I just finished reading The Innocent Man by John Grisham. I have read all of Mr.Grisham's novels, but this is by far one of my favorite. This was a non-fiction account of a murder in a small town and about the wrongful convictions of two men. It is an extremely detailed piece of work, and I had to jot down names and descriptions in order to keep the characters straight. I have spent the last few days researching the story on-line.
How do two innocent men spend 12 years in prison (on death row actually), for a crime they did not commit? How do you recover from that? One of the men, Ron Williamson, came within five days of execution.
I have always been a big fan of John Grisham, but this work was a masterpiece if you ask me. He says that this story was one that he could not even have thought of in his wildest imagination.
Our justice system was portrayed as being a little shady and inadequate, but a successful entity nonetheless. There has been some criticism of this book saying that it is a political statement attempting to oppose the Death Penalty, but I did not get that at all. I think the book opposes wrongful executions, but hopefully we all do.
Great author. Great book. Great summer read. Now, it's back to my Amish books. Quite a far stretch for sure!
2 comments:
I just finished that book also. Although it took me a while to plow through it because I felt it got bogged down with technicalities in the middle. But it was very interesting. Ron Williamson was raised in a christian home but chose to go his own way. It was amazing how his sisters stuck by him through thick and thin and never gave up on him.
you are reading like crazy woman! I really wish I was a reader... I try... I long to be.... but I find it so hard to just make time......... maybe that will be my new goal to start working on......I actually did read some Rob Bell this morning. :) and books on Marxism so I am ready to talk politics with people!..... I need to lengthen my list though! ;)...
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