The Enchanted, Rene Denfeld, HarperCollins, 2014, 233 pp
One of the best books I have read this year. No matter what your views on capital punishment and the death penalty, it will make you rethink everything. Even if you come through with the same views, you may find yourself examining those views more deeply than you ever have before.
The novel is told partly from the POV of a male prisoner on death row in an old rundown prison somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. He is considered the worst criminal there even by the other prisoners. You learn his life history.
On the other side of the story is "the Lady." She works for a group of lawyers who try to get the death penalty changed to life imprisonment or to get retrials for inmates who are possibly wrongly convicted. By means of close third person, you get to know this woman and how she came to be doing such work.
A fallen priest, assigned to be prison chaplain to atone for his misdeeds, and prison employees both honest and corrupt round out the main characters.
What comes to light are the dangerous and foul conditions of prison life, the virtual impossibility of any rehabilitation taking place, and the ways prisoners cope. Most disturbing for me were the tales about how some of the prisoners were actually made into psychopaths by the miserable circumstances of their lives starting in childhood. The Lady had just as miserable a life but managed to keep some semblance of sanity as well as a huge amount of empathy. The ending is somewhat happy but I worried about that the whole time I was reading.
Rene Denfeld is herself a death penalty investigator with an almost terrifying imagination. This is her first novel. Our reading group had one of our best discussions ever.
(The Enchanted is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)
Sounds like plenty of meat for discussion there. It would have been interesting to sit in with your reading group on that day.
ReplyDeleteOh I would have loved to have you there!
DeleteWow, grim topic, but Dorothy is right, very meaty. If you are interested in this topic further, I suggest you watch the movie The Life of David Gale available in Netflix. Shocking watch but food for thought, and amazingly acted as well by Kevin Spacey in the lead role, Kate Winslet, and Laura Linney.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carmen for the movie suggestion. Kevin Spacey is on of my favorite actors.
DeleteOh great, I'm glad it made for a good discussion book. Your review made me go back and read my review of it at http://www.thecuecard.com/movies/enchanted-unbroken/ . It's a book that bares both magic and violence. hmm. terrifying is right. I still recall the prisoner with the sheet over his head
ReplyDeleteI just read your review. We responded to many of the same things. Yeah, the prisoner with the sheet over his head. The book stays with you, maybe even haunts you.
DeleteOh My! This sounds like it will be super suspenseful. I can't wait to read it, in the near future.
ReplyDeleteOnce I saw a great movie with Kate Winslet and Kevin Spacey about death sentence... can't remember the title, I'm certain you will enjoy it.
Is it the Life of David Gale?
ReplyDelete