Show, don’t tell, is one of the rules of great writing. Don’t tell your audience that the plush blanket is soft, show them how the million little plush fibers kiss your skin as you pull the blanket close and warm around you. This is how I felt Brian Stevenson handled the telling of his professional life in his book, “Just Mercy.” I’m sure you’ve noticed that there is a lot of tension in our country right now. Things always heat up when a presidential election is less than 2 months away! Add to that that this year we are also dealing with the coronavirus, and heated race relations and it seems like gasoline is being dumped on every fire that usually lies simmering within this country. During the course of discussions being had over the current events in our country, someone recommended a book called, ”Just Mercy,” to me, and I checked it out from the library.
Wow. I’m not sure what exactly I expected; but this book surpassed my expectations. I think I expected a book that was either so agenda driven that there wasn’t much of a plot line, or one that went into so many statistics that I wouldn’t barely be able to focus, but that’s not at all what this book was. Instead this was a book with a compelling plot line spun throughout its pages that showed the flaws in our justice system, and that got its point across in a fair, example driven manner.
Bryan Stevenson, the author, has spent his life as an attorney representing the underprivileged wrongly convicted of high level crimes. At the beginning of his career he focused just on cases of individuals who he believed were wrongly sentenced to death row. There are truly frightening examples given in this book of how the facts have been manipulated against certain individuals, and how many have paid the ultimate price for someone else’s agenda.
I found this book very eye opening, the issues of our justice system are not ones that I have done very much research on, and while I plan to do more learning on this topic, I thought this book was a good intro. However, a lot of the examples given in this book are from the 1980s and 1990s. A lot has changed in our country since then. Some things have not. If you are looking to get a perfect snapshot of what the justice system looks like today then I’m not sure this book will give you the best picture. If, though, you are looking to see where we have been as a country, how far we have come, and where we still have to go, then I think you will really appreciate this book. Regardless of your motive for picking up this book you will find it well worth your time.
I do want to warn you that while this book is very well written with a compelling true story line woven through it, it deals with very heavy topics. There are disturbing and very sad stories, all true, that you will read in this book. Be forewarned that this is not a light and fun book to read, although there is hope and optimism woven in as well. Prepare yourself- and dive in!
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