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Bezig met laden... Seventy Times Seven: A True Story of Murder and Mercydoor Alex Mar
   Crime (72) Bezig met laden...
 Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek.  Chrissylou62 | Apr 11, 2024 |   What a jumble this is. The first third is very good. Then comes the interminable middle where I, like many other readers, simply gave up and skipped a lot of pages. It's just boring. And finally the end, a sort-of conclusion - and readers are really in need of a strong conclusion. A key issue is that this book has no real focus; instead, it is the story of many lives that were part of, or came to be part of, the terrible moment when a woman was murdered. There is the killer and her friends and her family, the dead woman and her children, a judge, attorneys, a sister, a grandson and his complicated life, priests, reporters, and the author herself. Perhaps the writer was thinking this would give readers an understanding of the complexity of this case and how it touched so many lives - but we're not interested. The story here is Paula, the killer - who she was, how she became that person, and how her life was tragically shaped by her actions. But apparently the author was just too overwhelmed by information, and too determined to assert her own views, to just write a good book that would have allowed readers to come to their own conclusions. (  ) Eliz12 | Dec 24, 2023 | geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
"A thought-provoking, masterfully told work of literary journalism about a shocking crime committed by a teenager-and its even more shocking aftermath In 1985 in Gary, Indiana, a black teenaged girl kills an elderly white woman in a robbery gone wrong. The shock and awe of the case captivates the state, whose citizens cry out for vengeance. Soon after, Paula Cooper, the fifteen-year-old killer, is sentenced to death. Indiana's minimum age for the death penalty is, at that time, ten years old. In Seventy Times Seven, Alex Mar tells the unforgettable story of this single act of violence and its stunning aftermath. The image of a teenaged girl on death row will reverberate miles from Gary and link a varied cast of characters: a female public defender from the northeast, two enterprising Italian journalists, a Franciscan friar with the ear of the Pope, and, in an unlikely twist, the grandson of the victim, who dedicates himself to saving Paula's life. As a girl waits on death row, her fate sparks a debate that not only animates legal circles but also raises universal questions about the value of human life: What is the purpose of criminal justice, especially its harshest penalties? Is forgiveness an act of desperation or of profound bravery? What extreme degrees of empathy might humans be capable of, if given the chance? Seventy Times Seven opens with a murder and a death sentence, but it is above all about the will to live-to survive, to grow, to change-against the steepest odds. Tirelessly researched and told with intimacy and precision, it brings a haunting chapter in the history of our criminal justice system to astonishing life"-- Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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 Google Books — Bezig met laden...GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)362.88Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Social problems of & services to groups of people Problems of and services to other groups People affected by criminal actsLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde: (2.83)
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The author tries to build compassion for all the people involved- Paula, Ruth, and her grandson, Bill, who ultimately forgave Paula and established a long correspondence with her.
The life of Paula Cooper is a sad example of how the system failed a family. Why she was kept with her abusive and suicidal mother is unexplained and unforgiveable. Her time in prison was filled with anger and violence. She never really healed from her abuse, and never forgave herself for what she did.
Bill became obsessed with abolishing the death penalty. The author spends a lot of time on this aspect- the "journeys", the protests, and how this affected Bill's life. She also offers many statistics on the death penalty and the ensuing legal proceedings. So in my opinion the Paula Cooper case is just a platform for Mar to offer reasons to abolish the death penalty, which is fine, but I would rather learn more about the system that let Paula and her sister down. That needs fixing, and perhaps would prevent other instances of teenage rage and violence. (