Reviews
Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States by Helen Prejean
cosmicbookworm's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
4.0
This is an important read.
novelesque_life's review against another edition
4.0
4 STARS
"In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana's Angola State Prison. In the months before Sonnier's death, the Roman Catholic nun came to know a man who was as terrified as he had once been terrifying. At the same time, she came to know the families of the victims and the men whose job it was to execute him--men who often harbored doubts about the rightness of what they were doing.
Out of that dreadful intimacy comes a profoundly moving spiritual journey through our system of capital punishment. Confronting both the plight of the condemned and the rage of the bereaved, the needs of a crime-ridden society and the Christian imperative of love, Dead Man Walking is an unprecedented look at the human consequences of the death penalty, a book that is both enlightening and devastating." (From Amazon)
A great read - very different from the movie- but one of hope and forgiveness and who is really convicted into death penalty.
"In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana's Angola State Prison. In the months before Sonnier's death, the Roman Catholic nun came to know a man who was as terrified as he had once been terrifying. At the same time, she came to know the families of the victims and the men whose job it was to execute him--men who often harbored doubts about the rightness of what they were doing.
Out of that dreadful intimacy comes a profoundly moving spiritual journey through our system of capital punishment. Confronting both the plight of the condemned and the rage of the bereaved, the needs of a crime-ridden society and the Christian imperative of love, Dead Man Walking is an unprecedented look at the human consequences of the death penalty, a book that is both enlightening and devastating." (From Amazon)
A great read - very different from the movie- but one of hope and forgiveness and who is really convicted into death penalty.
sfletcher26's review against another edition
5.0
A beautifully written account and attack on the death penalty a it exists today in the US. It shows that even despite the barbarity of the acts of the two inmates that society has no right to act in a barbarous way in response.
I found it deeply affecting when I first read it over 10 years ago and even more so this time.
I found it deeply affecting when I first read it over 10 years ago and even more so this time.
eranada's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Rape, and Violence
Minor: Vomit
wayfaring_witch's review against another edition
4.0
This book is about a woman's fight against the death penalty. It supplies you with a lot of interesting information about the process, and helps connect multiple perspectives.
I've always been moderately against the death penalty, but I never expected what would happen while reading this book. My friend was shot and murdered by a gang member in Chicago. Honestly, at that time I wanted to kill the person who did that to him myself.
It let me think about the content on a whole new level, and possibly it helped me forgive a little too. Overall, an insightful read on a topic I think everyone should at least be informed about.
I've always been moderately against the death penalty, but I never expected what would happen while reading this book. My friend was shot and murdered by a gang member in Chicago. Honestly, at that time I wanted to kill the person who did that to him myself.
It let me think about the content on a whole new level, and possibly it helped me forgive a little too. Overall, an insightful read on a topic I think everyone should at least be informed about.
poachedeggs's review against another edition
3.0
The death penalty is still used in Singapore and there is no sign that it will be abolished any time soon. The way it is carried out is vastly different from how the U.S. imposes it - there is little room for appeals, re-hearings and the granting of a pardon. Once sentenced, the inmate is hanged fairly quickly.
Reading Dead Man Walking (I haven't seen the movie), it's hard not to compare the situation Sister Helen describes with that in Singapore. One of Sister Helen's more persistent arguments is that capital punishment has not been proven to deter serious crime; I think, however, that this is something that may not be true in Singapore, for the reasons I cited in the first paragraph.
What is a more powerful argument for me is whether we can ever trust the state or a government to pass judgment on a human being and take away the life of another when human beings are inherently flawed, much less an unwieldy group of them. I do think lifelong imprisonment without the possibility of parole would be more ethical.
Then again, I have to admit that I feel seriously uncomfortable at the thought of people like Ted Bundy still being alive and imprisoned somewhere in my country. Sister Helen makes a good case for Pat, the first death row inmate she befriends, but Willie, the second one she gets to know, does not seem to regret his actions (more than one murder - and a rape) one bit. Much as I think the death penalty should be abolished, I need to reconcile myself with the fact that many crazy, cold-blooded murderers will continue to haunt society if the death penalty were gone.
Back to the book - I was drawn to the first few chapters, which are impassioned and moving, but Sister Helen's style becomes rather repetitive, especially as she includes her story with Willie after Pat's, and tends to revisit arguments more than once (or even twice) in the course of the book.
Reading Dead Man Walking (I haven't seen the movie), it's hard not to compare the situation Sister Helen describes with that in Singapore. One of Sister Helen's more persistent arguments is that capital punishment has not been proven to deter serious crime; I think, however, that this is something that may not be true in Singapore, for the reasons I cited in the first paragraph.
What is a more powerful argument for me is whether we can ever trust the state or a government to pass judgment on a human being and take away the life of another when human beings are inherently flawed, much less an unwieldy group of them. I do think lifelong imprisonment without the possibility of parole would be more ethical.
Then again, I have to admit that I feel seriously uncomfortable at the thought of people like Ted Bundy still being alive and imprisoned somewhere in my country. Sister Helen makes a good case for Pat, the first death row inmate she befriends, but Willie, the second one she gets to know, does not seem to regret his actions (more than one murder - and a rape) one bit. Much as I think the death penalty should be abolished, I need to reconcile myself with the fact that many crazy, cold-blooded murderers will continue to haunt society if the death penalty were gone.
Back to the book - I was drawn to the first few chapters, which are impassioned and moving, but Sister Helen's style becomes rather repetitive, especially as she includes her story with Willie after Pat's, and tends to revisit arguments more than once (or even twice) in the course of the book.
starrfishandcoffee's review against another edition
So heavy and needed a break. Hope to read it at a later time.
onceuponasarah's review against another edition
1.0
I had to read this book for school. It wasn't awful, but not something I would pick up on my own. Subject matter is rather.. deep I guess. The one really big PROBLEM I had with the book is the layout of it. Not necessarily the way it's written, but how what was written was put together. If you have to read it for school it could get worse than this book.
myarn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
cocheesereads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25