Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Lara Love Hardin, Anthony Ray Hinton

18 reviews

lcg527's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

annamay1021's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Racism

cheaploaf's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

Was an infuriating read. Appreciated the balance between Ray’s story/personal anecdotes and facts about the prison system/death row. Felt a little repetitive at times about how Ray was feeling but also just puts the emphasis on how you would feel stuck somewhere for 30 years. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Racism

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Classism, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Grief

doomluz's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Anthony Ray Hinton's story is heartbreaking, horrific, and frustrating. This shows how inhumane the death penalty is and the fact that the criminal justice system is broken, which makes it hard to guarantee that only actually violent criminals are executed.
I'm not religious and I'm not necessarily for forgiving people who've wronged me, as Hinton is, but I can see how forgiveness and his religious beliefs were important for him during his time in prison and to help him move on with his life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Death, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Suicide and Cancer

pinkalpaca's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Racism, and Murder

ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Racism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

kayleeslibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

“If you have hope, you have everything.”

“The Sun Does Shine” tells the story of Anthony Ray Hinton, who spent thirty years on death row in Alabama after being falsely convicted of murder. In 2015, Mr. Hinton was released with the help of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, author of “Just Mercy,” another heart-wrenching book I highly recommend. 

Ray Hinton highlights a social justice system that inherently works against the poor and against people of color. He reveals the simultaneous love and trauma in forging a family among men whose deaths he knew he’d witness and men who would kill him in the name of their jobs. 

Ray Hinton writes of waking up in the morning and making the choice to be hopeful and positive and to bring light into the places that he can. I wasn’t surprised that this story brought tears to my eyes. I expected that. But what did surprise me, in what I have come to see as true Ray Hinton fashion, is that this story made me laugh. From what he would spend his time day-dreaming about, to his banter with those around him, to his “even Scalia” comment, Ray Hinton weaves moments of laughter, joy, and growth into a story overwhelmed with despair, grief, and unfairness.

Anthony Ray Hinton is now an activist who speaks out against the death penalty. In his words, “The death penalty is broken, and you are either part of the Death Squad or you are banging on the bars.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Murder

courtney_g's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

I don’t like to give memoirs a rating, especially not something written in such a heavy and grueling focus. Anthony Ray Hinton was a real fighter in his life. He fought every single day of his 30 years behind bars, determined to get out alive and prove his innocence.

Even though I knew the eventual outcome of this story, Hinton’s recount of the events and his memories and the countless trials and rulings kept me on the edge of my seat. I also appreciate that, although he has a clear opinion in the death penalty, that was not the main focus in this memoir. His main focus, in my perception, was to show that you can persevere in the hardest of situations where truly all seems lost. 

This was a fantastically moving memoir. Everyone should read this at some point in their life, even if it is not the least relevant to their life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Violence, Death, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

ashleycmms's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Racism

Moderate: Body horror and Confinement

triley's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Racism, and Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Gun violence, and Grief

Minor: Cancer