Ricin, a substance that comes from the castor bean seeds his wife acquired at a garden center in a neighboring suburb. It is amazing where the final proof comes from as to her possession and acquisition of the toxic substance comes from.
I know from seeing interviews with Dr. Mike Greene that, at least according to him, he will have to live with the effects of his poisoning for the rest of his life and can never be sure that he will not be stricken again with its toxic side-effects. one cannot help but be sympathetic for him, and again wonder how anyone could watch him be so ill, someone who purportedly loved him, knowing all the while that it was she who caused him such devastation. He had to have several brain surgeries to try to alleviate some of the damage and he has no guarantees that he will not need it again in the future. If one wanted to torture their spouse then Deborah Greene did an excellent job.
The reader is left spell-bound, waiting for the time when his treating physicians will be able to connect the dots that point to his assailant. But it is in time to save all but one of his children from falling victim to the second part of his wife's madness.
One cannot help but feel sad for the victims. If I was supposed to feel sorry for Deborah Greene I failed miserably. I would have found at difficult at best to feel sympathy but when I heard on the local news that years after her conviction she is attempting to renege on her confession and save herself from a life behind bars forever.
It must have been hard for Dr. Farrar to explain to his remaining daughter the scope of the sad events. One's mind rails against believing that a mother could be responsible for so much sadness.
Through fortuitous events Deborah was discovered and an end put to her reign of terror but not before he a holocaust on a personal level envelopes her children and her husband.
The reader will be mesermerized by the complexity a of the evidence and thankful that it comes out but as always, sad that the victims won't be there to witness their tormentor losing all that she has had to become a nothing behind bars. Children have a remarkable ability to love and forgive, I wonder if they could have, the two who perished. And I wonder how the surviving daughter feels now but of course that is a private matter that perhaps will never be answered.
Anne Rule does an excelent job secribing the sometimes baffling and confusing tale and madness. She has no lost her touch on this book and her followers will not be disappointed. She did an excellent job getting "inside" the story and inside the head of a madwoman who her wealth and privilege and family for nothing.
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Non Stop Reading
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-04-07
I have every book written by Ann but unfortunately she can write them faster than I can read. I work a lot and have to fit reading in 10 minutes here or a whole hour there, so it usually takes me a couple of months to get a book read. I took Bitter Harvest on a cruise and could not put it down! The story is so sad, to think that a Mother could kill her own children to hold on to their Father in a failing marriage. Honey, when he doesn't love you, he doesn't love you, you can't make him through the children. This woman had so much intelligence and yet no common sense. Like I said the whole time I was on the cruise I didn't want to do anything but read--how can that be?? I loved my cruise but the book was one of Ann's best. All the time and research that is put into each and every book is evident!!
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A good read
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-02-29
I just finished re-reading this book, and went in search of additional info (my edition is several years old). It is a good book, in that it tells the basic tale. If Ann had been able to spend more time with Deborah Green, AND if she had been allowed to take notes or a recorder into her one interview, we perhaps would have a better picture of Deborah.
Incidently, some of the reviews talk about Ann being soft on Michael Faraar, Deb's now ex-husband. And several point out that her daughter still loves her. I didn't think that Mike got off soft--he committed adultery. But trying to portray one of the victims as a "bad guy" doesn't go oover well with the public/reader. And her daughter's love for her mother is normal. Ted Bundy's mother continued to love him even after he confessed. That is what family is supposed to do.
As for those who continue to believe Deborah is innocent, check out how many times she has changed her story. And if Prozac fogged her mind so she couldn't participate in her own defense, then all those people who take it and work for a living should be having problems too--and they don't. Of course, I suspect that Deborah's few "true believers" are mostly blood related, or deluded (keep in mind ted Bundy got love letters in prison). Read the book, check out her ever changing stories via newspaper articles.
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Great book!
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-01-28
An excellent book! Have never read an Ann Rule book I didn't like!
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Not convinced either
Rating  (2)
Date: 2008-01-28
1 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
I agree wholeheartedly, with reviewer Melissa Wilson. I am not convinced Dr. Green is guilty. I believe she may very well have been "gaslighted" by her husband and his mistress. Dr. Green and her husband have three children. Two of whom die in a arson fire. His mistress is also married. Her husband kills himself. All this happens within a 2 month period. Shortly before the fire that kills the children, Dr. Green's husband has her committed to a mental institution. Her husband is also a doctor--how convenient. Dr. Green and her husband had been married numerous years. At the time he had her institutionalized, she was in mid-forties. I have extensive firsthand knowledge of the mentally ill. It is rare that a person developes mental illness in their mid to late forties. Mental illness usually presents itself at a much earlier age, and by the time they reach middle age they have been institutionalized many times. The late forties and early fifties is when many people get a handle on their illness. They tend to have fewer episodes. I have many relatives afflicted with mental illness, and I cannot understand why, as soon as she's released from the mental institution, her husband leaves her, and the children. If he were really that concerned for her sanity, why would he leave her with their children. If you have a caring bone in your body, you would never leave your children with anyone you really thought was mentally ill. Mental illness is not cured in the hospital. The hospitalization only halts the acute mania or psychosis. You can liken it to a person that has severe inflamation. They are given a lot of medication to halt the inflamation, but the underlying problem is still there, waiting to flare up again. Real recovery in mental illness begins after hospitalization, with the "calmer" patient returning home and continuing with therapy, and medication. Why wouldn't he hang around and see how stable she was before leaving? My deceased sister was mentally ill, and abused alcohol. I was there for my beloved sister, and I knew right away when she was going off into the deep end. I would have never, in a millions years, left my son in her care. Celeste is his mistress. Her husband(who is well aware of their affair) kills himself. Celeste continues on with her affair like nothing happened. Any "normal" thinking human being would have to stop, and assess how their behavior contributed to the person they married, killing themselves. Even if she no longer loved her husband, he was still the father of her children, and a human being. I would think, any feeling person would have to recognise the devastation her children must feel at losing their father in such a manner. Instead, this woman didn't miss a beat. Only those involved know what really happened, but one thing is clear, at the time Dr. Green was married to an abusive, selfish, egotisical, lying and cheating husband and; he was conducting an affair with his feminine equal. Whether he lit the match or not, he certainly shares in the guilt of this crime. He is by no means one of the innocent victims. As far Celeste goes; after reading this book, I have doubts whether her husband's death was at his own hands. Most men who kill themselves, do it with a gun. Most often, people who feel led to do away with themselves in this type of situation, will definitely kill the other persons involved first, before killing themselves. In these type of situations sadness may be one emotion a person experiences, but anger and maybe rage is the driving force. Too much just does not add up. But again, no one really knows what happened, but Debora, her husband, his mistress; and her husband. I can say it's a sad story; God bless the soul's of the three people who perished, and I hope the surviving daughter is doing well. I have read other books by Ann Rule, although she writes well, I feel she has a tendency to portray the convicted person as the "evil villan" and the other people directly involved as poor "sainted victims". I am certainly no friend of Debora Green Farrar. I am a thinking individual that can read an author's novel without becoming manipulated by their point of view. I read the novel and formed my own opinions.
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