Customer Reviews

Almost Home: My Life Story Vol 1

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First off, let me preface by saying I'm exactly the same age as Damien Echols and I remember being 18 and watching his trial on TV. I was a "goth chick" in Canada at the time and I had incredibly ambivalent feelings about it. On the one hand, I figured the cops must know what they're doing and, therefore, have the correct suspects. But on the other hand, he (and the other 2) just didn't seem like Satanic killers - and this scared me. I was used to be persecuted all the time in my own little world, so when the documentaries Paradise Lost 1 & 2 came out, I jumped on the "Free the WM3" Bandwagon hard! After reading Devil's Knot, I was completely addicted to this case.

Having said that, this book was not as satisfying to me as the Paradise Lost docs and Devil's Knot. There are a number of reasons why this book bugged me.

1) It was too short and not detailed enough, particularly about his childhood. Now, I know it's difficult to remember every insignificant detail that happens, but I would have liked some more depth to the description of his relationships - especially with his mother. I just felt like he focused a great deal on his poverty and how much he hated Jack, and there was little else substance.

2) The prose was extremely imitative. I got a good chuck of a way through the book with this nagging feeling that I have read this "voice" before and it was not until I got about until the point where he moved into the tin roof hut that I realized this was the style that Stephen King used in his memoir "On Writing." I know Damien Echols is a big fan of Stephen King and all, but I just couldn't help feel that right before writing this memoir he read "On Writing" and tried his best to emulate it. It came across as contrived and empty.

3) His vicious contempt for overweight people. I am not overweight myself, so his comments didn't offend me PERSONALLY. But it didn't take a Doctor of psychology to see that he is harboring some deep narcissistic issues, specifically against fat people. There must have been dozen metaphors about overweight people and implying that their obesity indicates a major personality flaw. It became really awkward to read all his shallow insecurities like that and I began feeling really embarrassed for him as a writer. The other metaphor that got old the first time he used it was to describe the "gay porn 70's moustaches" that all Arkansas cops seemed to have at the time. He just came across as incredibly arogant and self-important. A little humility would have been much more endearing.

4) The way he described his wife. I don't want to go into too many details to "spoil" things for those who have not read it. And I understand he has been locked up in prison without much contact with women for a long time. But there were a couple things that he said about his wife that came across as shallow and immature... and, well, horny. And I understand that a great deal of his development is stuck at age 18. You can only mature so much by reading books in isolation, so I don't completely fault him for this last point.

Overall, it was an OK book. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but I am still a die hard supporter of the WM3. I still believe Damien Echols is innocent, despite the fact that I now realize he is an arrogant narcissist. I relate to him less than I did as a goth girl back in the 90's, but I'm OK with that. I don't think the Pulitzer people will be banging down his prison door to talk to him about this book, but it's still an interesting read for those who are followers of this case.

Amazingly intimate and personal reflections of Damien Echols, an innocent man currently enduring a deathrow prison sentence (Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelley were also convicted and got life sentences). While the West Memphis case has been under a magnifying glass -- two HBO documentaries, two books written about the case and the clearinghouse for all legal information, the wm3.org website -- not much is known about who he was before the murders that resulted in his unjust conviction. And he does not disappoint. The bulk of the book concerns his growing up poor mostly in the repressed south. Fascinating and a must read for anyone who has taken an interest in the West Memphis Three case.

The case of the West Memphis Three is an important example of how the poor suffer in our "justice" system. It is horrible when any innocent person is convicted; it is particularly so when the innocent is set to be executed by the state -- the same state that provided him with ineffective and inexperienced counsel, and put him (several times) into the courtroom of a corrupt judge.

The tragedy is furthered when that innocent man on death row is an intelligent and moral person like Damien Echols. He is beyond brave and his courage to stay positive and sane for over a decade in barbaric circumstances is evidence of his character.

This fascinating book is a valued insight into a deep and thoughtful man, someone I have come to admire greatly over the years.

This was written from death row...and it allows you to come on in and meet Damien personally. We know where he is and with this you can find out from where he comes.
I've been following this story from the start..my kids were small in fact. I had family members that couldn't believe my stance on this.
These three are innocent of the crime they have been accused of..period. Since my stance has not changed and my children are now grown, my family thinks I may have a point.
I'm an 80's child and we all wore hideous clothes back then and it scares me to think just what can happen to someone based on appearance and lack of monetary funds to fight with.
The state of Arkansas and the powers that be need to retrial. It's ok to make a mistake..but for God's sake correct it! Good read! Get it.

"Almost Home" comes to the reader from a place they never want to go: a small cell on death row. The author, Damien Echols, proclaims his innocence and recounts his life prior to and through his wrongful conviction. Echols' writing flows beautifully, twisting like a river, carrying the reader along.

I found "Almost Home" to be incredibly beautiful and terribly sad. I truly believe in the innocence of this young man, and I am saddened by how much of his life has been taken away. Even if you are not a follower of Echols' legal battle, the glimpse he provides into his life is moving and amazing. I highly recommend this book.

I have been following this case from the beginning and bought this book as soon as it came out. This is my second purchase. I lent my other one out and it was never returned to me :( It is so interesting to see Damien's point of view in this case and also VERY interesting to read about his life. I am hoping he comes out with another book. I was hoping he would have came out with it already but there is alot going on with the case right now. Just hope he gets to write his next book as A FREE MAN!!!!!

I just received this book today and could not put it down. Despite having read and watched everything I could find about the West Memphis Three case, to some extent Damien Echols remained an enigma. This book makes it personal. Damien shares his story with honesty, intelligence, and wit. Although this tragedy has been and continues to be devastating to all involved, Damien perseveres with hope and grace. With all the hard work of so many determined supporters, I hope his next book will be about the release and vindication of Damion, Jason and Jessie

I have been following the West Memphis Three case for some time now and this book is a great addition to the information that has been presented. We have the chance to hear things in an honest, heartfelt manner from Damien Echols himself. He tells his life story from his painful childhood, the conviction and his life in prison now. Damien is an excellent writer with a great sense of humour. I laughed out loud many times while reading this book. You will feel the full range of emotions from heartache and longing while Damien speaks of his childhood and his conviction to love and hope when speaking about his wife, Lorri, and the split second he sees Jason Baldwin for the first time in over a decade. Anyone who is greatly involved in the support of the West Memphis Three should read this book.

In this book Damien Echols lets us into his life growing up, but I would have liked to have read more of a behind-the-scenes of the "Paradise Lost" documentaries. That was a very crucial time in his life and history, but when he gets to that part of his life, he refers the reader to the documentaries, rather than going into detail of his own personal experience.

After reading the book, I still have not made up my mind as to his guilt or innocence. Damien, Jason, and Jessie were convicted on very little and the prosecuting attourneys did there best to make the three out to be in a satanic cult (this feels like Salem witch trials-part two). They do deserve a new trial and hard physical evidence to be convicted(and for Damien)sent to death row.

There are a few discrepancies between what is in the book and what was shown in the movies, but that could be due to a lapse of time from the actual happenings.

Although I am leaning more towards Damien being innocent, I still can't shake the feeling that he knows more than he leads on to.

As a teen, I also read Crowley and fiction writers such as Stephen King and Anne Rice, but thankfully I grew up in Los Angeles, so I was seen more as the norm and a teen searching for truth rather than a follower of evil.

As some reviews point out, his writing is sophomoric, I'd like to state that Damien Echols does not claim to be a writer. He only wanted to write down his memoirs, and give insight to those who have been following the case.

I do feel, though, that his memoirs have been candy-coated into looking like he was a relatively good kid growing up, and kept to himself being that he was reared in a poor family with disturbingly absent parents. If his recolections are true, then I have done numerously more worse things in my youth than this "accused" killer.

I enjoyed reading the book, but could have done without his many pages on his Buddhist studies and ceremonies. It seemed to be self-indulgent and over-the-top for the average reader interested in the case.

I believe Damien Echols sticks primarily to the truth, but I also believe that he has left out quite a bit of pertinant information. I wish that he would have dug deeper into his life during his trial, and gave us more of the harsh truth.

If you are interested in the case, this is a must read. If there is a volume 2 to follow, I hope that Margaret Cho is not involved with it. After reading her forward, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth because she claims Damien to be god-like, rather than a normal teen filled with angst at growing up in a poor depressing invironment. Damien needs to be seen as a normal human being, and not as a religious leader (as Margaret Cho so elequently tries to make him out to be).

First want to start off by saying this book has very little information on the actual case in it. It's more about his life before and after the case. If you want to know more about the case, I'd recommend the two HBO documentaries, Paradise Lost 1&2. There are also 2 other books out, one is called Devil's Knot and I just recently started reading it. It's alot more in depth with the investigation and court case.

As for Almost Home, I found it a very interesting read. Gave you a inside look into what his life was like gowing up. And the way he wrote it, almost as if two good buddies sitting down talking about the past. Was very easy to read.

I'm the same age as Damien and even listened to the same music growing up, from a pretty small town. I found it extremely disturbing how cops in a small town can discriminate against you for the clothes you wear or the music you listen to, when it's different from what the rest of the town wears or listens to. Take the WM3 court case out of it and that's enough to make you think they were on a witch hunt for satanic or ocult activity long before the 3 murders.