A review by knkoch
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Lara Love Hardin, Anthony Ray Hinton

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

The Sun Does Shine felt honest, introspective, and invigorating, both as a personal narrative and a polemic against the death penalty. Anthony Ray Hinton's voice comes through so clearly, and his skill lies in his ability to channel his history powerfully into what feels like spoken storytelling. He beautifully lays out his upbringing in a rural Alabama coal town, the unconditional love of his mother and childhood friend that surround him, and his early experiences in school and work as he lives within a racist, hierarchical culture that doesn't value him. He provides context that's almost never present in a trial narrative, often solely interested in the more immediate details of the crime being tried. The context is: he comes from people who love him, and he has value, even though the lawyers, prosecutors, and judges around him don't treat him as if he does.

Hinton comes to see the value in every other incarcerated person on death row, both innocent and guilty. The moral epiphanies and growth he undergoes in the near thirty years he spends incarcerated fascinated me, and truly proved that moral development can lie at complete odds with someone's position in life. Hinton finds more empathy and understanding than seems possible for the racist prosecutor and judge on his case, who both so abysmally failed to see any humanity in him. I look forward to hearing Hinton speak at a book event soon, and learning more about how this powerful book came to be. 
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