Helpful Score: 2
I read this book several years ago. I found it to be interesting. I learned several facts from the book, one being the meaning and origin of atonement. Very interesting. It now sets on my "keeper shelf".
Helpful Score: 2
Really liked this book. Has lots and lots of info in here. All true. Mikal lived a scary and ahrd life and his mother--well i could never really figure her out. Most of the time i was wondering through out the read--"what in the heck is the matter with these people that violence runs rampet in there home? Man don't they get tired of violence??" I see now why things happened the way they did. This is a sad and interesting read. Lots of pictures.
Helpful Score: 2
This is the most depressing book I have ever read. I know that there are families like this one. I know that this is a true book and I know that these were all living people. Even knowing this I have difficulty believing they multiplied, raised children and moved around in the world just like ordinary people when they were little better than animals. Actually, animals make better parents than these people. They make a great case for automatic sterility. It is a miracle that only one of them became a murderer.
The mother is the most selfish human I have heard about and the father is no better. The sons grew up confused and never had a chance at any other kind of life. They had to learn treachery and meanness in order to survive at all in that kind of family life
The son who wrote the book is the only one who had anything close to a normal childhood and that was due mostly to neglect. The fact that he could gather the facts and put them together into a coherent book amazes me. I will never be able to put it out of my mind and wish that it had been fiction. But no one could ever make up a story like this.
The mother is the most selfish human I have heard about and the father is no better. The sons grew up confused and never had a chance at any other kind of life. They had to learn treachery and meanness in order to survive at all in that kind of family life
The son who wrote the book is the only one who had anything close to a normal childhood and that was due mostly to neglect. The fact that he could gather the facts and put them together into a coherent book amazes me. I will never be able to put it out of my mind and wish that it had been fiction. But no one could ever make up a story like this.
Well written, good story, I recommend
I could not get into this book. It is very historical and gives the background for the Gilmore case... maybe reading it before "The Executioner's Song" is better than reading it after?
an amazing true story about the author's brother's execution.
Once upon a time, there was a family named Gilmore. This family had four children: Frank, Jr.; Gaylen; Gary; and Mikal, the youngest. Gary became famous in 1977 when he challenged the federal and state capital punishment machinery and forced them to carry out the death sentence imposed upon him for the murders of two young Mormon men in Utah. The Gilmore family was not a fairy-tale family: rather, it defined the word
"disfunctional". The father, Frank, Sr., beat the mother, Bessie, in front of the children on more than one occasion. He beat the boys, too, reserving the worst of the white-hot heat of his inner anger for Gary. Gary's violent acts, and the fate he suffered, prove once more that it is the children who often pay for the sins of the parents. In Shot In The Heart, Gary's brother, Mikal, a well-known writer for Rolling Stone magazine, breaks the silence and tells the story of the family's violent, abnormal history. A rivoting book that will keep you thinking about it for months after.
"disfunctional". The father, Frank, Sr., beat the mother, Bessie, in front of the children on more than one occasion. He beat the boys, too, reserving the worst of the white-hot heat of his inner anger for Gary. Gary's violent acts, and the fate he suffered, prove once more that it is the children who often pay for the sins of the parents. In Shot In The Heart, Gary's brother, Mikal, a well-known writer for Rolling Stone magazine, breaks the silence and tells the story of the family's violent, abnormal history. A rivoting book that will keep you thinking about it for months after.
This Book was made into an HBO film...This book is nonfiction which I love.A story about a disfunchinal family of the 1950's...A story of rage,violent outrages on a family who kept secerets...becouse they had to out of fear
This book was fantastic - no holds-barred truth from a family member. Very emotional - my heart went out to this whole family on so many levels. An intimate and revealing look into a tragedy all the way around.
Mikal Gilmore takes you into his haunted family history. Mikal Gilmore is the brother of Gary Gilmore. Gary Gilmore killed two Mormons and was executed in Utah by a firing squad in 1977.
Well written, compelling book.
Well written, compelling book.
