Book: The Sun Does Shine

 Book: The Sun Does Shine

Author: Anthony Ray Hinton

Pages: 368

This is my 74th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama.  Stunned, confused, and only 29 years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free.  But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution.  He spent his first 3 years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence - full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death.  But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row.  For the next 27 years he was a beacon - transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, 54 of whom were exected mere feet from his cell.  With the help of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015.  This is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times.  Destined to be a classic memoir of wrongful imprisonmetn and freedom won, Hinton's memoir tells his dramatic 30 year journey and shows how you can take away a man's freedom, but you can't take away his imagination, humor, or joy.

This was a good book.  It is terrible what happened to him and as anyone who is wrongfully charges - unimaginable what it was like for him and continues to be like for him even after his release almost a decade ago.  His lawyer - Bryan Stevenson - wrote Just Mercy - a fantastic book about his work with ciminals wrongfully accused.  He works to get Anthony off Death Row for over 15 years, which is incredible dedication.  The story of trying to get him out of jail was aggrevating on how long things took.  What I didn't like about the book is how much time was spent on minute details and not more on the overall feeling of what it was like to be on death row for 30 years.  Large gaps of time would pass without us getting much of an idea of what was going on in those gaps.  Overall - a solid read, and it will leave your seething about the justice system.

Stars: 4