Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Innocent Man by John Grisham

8 reviews

ashley_wohner's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

2.0

The writing incredibly detailed & I can respect the work that went into researching & writing. However, even for a serious subject, I found it very monotonous. Unfortunately, it seemed to drag on. I wanted to like it more than I did. You could probably skip it for the documentary.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt

corriejn's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.25

I don't actually think I've read anything else by John Grisham, so can't compare style/voice/etc. to his novels; this one is a nonfiction true-crime/criminal justice system story. It's pretty straightforward and dry, nothing remarkable about the structure or how the events are conveyed. 

At times I found it a tad hard to keep straight who all was who (as it's mainly about one accused murderer, but also features a second main story of another person accused of a crime-- or... two other people? I legitimately never got it all fully sorted) plus just a lot of additional people (relatives, friends, lawyers, witnesses, others incarcerated with them, etc.) to keep track of. I got the sense that folks with the Innocence Project were actually fairly influential in these cases, but they were mentioned fairly in passing.

In short, it's not the greatest writing/storytelling; if you're interested in reading about miscarriages of justice or work to exonerate wrongly-convicted folks, I'm confident there exists more compelling coverage of those topics.

I was also not a fan of the amount of really ableist language the author used in regards to mental illness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Confinement, Murder, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Blood, Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Cancer and Excrement

bashirley24's review

dark informative slow-paced

1.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Death, Grief, Rape, Torture, Alcoholism, Violence, Drug use, Murder, and Self harm

lorraine19's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Very in-depth look into this case (along with glances into connected or similar cases) and the issues of the legal system. It also emphasizes the importance of the discovery of DNA evidence. Reads allot like a true crime documentary and draws you in frequently. That being said, some of the language is outdated in regards to mental health and race (can't really fault the author too much - it was 2006) and a little too much god talk for my liking. Bottom line, you're a true crime fan this is a must read despite my minor complaints.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Classism, and Grief

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Police brutality, Bullying, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Minor: Excrement

Injustice, false conviction, manipulation

craigger's review against another edition

challenging sad fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide attempt, Rape, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

karlybug's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

1.75

i zoned out SO much. i feel like the most telling thing i can say is that i'm not sure i could give you a quick overview of this case after reading the entirety of this book?

i've never read Grisham in my life and now i don't think i ever will. this was so incredibly dry for my taste. maybe it's the unfortunate product of listening to so many of them, but i just kept thinking about how many podcasts could do this story in an absolute fraction of the time. there was so much information i didn't need OR want, but i guess that was because i was hoping for less of a story of this man's life, and more a story of the crime and subsequent arrests & whether or not they actually solved it. (i know it was about this awful thing that happened to this man, but i felt like there was TOO little focus on the actual brutal murder for my taste.)

i didn't check the publishing date until after i finished it, and it makes sense. i kept thinking it was so weird how heavy a focus there was on how much the system was designed to keep innocent men in jail, as if this were groundbreaking information. obviously, having been written literally 17 years ago, it probably was much more unknown then. but there was something about reading all of this about a white man who had quite a few issues of his own (i kept thinking, he's innocent of this crime, but he's certainly not an innocent man) that felt hollow with the understanding of how often this happens to non-white men who've done less and with less to go on. either way, though, anything calling attention to this kind of injustice is important.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Death, Alcoholism, and Physical abuse

nerdglasses08's review

challenging informative sad

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Addiction, and Alcoholism

chacepaulson's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective sad

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault