Life After Death by Damien Echols

Life After Death by Damien Echols– 3 stars

Summary: This is the memoir of Damien Echols, the famous “leader” of the West Memphis Three. For anyone not familiar with their story (or the HBO documentary), the west Memphis three was the name given to a group of three men falsely accused of murdering three children in the early 90s. He was likely the victim of police discrimination based on his perceived appearance and religious identity.  Damien Echols spent 19 years on Death Row before being exonerated. This book is his retelling of the events that happened to lead up to his false conviction and his experiences in prison.

Pros:

• This is a very engaging read. Students will enjoy it and I think many of them will actually read it if assigned.
• The topics of prison, crime, police brutality are “hot topics” right now and themed throughout the book.
• Primary social issues directly addressed in the book include: class and religious identity
• About half of the book is comprised of actual letters/journal entries he wrote while he was in prison. This was pretty cool from the reader’s perspective. We got to see how he changed/grew over time.
• I did attend an event where Damien Echols spoke about the book and his experiences. As of last February, he dressed in all black with many tattoos, wore black sunglasses inside, and had black hair down past his shoulders. I think our students would be intrigued by him and captivated by what he has to say. Here is a link to the video from that event: http://ow.ly/JZoit

Cons:

• I think this book is over our maximum length at 392 pages.
• There is a strong religious theme to this book (and to the story of the West Memphis Three). Especially in some of the segments which were written while he was in prison, Damien writes some pretty negative and arguably offensive thoughts/feelings toward Christians, especially those who are more radical in their worship styles and evangelical approaches. I think some of our students might be highly offended and refuse to critically look past (or at) these parts of the book.

Overall, I know this is a successful FYRE book at many institutions. I think many of our students would enjoy it. I’m curious to see what others think about some of the religious references and how our students might respond.

 

test Filed under Uncategorized | Comments Off on Life After Death by Damien Echols