Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

9 reviews

akvolcano's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Ableism, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

danimcthomas's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Absolutely life-changing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Stalking

bookshelfmystic's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.5

"The death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit. The real question of capital punishment in this country is, Do we deserve to kill?"

What kind of society do we build when we delight in killing?

Just Mercy is an important book. As much as I already opposed the death penalty, this book gave me so many more reasons. Bryan Stevenson masterfully shows the reader, time and time again, that the justice system in the United States is cruel, unfair, and designed for retribution--and, very often, used as a tool for racial oppression.

There were stories I could hardly believe were true, like the totally innocent being sentenced to decades in prison--regularly--and the absolute mockery of impartiality Stevenson witnessed time and again during trials for Black defendants, especially in the South. But Stevenson is the perfect author for this subject: he's spent his life in the trenches, seeing firsthand how broken the justice system is and working within it to fix it, slowly, slowly, but with each small victory changing one more life.

I very much enjoyed the writing of the book (and the author's narration) - it was accessible and engaging throughout. My only minor complaint (and the reason for 4/5 stars) is that I felt it was a little scattered. Each chapter focuses on either the story of Walter and his wrongful conviction or on a different aspect of the justice system, usually with a whole new set of people to learn about. Each story was fascinating, but I found it a bit hard to keep track of all of the cases and the overall flow of the book. Nevertheless, this book is extremely worth reading, and Stevenson's activism and life work are courageous and inspiring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, and Racism

Moderate: Police brutality and Miscarriage

Minor: Death of parent

nicolesbookreviews's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Police brutality, Confinement, Torture, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Ableism, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Grief, and Gun violence

brinnet's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Child death, Confinement, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Torture, Violence, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Confinement, and Addiction

Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Dementia, War, Terminal illness, and Infertility

suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

this is a very interesting read! this was gifted to me by a mentor that has been pushing the pre law agenda on me for a while now. i honestly had no clue what to expect reading this book and i was surprised. left me wondering more about the treatment of women in the criminal justice system (both those on the inside and outside) and more about the connection between the soul/psychology and the impact the criminal justice system (but really america) has on the individual. i don't know if i have ever read a book that has left me as determined to research something as this one. the criminal legal system has always and will always be something that deeply interests me and this book brought light to so many f*cked up things about it that i had never known (but am not surprised by). the only critique i have is that this book speeds through different cases at some point-- cases that are really challenging and hard to read. there are even points where an electrocution takes place and it is described in detail... it's hard to read. i think what's hardest about these scenes is the writing style-- it's almost too clinical, dissociated, and 'lawyer-like' that it was unsettling to read. and unsettling here not in an artistic and metaphoric way but in a 'are you a human or a robot' way (too harsh?). if you are someone who is interested in criminal law or is interested in prisons in america then i would recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Gun violence, and Grief

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

hot_water's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

sarah984's review

emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

This is a memoir of an individual lawyer, but also a book about mass incarceration and the death penalty in the United States. It's about racism and poverty, but also the giant uncaring bureaucracy that the modern justice system has become - judges giving out harsher penalties to influence their reelection, exonerating evidence being illegally upheld due to public pressure to solve a crime quickly, in one absolutely bizarre case a defendant's court-appointed lawyer cashing a cheque that was intended to serve as evidence because there was a dispute about court fees.

I would recommend this to anyone who has never really thought about prison before - the ways that being incarcerated affects people forever even without the death penalty read like cruel and unusual punishment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Slavery

Minor: Suicide and Death of parent

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, Excrement, Homophobia, Dementia, and Infidelity

Minor: Islamophobia, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

imprisonment, wrongful imprisonment, capital punishment