A rip in Heaven vs The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: True Crime, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir
A rip in Heaven
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It was a headline story in the New York Times and USA Today. It was covered by Court TV and profiled on the Ricki Lake Show. Now, here is the intimate memoir of a shocking crime and its aftermath...one family's…
The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid
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Hankering for a mostly true tale about the hard-living desperadoes who inhabited America's desert Southwest in the mid-1800s? This biography of the ill-fated gunslinger Billy, the Kid was written by Pat Garrett, the…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate A rip in Heaven highest: A rip in Heaven 4.2 · The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid 3.5.
- The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 5 for A rip in Heaven.
- A rip in Heaven has the widest readership — 15222 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| A rip in Heaven | The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.2 (15222) | 3.4 (901) |
| Hardcover | 4.7 (6) | — |
| Google Books | 5.0 (1) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (362) | 4.0 (17) |
Reception
| A rip in Heaven | The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 15222 | 901 |
| Editions | 6 | 8 |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Wikipedia attention | — | 1396 |
| Pages | 302 | 128 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: A rip in Heaven or The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid?
A rip in Heaven has the higher combined reader rating across sources (A rip in Heaven 4.2/5, The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid 3.5/5).
Which is shorter to read: A rip in Heaven or The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid?
The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid (128 pages, ≈ 2 h 22 m); A rip in Heaven (302 pages, ≈ 5 h 36 m).
Which is harder to read: A rip in Heaven or The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — A rip in Heaven: Moderate; The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid: Moderate.