08/02/2024
After many weeks of looking for a good book, I had stumbled upon the Hulu series, Under the Bridge which tells a true story of a case in 1997. Under the Bridge was originally a book written by journalist, Rebecca Godfrey in 2005. This book is based on a true story of a teenage girl’s murder and the complicated aspects of the crime.
Reena Virk was a fourteen-year-old Indian Canadian teen living in Victoria, Canada who struggled to understand her conservative, yet loving family. In order to fit in at school, she joins a gang called the CMC which consisted of kids from ruined backgrounds and incorrigible personalities. Her parents warned her that she would be selling her soul hanging out with these people who wouldn’t understand the respect and values she was brought up with. Reena feels a constant feeling of envy towards her friends, especially Josephine Bell who is the typical blond, skinny and affluent girl. In order to get validation, Reena steals Josephine’s phonebook and spreads rumors about her. After hearing about this, Josephine desperately seeked for revenge and decided to invite her to a party; from where Reena would surprisingly never come home. On November 14th 1997, Reena went to the party and never came home. Her body was found a week later in a waterway under a bridge. Her death had not only taken a massive toll on their family, but also within their community. It turned out that these girls who were supposedly her “friends” really weren’t her friends. Teenagers Kelly Ellard, Warren Glowatski, Josephine Bell and four other teens were charged for her murder. The series is a dramatization of the events while the book tells a true, and detailed story. If you want to get more context, I would highly suggest you read the book first. Unfortunately, I didn’t and watching the series without context made it quite confusing to understand. In this book, Godfrey dives deep into the characters’ personal point of view and helps readers navigate the investigation. This book is undoubtedly heartbreaking, illustrating how a couple of decisions you make can deeply hurt yourself, and multiple others.
If you are into books based on real life situations, investigations and court cases, this book and the series is just for you. Happy Reading!
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