Gorgeous Disaster: The Tragic Story of Debra Lafave

Incredible book. I was totally intrigued. Debra really was sick but I feel that her husband was most likely rough to live with also.

First of all, let me just say that I believe that marital infidelity is wrong, no matter who initiates it. Marriage is a sacred institution that should never be defiled in that way. Having said that, I just finished read "Gorgeous Disaster." My heart goes out to Owen LaFave and any other husband (or wife) who has had to endure such a nightmare. Here are the facts: Owen LaFave loved Debra Jean Beasley. Fully aware of the emotional and psychological problems she had been dealing with since childhood (being raped at 13, having a controlling, yet loving mother, living through the death of her older sister, etc.), he still loved her, married her, and wanted to have a life with her. Furthermore, he did everything a loving, supportive husband should do in encouraging her to get the professional help she needed to ultimately conquer her inner demons. How does Debra repay him? By not only cheating on him, but also adding insult to injury by having an affair with a 13-year-old boy! In addition to her crime, there are other aspects about the Debra LaFave case that I find absolutely repulsive. 1. She escaped jail time. The double standard at work here in obvious. If it were a 23-year-old MALE teacher who had had sex with a 13-year-old FEMALE student, I'm willing to bet the farm that he would be serving 10 - 15 years behind bars as I type this review (with the first five years in solitary confinement). I don't care if it is a woman who had sex with a boy (at least Mary Kay Letourneau served prison time). I don't care how "hot" Debra LaFave is. She broke the law, and should have been punished to the fullest extent thereof. The fact that she was not just goes to show that the outcome was indeed, as Owen recounts in his book, "a travesty of justice." 2. During her press conference after her plea deal, Debra introduced a pre-Owen ex-boyfriend as her new fiancé, Andrew Beck. As Owen recounts in his book, after their divorce, Debra not so subtly enticed this guy away from a woman to whom he was engaged to be married and with whom he had a daughter. This little skank has the dual distinction of not only wrecking her own home (not to mention the home of her victim), but she's also ruined the life of another woman by usurping her fiancé and father of her child. (Mr. Beck, for the record, ain't exactly "Man of the Year," either, but that's another discussion for another day.) 3. When it all said and done, it seems that Debra showed virtually no remorse for what she did. She blamed her "bipolar" condition; she blamed the media. Not once did she take responsibility for the lives she ruined and the husband whose heart she crushed. Despite her half-hearted apology to her young victim, not once did she apologize to the man who sure as heck deserved it: her husband, Owen. Her emotional and psychological problems are no excuse for her crime. As Owen recounts, people who are victims of rape or suffer bipolar disorder go on to live normal, productive a

This is an excellent and sensitive account of an important story that Newspaper headlines failed to understand. Gorgeous Disaster reads like a well crafted novel and gives insights into an American tragedy. Overall a great and captivating read that you will not be able to stop reading. -Bill G.

I saw Owen interviewed on MSNBC last week and bought the book as a result. I've seen him interviewed many times over this difficult ordeal and have always been amazed at the manner in which he carries himself and conducts interviews, but the only problem was every interviewer asked the same questions. I wanted to hear other information from him and Gorgeous Disaster explains far more than I was expecting and is extremely well written. The facts are both interesting and shocking. I find it troubling to read reviews of the book that attack Owen as if anything he could have said or done differently would have kept Debra from committing this crime. It's well-known that Debra received a much lighter sentence than a man in her situation would have received, and the review attacking Owen is yet another example of a double standard in our society. The book reveals that Debra feels she's a victim in all of her relationships. Owen is one of many victims in this tragedy, and I commend him for coming forward and providing detail that is clearly embarrassing for him yet potentially helpful to educators who strive to make a positive difference in our children's lives, and Owen has definitely been helpful to parents. I feel sorry for Debra, but she is not a victim, she's a predator just as her criminal record reflects.

Despite the fact that this tale pushes the frontier of lurid to new continents, the authors were able to find fresh angles and new ways of looking at this societal nightmare. LaFave & Simon seem to go out of their way to take the relative high road in the telling. The details are shocking but the retrospective thoughts and observations of this hapless ex-husband are made food for thought by co-author, William Simon. "Could this happen to me or anyone I know?" is the question that keeps cropping up as the plot unfolds and once again proves the ancient adage, "Truth is stranger than fiction." The story, as well as the writing style, is captivating.