Reviews

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

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amwham's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

nuii's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I like the complexity if the book, there's much to mull over and the writing is neat.

However, a rant:
I was having a hard time dealing with Ansel. Because of the different POVs, there's constant back and forth between borderline romanticizing/sympathizing vs criticizing/condemning him. I cant quite decide whether that is intentional, to show the complexity of the human psyche and of the situation or it's just not executed percisely enough. I guess it's just uncomfortable to recogconize this man as an empty shell of a person and a pathetic loser but also gotta feel sorry for him because the story of his mom is very tragic and the system failed him/them.
Also, to (shallowy) throw in the complexity of the flawed justice system (racism, police incompetence, death penalty...), albeit important, feels a bit too much and your focus is spreaded out too thinly imo. Makes me think of when u try to tackle too many points in an essay that ur pounts get lost or diluted.

melaniedike's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

after each chapter I’m astonished at how good the writing is and how amazing each individual story is, but I feel like it falls flat because it doesn’t know what is trying to tell! The story mirrors that of “bright young woman“ in that is trying to tell a serial killer story through the POV’s of the victims, but I feel like some victims POV‘s are missing I think if Hazel, which is the wife’s twin sister was replaced with that if the wife, AKA Jenny I think we would’ve had more complete story of how Ansel really victimized and ruined the lives of all of these women! After reading the last of Hazel‘s big chapters, I realize how much better this would be with a lot of the emotional beats in the chapters don’t feel earned. I think we could’ve had a beautiful moment, near the end of this book similar to lavender first chapter mirroring the growth of Ansel with his slow fall into his Middle Ages!! At the same time they try to make you sympathize with Ansel , i was told this was going to radicalize me on my ideas of the death penalty but I don’t feel radicalized, I just feel confused! The story of “big bear” which is a black man who was wrongly accused of murder makes me believe that the story is against the death penalty, but the way this book treat Ansel for the most part makes me feel differently! Except for the ending, I don’t think this book really stuck the landing, especially for each of the ending chapters of the characters, it felt like the author had remembered that she supposed to talk about the death penalty and so she did A LOT! She talked about how the only reason Ansel was getting this treatment is because people were enamored by what he had done that the death that he was getting was almost too good for him, which I agree with, but it feels really clunky in this end. It feels like less of an ending to these characters and more like this author was trying to be woke. It’s weird because instead of showing us how the death penalty is bad (Angels last words being “I can be good. Give me a chance” is powerful and makes you feel like maybe he could be good. Maybe death isn’t the answer! We see with blue “be good” and maybe a long sentence of him rotting in prison trying to find himself is a better punishment) they’re telling us they’re telling us how people don’t deserve it. They’re telling us that the government is wasting money. They’re telling us these things, and it feels out of place, especially with the characters inner dialogues. I will say that this book leaves you with a lot to think about, it has changed my perspective of the death penalty, blue’s words at the end of the book “even bad people feel pain” does put the death penalty in a different light for me, all of the talks of these multiple worlds really makes me think differently about my own doubts and what ifs( It’s funny that my main complaint for this book is it what if it? What if we had Jenny‘s POV? what if this was written differently?) the comfort Saffy, lavender and Hazel, find is that it’s inhumane think about the things that we’ve left behind, that we have to forget the almost worlds, but there’s only one brief in perfect world and you have to fight to live in it!