chloes_home_library's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75


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belladeriso's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.75


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thechiaraface's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.5

This is a memoir by the lawyer who founded Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) a nonprofit law office in Montgomery, Alabama, dedicated to defending the poor, the incarcerated, and the wrongly condemned. This book tells Stevenson's story, the story of EJI, and the story of Walter McMillian, a man wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death and EJIs fight to free him. This book also includes many shorter stories of so many others who were wrongly convicted or unfairly condemned, and he discusses topics related to the justice system (e.g. life convictions for children, the intellectually disabled, and mentally ill). 

 This was an excellent book, and I am glad to have read it. However, this was not an easy read, there were sections in the middle where I dreaded picking this book up because of the injustice and cruelty of all that was being described. The last two chapters & epilogue made me bawl. And yet, it ends with hope, hope for a better future. This book was extremely eye-opening. Here are just a few (of the many)  notes I wrote to myself while reading this book (as just a little.inaight into my reading experience): 

-It's emotional and he (the author) humanizes everyone and it's just so hard seeing how the prison and justice system dehumanizes people 
 -will make you hate how we devalue children and their trauma when they are poor or POC 
-they are still executing a intellectually disabled man, even though it has been declared unconstitutional - ARE YOU F*ING KIDDING ME.  
-If you want a book that wil  make you angry and believe that the US justice system is a hot fucking mess read this.  

This book will make you sad, angry, and stressed - and you should still read it! This book is so, so important and it is also very well written. So I urge you to pick this book up, but also mind your content warnings as this has many.  

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