Helpful Score: 3
I came into this book already being aware of the case and the background of Damien Echols. I would really like to read his first book Almost Home but I am not going to spend $80.00 for it. Anyway, this book really made me think even more about what he went through and how he was treated. I can understand when he writes about people who let so called power go to their heads. I can and do believe that there are hateful people working in the prison system just to get their daily dose of belittling and hurting people to make themselves feel superior. I do not think I have read a book that reached me as this book did. I would come home from work at night and have a few hours to read this and then I could not sleep just thinking about what I had just read. The words would linger with me the next day and days after I read this. I will never forget the line that reads, "When life eats you, it always starts with your heart." This was so true to me. Because with every hurt, every disappointment in life it does take from your heart. No, I have not lived through what Damien has endured, but I can understand somewhat on a very minuscule scale as we have all been hurt in some way. If I were to live through what he did, I would no longer have a heart, it would all have turned to hate.
For anyone who has followed the WM3, you must read this book. Even if you have no idea who the WM3 are, find out and then read the book. I did not know much about Damien before he went to trial. Or what happened to him after he left the court room, but I got an inside look from this book. He wrote what he meant. Even if he uses the words magick over and over, its his life and his book; he should write it the way he wants. He really had a way of making me feel what he was feeling. Reading this book, I was happy, sad, mad, disappointed, and just dazed. I actually wish at times it was more in depth and at other times I thought it was just perfect the way it was. I got the feeling that not only was Damien naïve at the beginning of this but he also learned to hate those that abused him and that he must still live in fear of people because of that treatment. I think a weaker person who had not lived such a hard life as his would have never made it through.
For anyone who has followed the WM3, you must read this book. Even if you have no idea who the WM3 are, find out and then read the book. I did not know much about Damien before he went to trial. Or what happened to him after he left the court room, but I got an inside look from this book. He wrote what he meant. Even if he uses the words magick over and over, its his life and his book; he should write it the way he wants. He really had a way of making me feel what he was feeling. Reading this book, I was happy, sad, mad, disappointed, and just dazed. I actually wish at times it was more in depth and at other times I thought it was just perfect the way it was. I got the feeling that not only was Damien naïve at the beginning of this but he also learned to hate those that abused him and that he must still live in fear of people because of that treatment. I think a weaker person who had not lived such a hard life as his would have never made it through.
