A review by caughtbetweenpages
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

I struggle a little to classify this book in terms of genre. I expected, based on the beginning and the synopsis, something of a literary fiction piece focused primarily on the internality of a serial killer and his victims (like a less pedophilic Lolita, if that makes sense?), As the story went on, though, it felt almost more like a retrospective psychological thriller or a crime drama... and instead of the genre switch throwing me off, I enjoyed it immensely. Though the story wasn't completely circular (since the narrator Ansel is both unreliable and also quite persuasive, I was convinced for a while that he
would actually manage to pull off the escape attempt and get the sympathetic guard killed or hurt in the process
) and thus the "ending" wasn't a certainty, the narrative arc still sort of took the shape of "how did he get here?" in a way I couldn't look away from. 

Kukafka did a great job, for me, of explaining without justifying Ansel's behavior and building sympathy for the abused boy he was and the person he could have become if he'd made better choices, if he'd had more opportunity early in his life to be guided toward them. At no point was I on his side, perhaps until the end where his execution is happening  and he is less the murderer he was and more just a soul ending and all the wasted potential of a life turns to nothing. His manifesto will come to naught, the hurt he has done to the families of his victims will stay (but not for his sake, for theirs), and all of the egomania and entitlement and evil in his heart just stops. This one stuck with me after I finished the book and I think it will continue to do so.
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