A review by lindseyas
That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row by Jarvis Jay Masters

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

A beautiful memoir of the story of a boy-then-man who is stuck in the cycle of society's failure to care for him. Masters, growing up in an abusive household, left to the foster care system and surrounded by people who failed to look out for him, represents the plague of our modern criminal justice system. We fail to care for those who need it most, allowing them to fall victim to poverty, crime, drugs and the prison system. An extremely emotionally intelligent man, Masters was wronged by the system that was meant to protect him all of those years, but he remains hopeful, turning to faith to keep him going. This was gorgeously written, reading like an epic of a man growing up, learning from his mistakes and trying to do better.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings