Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Notes on an Execution

I loved this book. I tried to listen to the audiobook and it just wasn't for me. I gave it a second chance after two people on tiktok said it was their best read of 2023. I read this quick and was immersed in the storytelling. I loved how the three narrators converged. I loved that the three female narrators did not have direct connection with Ansel, but had known him briefly in the past in some way. The reason I did not give this five starts is because the fleeting way in which the author touches serious subjects within the american prison industrial complex and policing in america. I don't think she should get props for simply just mentioning these issues... For example, Saff mentions this dilemma with a majority of the prison population being black and brown men. Ansel mentions that it is unfair that it is mostly black and brown men on death row with him. But that is as far as it goes. I do not think it should be praised at some great look at the prison industrial complex in America because it just isn't. I think it is better to be seen as the way in which true crime culture forgets those that live with the impact of these celebrated monsters choices.

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zoebill96's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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padsworth's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Would highly recommend. Thoughtful and extremely well written.

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travelswithcharlie's review against another edition

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Loveable characters? No

1.5

While the author proclaims the intention of this book is to give voice to the victims and to dissect the glorification of serial killers (and many reviewers and fans will agree), the book takes a nose dive and does the exact opposite of what the author intended. For one thing, Ansel is a fictionalized version of Ted Bundy but with less victims.

He's attractive enough that one of his victim's family members masturbates to the thought of him.

Because only one victim is really touched upon and the others are just random, forgettable girls, there is no voice to give to them. We just get made up fantasies (only a couple of pages in length) at the end of the book about what their lives could have been like. And the use of the second person point of view for Ansel did not work. Instead, he was humanized and from my understanding,

magically felt love in the last few seconds of his life and therefore, we should sympathize and be upset that he is being executed.

The author also interjects her own commentary on the death penalty. While I am personally against the death penalty, this commentary was odd given the context. There are many other issues I had with the book, but I will leave it at this.

Trigger warning: There is animal cruelty and animal death.

The horrific descriptions of what he did to animals was more of a focus than anything he did to his victims.

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lerix4relur's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

An interesting premise of a book, where the focus is shifted onto the people affected by the MC. I like that the author decided not to use the perspectives of people closest to the MC but kind of further away. It shifted the story into something not as cliche. Did I love most of these characters? No. Lavender I thought was interesting but she was very complicated. Somebody who left to help her children survive but also left the burden of being a mother. I don’t know how to feel about the second pov from the MC. On one hand, I think the 2 pov is to try to place yourself in the shoes of that character, ,asking them relatable but this is not anybody relatable and he became more boring which I think was the point of the author doing this. It was funny how the MC only started to feel remorse the lar minutes of his life. The mention of how unfair the justice system felt kind of misplaced especially since the MC said it, because he doesn’t have that much awareness or care to say that. It felt out of place, like it was trying to say something but didn’t take the time to delve deeper. The author often describes a lot using the word curl which was interesting but repetitive because they used it so often for different phrases. I would’ve loved this if it was my first time reading some sort of mystery murder..

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leontyna's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Loveable characters? No

4.0

This was such a good book! All the voices felt real and I really liked how marginal the killer voice was in comparison. Story was interesting and the writing style really worked for the novel. It's definitely an almost five star one.

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chelseycintronn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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butle2em's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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