‘Just Mercy’ Book Review

“FROM ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT AND INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS of our time comes an unforgettable true story about the redeeming potential of mercy. Bryan Stevenson was a gifted young attorney when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending the poor, the wrongly condemned, and those trapped in the furthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man sentenced to die for a notorious murder he didn’t commit. The case drew Stevenson into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.” Description provided by Goodreads.

‘Just Mercy’ is a book that confronted me with uncomfortable questions. Yeah, it had an impact. Who deserves mercy? Right off the bat, yes, everyone deserves mercy. Then, you think of those people who we consider the lowest in our society, abusers, murders, and rapists. All of those people are still human. They are most likely the ones who need it more than anyone else. The broken people. We are all broken and the author points out if we put our egos and pride aside to realize we all have our flaws the world would be a better place. It is very hard and as I said uncomfortable to think about. I have always heard “hate the sin but love the sinner,’ I think that is what Bryan Stevenson is trying to say. These people might commit horrible crimes but as another human is it our place to judge them and wish death upon them? No, I do not think so and leave that to our higher power to decide.

Stevenson goes on to confirm what I believe that mental health is one of our biggest issues in our country but he added to that. Most, if not all, can stem back to five things: slavery, racism, mass incarceration, mental health, and poverty. I believe all of those words and what they are, are so intertwined and this book does a great job at unraveling that ball of yarn.

This was a hard hitting piece that some of our more side stories are the ones that hit me hardest, making me want to cry. I felt so drained. It is beautiful to see the human spirit in all of its forms. I am so thankful that the world has people like Bryan Stevenson who do not only see a problem but set out to actually fix it. Sometimes he wanted to quit. He would have a personal experience or have someone reach out and encourage him. That would light a spark in him to continue again. I hate to see people sitting around and complaining but not actually getting up and fixing the issue and looking for justice. The author is the complete opposite of that. He is the kind of person we should all strive to be. I am so happy that he speaks to young people at churches, schools, etc., all over the country to be a light for them.

This is a story that is mainly told from the author’s personal experiences but he does jump around to providing historical and legal facts or statistics. The structure was a bit difficult for me. This was like two books pushed together into one. I wish that it was either an anthology of all the different people that EJI has helped or just Walter’s story. I felt like I was being thrown between the two.

I am shocked that the author is a lawyer by trade and not a writer! He definitely has a creative mind made evident by his use of words. He truly has talent and knows how to write a beautiful and thought provoking story. This is a great book that I would recommend you read.

4 out of 5 stars.

‘The Only Plane in the Sky’ Review

“At once a powerful tribute to the courage of everyday Americans and an essential addition to the literature of 9/11, The Only Plane in the Sky weaves together the unforgettable personal experiences of the men and women who found themselves caught at the center of an unprecedented human drama. The result is a unique, profound, and searing exploration of humanity on a day that changed the course of history, and all of our lives.” Description from Good Reads.

If you know nothing about 9/11 other than the basic facts, this book is going to knock your socks off and possibly be the best nonfiction you have read in a long time. I am someone who is incredibly fascinated by that day and the impact it has had on all of our lives. There is even a chapter that is about the youth on September 11th. There was still so much information that I did not know or had never thought about before. Examples of that would be how little I knew of what happened at the Pentagon and that the people on the ground at what would become known as Ground Zero had very little idea of what was happening around them. How big of an event it was. They did not have the privilege to be watching events unfold on television like so many around the world did.

I have to warn you that this is so much to take in. It is dense and draining as you are filled with emotions and information. I am not saying that as a fault of the book. There were chapters where I could not let a breath out until the chapter was through. Some of this was straight up horror that I hope we never see the likes of again.

We, the readers, are hearing from nearly five hundred people and what their experiences were that day. I love that this touched on so many different kinds of people: from the vice president all the way down to parents in the midwest worried about the future for their children. This is a day that touched all of us and had a massive impact on our world. I always talk about how nonfiction is a humanizer. This is humanizing this traumatic event in history. Showing the real everyday people that were true heroes. I cannot imagine how long it took the author to put this book together.

There were times reading this that I wanted to get onto the next, I almost felt selfish saying this, I was just curious what was going with other ‘plot lines’. As I said before this is a lot to take in. I almost wish the sequencing was done in another manner but I do not have an exact suggestion on how I would do it.

Writing was the only place where I had real issues. At the start, I was very confused and overwhelmed, it is like boom boom boom, getting all these names and what they went through. I was having a hard time keeping straight on who was who, what their role was, who they were related to, what city we were in. I was confused, overwhelmed by the numbers of people, overwhelmed with information. I was constantly having to turn back a page to see what was going on. I wish it was a more gradual lead into the book. It did get better the more time I spent with the book. I read this on my Kindle and wonder if it would have been different if I read this in another format. This is a great book, one of the best that I have read this year. I recommend it.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

‘Invisible Child’ Review

“Invisible Child follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani Coates, a child with an imagination as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn homeless shelter. Born at the turn of a new century, Dasani is named for the bottled water that comes to symbolize Brooklyn’s gentrification and the shared aspirations of a divided city. As Dasani grows up, moving with her tight-knit family from shelter to shelter, this story goes back to trace the passage of Dasani’s ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration north. By the time Dasani comes of age, New York City’s homeless crisis is exploding as the chasm deepens between rich and poor.” – Description provided by Goodreads.

This is a book that is very unique compared to the rest of the books that I read. A lot of times when I read books that critique the system; it is either a memoir or historical fiction and usually those are in a rural southern setting. In ‘Invisible Child’, we see Dasani, who is a young girl coming of age in poverty, in Brooklyn. I felt so connected to her. I honestly felt every emotion. Sometimes I was proud, sometimes I was in despair. As I said before, this is essentially a coming-of-age story, but being non-fiction and being a piece of journalism as we have the journalist, Andrea Elliott looking on at Dasani’s life, writing her story.

I could not help but feel so frustrated as I got to the closing of the book. This is one of those books where it feels like you need to take a shower. You need to stare at a wall after you read it. Sometimes you want to blame the kid in the situation but you know you can’t because they’re only a product of their circumstances and that makes you look at the parents, but then you realize the parents are products of generational trauma, and if we look at that what causes that generational trauma, it’s the systematic racism in this country. the people in the situation were set up to fail. After reading this I was very at a loss of hope not knowing how we solve this issue. How do we take away this pain? The pain that millions of Americans are experiencing. In the afterword of the book Andrea Elliott states, “Almost nothing counts more than the person who shows up,” and I think that that speaks volumes. Being there for one another to try and help others in our community rather than judging them is the way to go. To hopefully get our country going in a better direction. People need to care for each other.

I know that some people are probably thinking it’s not just Black people who are impoverished in our country and that is true and that is touched on in this book. We see people from all walks of life that are experiencing poverty, but in this case, this book is focusing on Dasani. If we look back to the Jim Crow era and further back to the founding of this country of how Black people were viewed it all adds into why Black and Brown people are more likely to be put in these situations. Again, I want to say, it is important to help and care for everyone in your community and be there for all of them. Try to understand them and I hope if you read this book it can enlighten you on what it is like to be in this situation.

I will be bringing up the afterword of the book again. As this is where Andrea Elliott speaks on the process of putting this book together. When she started this whole project, this was just supposed to be articles for the New York Times, but it really spilled into becoming a story, becoming a book of its own. There were so many obstacles of how the systems work in New York City and in this country for how she could get this kind of story out there, but she was able to do just that. There are also a little over 100 pages of notes and an index and I really loved just getting that clarification of how a story like this can be formed.

At times I did question the structure of the book as it did get confusing with flashbacks and the present day, and how in every chapter that varied how it was structured. The writing is where I struggled there were some great paragraphs, but the length and the pacing is definitely questionable. We are following Dasani for eight years of her life. That’s, I know minuscule on the big scale of things, but also for a book that’s a large plat of time. It started out very fast paced short chapters easy to get through but after a while, we were seeing the same stuff over and over again. That is how life works. We do go in circles at certain instances in our life, but to read that does get a bit tedious. Especially when the chapters are starting to get longer in length. We would get longer chapters and just be going through the same thing over and over again. The pacing would then pick up again as Dasani goes off to boarding school, in a whole new setting or seeing new experiences. It was an up-and-down journey much like life, I guess.

This is definitely an important read. It was so timely with everything that is happening with SNAP and the New York City mayoral election. I personally read this book at the perfect time. It’s so interesting how I do not plan to read these books in any kind of order. Each month I go in with a different plan. I am talking about how it all connects, like reading ‘Misbehaving at the Crossroads’, ‘The Reformatory’, The Warmth of Other Suns’, it all added up to this book and to think that this book might be another stepping stone to reading another great book is really fun to think about.

4.25 out of 5 stars.

‘Know my Name’ Book Review

“She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford’s campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral–viewed by eleven million people within four days, it was translated globally and read on the floor of Congress; it inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Thousands wrote to say that she had given them the courage to share their own experiences of assault for the first time.

Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. It was the perfect case, in many ways–there were eyewitnesses, Turner ran away, physical evidence was immediately secured. But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios. Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life.” – A description provided by GoodReads.

When I first started the book, I was worried. I wasn’t feeling a connection to the book. I wasn’t feeling much at all. This had me confused as the book progressed more and more chapter by chapter I came to realize that I was actually immersed into the story feeling the emotions as Chanel did going through the experience being confused right after her assault, not knowing what was going on and thinking that they must have the wrong person to eventually being in that courtroom and being hit by a brick wall of emotions, realizing what had truly happened to her. I began to feel disgust at what Brock Turner did to her. I felt anger at the system that this country is built on, on how victims of these heinous crimes are treated.

The point of this book is Chanel Miller reclaiming her name and her story she is showing there is so much more to being a victim than just that word. She and other victims are living being humans who have the right to live, and to be acknowledged to be heard. She showcases the loopholes that are in victim blaming. This book is almost a critique of how victims are perceived by the masses and what being a victim actually means I had no idea what happened to somebody after they are assaulted and might have been raped. Chanel didn’t know either all the procedures that are very intimate and invasive that somebody has to go through right after going through almost the exact same thing in a violent way.

Another thing is how this was so prevalent in the time of social media. The comments that people type are not thinking of the person that this case is impacting, they don’t realize a real person is there or they don’t even care. I honestly believe people do not think about their actions. The victim of the crime isn’t even the only one that impacted that crime trickles down to so many other people, in their lives. Something that was so easily shown to me when I was reading in this book is how great of a sister Chanel is to Tiffany that is what I took most notice of. I also see how she’s kind of a big sister to all women now; showing the strength that a woman must have in the system that does not treat victims like what they are. They are human.

This book is extremely educational like I said before I had no idea what happened to somebody after they report a rape or an assault. I didn’t know what it was like to be a victim waiting for a trial or waiting for a verdict to happen. How you have to pause your life for the case. Chanel Miller didn’t know any of this either until she was put into these shoes. It really makes you think of why some people do not come forward or they wait until what they feel is the right moment. Yet they will still be victim-blamed. This is an incredibly important read and I think all young people need to read this book.

The structure of this book was done in a very good way, the way she weaves past experiences or other antidotes from her life into the chronological story of her case. It was done very well, very easy to follow and didn’t feel like you were being thrown all over the place.

As the reader, I can tell that writing this book was a very therapeutic experience for the author. It is lengthy, but I do believe every word matters. So many of these sentences hit the nail on the head and had me yelling “truth!” She was great at putting words to experiences and feelings that we all feel, and I just never knew how to say or express. I love the use of italics throughout the books, the metaphors and similes. She’s a master of language. There is so much knowledge to come from these pages. It made me feel seen and away because I do remember when Chanel‘s case was actually happening and saw the reactions of people around me, people I respect, but I didn’t think their reactions to the case were right. I wish I could give this book to those people so they could see her side of the story and what it is like to be a victim and to be a victim that is so heavily critiqued by the masses. Also how there is a systematic issue in our country and how prevalent toxic masculinity is. This is such a powerful read, and as I said before, I do think everybody should read this book.

4 out of 5 stars.

‘Jason and the Argonauts’ Book Review

As per usual, I will start out with the negatives. There was a lot going on on each page. Rather that be the text itself, long paragraphs, little nonfiction excerpts giving a backstory on each god or mythological figure, and then a big illustration. It was a lot to take in. I would get distracted and lose my place in the text.

This story was eye opening on how there are similar things throughout ancient text. The one that I picked up here was a snake guarding a garden or grove that holds something special. It reminded me of the Garden of Eden that we see in Abrahamic religions. I also enjoyed that in the author’s note he pointed out the argonauts were like the original super heroes. I picked up on that too! Think of Marvel and DC how all those guys would team up for a movie, that’s kind of what this was in the ancient world.

I did love the art style as it was reminiscent of the artwork that we find in Greece. The colors were soothing too and easy to look at. I did enjoy this book and would recommend picking it up if you are needing a refresher on the myth. Also does anyone know of any retellings that are out now about the myth?

‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’ Book Review

Pip is a character that is on a mission. That is pretty much all we get from her. There are barely any layers, if there are they are just skimmed over. Sure, she is a big sister and a friend, and all those kinds of things but all we are getting of her is this quest to prove Sal as innocent and find the real murderer of Andie. There is a moment at the end of the book that seems to be showing that Pippa herself is aware of her tunnel vision and that she does not know who she is outside of being a workaholic. Sure, she is self aware with a quarter left of the book but honestly I believe this to be a quick excuse for the lack of character development. I did not feel a connection towards her. All of this sounds a bit harsh but I actually did not dislike Pip and the cast of characters… they just lacked development.

This is a good fall read to kick off the spooky season. I would even say it is borderline dark academia for those who like that sphere of literature. As for the writing, I devoured this writing style. It was fast paced, short chapters and an accessible way of words. I was easily reading over a hundred pages a day with this one. It is easy to believe the author is British though as there were some terms that American teenagers aren’t saying such as fancying someone. Other pieces of dialogue were unrealistic.

The story reminded me of the thrillers that I was reading when I was getting into reading as a young adult. It was really fun to get back to that. I also found that I love to annotate thrillers as I am trying to unravel the mystery with the characters. I did predict who our killer was quite early on but I was coming up with so many other theories throughout my time reading that I did not think this person could actually be the one. That being said, I was not too terribly shocked with how the story wrapped up and none of the plot twists had my jaw on the floor. I did enjoy reading the book and I do think the progression of the mystery and all its twists and turns did make for a logical story and nothing was ever too out there. (Except for some of that cringey dialogue or lenient parents). This is a good book, a good palette cleanser and I would recommend it.

3.5 out of 5 stars

‘The Power of the Dog’ Book Review

This is a book with a large cast of characters. I got to see the War on Drugs from a lot of different angles. That was something that I loved about the book. Seeing how a big historical event has an impact on so many different kinds of characters. I do think one character was more developed than the others, that being Art. However, I would not consider him the main character of said story. That might be a hot take. Overall, the characters were shallow. I came to this realization when there were characters who I considered my favorites but once terrible things began to happen to them, I simply had no reaction. I lacked a connection with them. They needed to have more depth and more thoroughly written out backstories, more building to their character arcs for them to be truly successful and deemed favorite characters.

The atmosphere of the book introduced me to a whole new world. I know that I am sounding like the ignorant American that I am while writing this. Winslow, the author, would name drop a city that I had never heard of, I would go and google it, sure enough the city would have half a million people. It also made me realize, Americans are so centric to their own world because all of our media seems to take place here, it isn’t like we are taking in vast amounts of Mexican media (myself anyways). This book opened a can of worms for me to dive into Mexican culture and history. I have already had fun exploring Apple Maps!

This writing style is the kind that I don’t vibe with the most, hey, I am honest with these reviews. It is dense and has long chapters. Something that I did like though was how each character had their own voice. The tone shifted with each character really immersing you into their story and lifestyle.

The plot is straight up showing the years that people most commonly think of when they think of the War on Drugs. Earlier, as I said, it goes into so many different people and how each story is connected, that reminds me of Ken Follett. Also if you like the action filled stories of SA Cosby, you’ll like this as well but remember, it’s a tome! Let’s talk about some of the deeper themes though, the main one I picked up on is realizing you are in something corrupt, a bad situation if you will, and trying to get out of it. Let’s go deeper, can big things like the church, crime groups, and the government be taken down from the outside or we just have to wait for them to implode on their own? Also, with those groups that I named, they are so interconnected. They all heavily rely on each other and are so similar to one another. If you are curious about in what ways, pick up this book.

Plot twists galore!!! And I am saying that in a good way. It makes so much sense how these scenes would line up to happen but I would never see it coming and if I did it would only be a few moments before. My jaw was frequently falling to the floor while reading ‘The Power of the Dog’. This was a great book, opening me up to a new bit of history and places around the world. Yes, I would recommend that you pick it up.

4.25 out of 5 stars.

‘Kidnap’ Book Review

First and foremost, true crime is not a genre that I gravitate towards. This book was a gift and I am willing to give any genre a go! ‘Kidnap’ started out strong. The writing style begins as narrative nonfiction really immersing you into the story. The sections of the crime and investigation were fascinating and intriguing. Theories were constantly changing.

Once the investigators think they have caught the suspect we then go into the longest part of the book, the trial. I am someone that courtroom scenes typically go over my head. That stayed true here. The writing style suddenly changed for this section. The pacing was no longer fast but slow. It went from a narrative style to tedious dialogue. These chapters in this section would go on for thirty pages, again, it was tedious and confusing. I would get lost in the dialogue. That being said, I dreaded picking up the book at this stage. The majority of the book I was dreading.

I do think this case was what laid the stones on how kidnapping and missing persons cases are now handled in the modern age. At this later date, it is so easy to see where things went wrong. It seems as though a lot was learned from the handling of the case of the Linbergh baby to help children and families in the present and future. I do not strongly recommend this book but this isn’t typically my kind of story.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

‘Wild Dark Shore’ Review

This is a story where the side characters, the children, stand out more to me than the adult leads. We do get the points of views of all but it is obvious who our main characters are. Rowan, she is our star, the woman who washes ashore to a remote island. I did not understand why she did some of the things she did knowing the situation that she was in. It did not make sense to me. Also, the romance was unnecessary. I did not feel any chemistry and it was jolted upon. For a good chunk of the book we are going through cycles with the character arcs and I even believe after the events of the book the same thing will be happening. I did like the aspect of not knowing who was in the right and how that changed day in and day out or quarter to quarter while trying to unravel the mystery of the book.

The atmosphere was my favorite part. Shearwater Island becomes a character itself rather than just the setting. I was so vividly immersed onto this Antarctic island in a world being ravaged by climate change, rising sea levels. All your senses are invoked, even your emotions are by how stunning the wildlife and scenery are that will come to your mind while reading. It’s such an ancient, eternal feeling. The island, the story, could be thousands of years ago when in reality it is in the near future.

Now let’s get to where it is confusing, the writing. I do vibe or gel well with McConaghy’s writing style itself. The words are so blunt and matter of fact but at the same time can read as lush as she builds this world around you. I do want to recommend reading this on ebook or having a dictionary nearby as some of these words are quite hefty and pretentious. There was a lack of consistency in the pacing. Rowan’s chapters could be up to thirty pages, while the others might only get one to five. It really dampened how I usually read a book. This book is short in page number but it took me a while to get through. Moving along with the pacing, the stakes would get really high and my adrenaline would be pumping and then we would wait another quarter for something to happen again. It was uneven.

I always love when a thriller is more than just that. More than a basic plot but going into themes and ideas as well. This is a looking glass, at what could possibly be to come with the rising sea levels that we are seeing in our world. The mystery was good as you never knew who to trust. Tides are constantly changing. This is a story of grief, and how everyone’s experience with it is a different journey even if it all stems back to one event. Grief can fully take over a person. At the same time we see the lengths that love will go. Everyone’s experience is different. The feelings and emotions are different. Love can fully take over a life. Love and grief are so intertwined.

There are some smaller themes like where we are born and raised can shape our beliefs, our view on the world. How home is so much more than something physical. As I wrote before, this is a piece of climate fiction. This is a survival story. Surviving the battle with grief, with love, physically surviving climate change. ‘Wild Dark Shore’ has a lot going for it in these regards. I was on the edge of my seat for this one. Even if the author reused themes from ‘Migrations’, a woman with a shady past, man who also might not be as he seems, a climate ravaged world. It is similar. I thought this book was just alright as it did lack consistency.

3.75 out of 5 stars.

‘The Chalice and the Blade’ Review

“The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future by Riane Eisler offers a sweeping re-interpretation of human cultural evolution by contrasting two fundamental social models: the equitable, nurturing partnership societies symbolized by the chalice, and the authoritarian, violent dominator societies represented by the blade . Drawing from archaeology, anthropology, history, religion, and social sciences, Eisler proposes that early human societies—especially in Neolithic Europe—were organized around life-affirming, gender-egalitarian values (gylany), before being overtaken by patriarchal structures featuring hierarchy, violence, and oppression . Rather than presenting utopia, the book argues that partnership-based social systems are deeply rooted in our past and offer viable pathways for building more peaceful, sustainable futures. It concludes with two divergent visions for society’s trajectory: one continuing on a dominator course, the other reclaiming partnership values for healing and transformation.”

This book was like a lightbulb moment for me. It confirmed and deepened my beliefs about society, where we came from, and how religion developed in the Paleolithic and Neolithic times. Archaeological evidence seems to suggest that these early societies were egalitarian, where everyone was treated equally, with no one group dominating others .It isn’t to show that egalitarian societies are perfect. They don’t have as much war and bloodshed but they still have their issues. There is no perfect societal structure but this system has seemed to prove more beneficial throughout history.In Europe’s first civilization, the Minoans on Crete, we see a lot of evidence pointing in that direction, and I became really fascinated by Crete after reading this book.

To take it back a few thousand years, men from the outskirts of society banded together through violence. They were the ones who worshipped gods of lightning bolts and hammers, raiding these egalitarian societies. The world chose to respond to violence with violence, and it has been that way ever since. We now live in a society where there has to be a dominator, someone at the top. This book dives into how that happened and discusses various instances in history of how this has been enforced and how it continues today. I also learned how history has cycles. At one point women might come close to being equals with men and then have a fall. A historical example would be Elizabethan England, a queen on the throne and men being able to show more femininity in the likes of Shakespeare. After that time we see the Puritans and witch trials. I cannot help but see it where we are now. During the sixties we saw a societal revolution mainly stemming from the Vietnam War. Now, women’s rights are being taken in the form of body autonomy and abusers having no real punishment.

Originally published in 1987, I was concerned because so much has happened since the late 1980s. Luckily, I was reading this on my Kindle, which included an epilogue written by the author in April 2017, and she was still addressing the same societal issues I had been thinking about. After reading this book, I found it refreshing to see the same concerns echoed. This book showed the evolution of religion and how society has viewed the role of women.

Why am I not giving it a five-star rating? It starts with a 26-page introduction that basically explains what every chapter will cover, which was a lot of information to absorb. Some of it went right over my head, making it challenging to take in, especially since I wasn’t familiar with much of this material before reading. The book does become easier to read as it progresses, but I will admit some parts still went over my head. I would highly recommend having a dictionary on hand or reading it on Kindle, as there are terms I wasn’t familiar with. Fortunately, on Kindle, I could hold down a word to see its definition, which was very beneficial for me.

A lot of this has me questioning who writes history, what makes it into the history books, and what is taught in the classroom. I wonder why certain aspects are not discussed or are not confirmed, even if they seem believable to me. That raises a whole other can of worms I will be pondering for a while. Overall, this book was so thought-provoking and eye-opening, and yes, I would highly recommend that you pick it up!

4 out of 5 stars.