Customer Reviews

Eight Bullets: One Woman's Story of Surviving Anti-Gay Violence

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was a heart wrenching read. I could identify and feel for the characters. This is one find that all lesbians should have on their shelves, and that all people alike should read. The only complaint I have is that at times it seems like the main character is a little emotionless in her writing. Other than that, I would highly recommend this book.

Being from PA and no stranger to the AT I found this book intriguing. The reader is drawn in and bears witness to a senseless crime and it's aftermath. Ms. Brenner's description of the day of the incedent,from camping to shooting to escape is heartstopping. I guess my only disappointment in this book was my desparate need to know why Carr shot at Brenner and Wight in the first place. His defense tried to use the excuse that the sight of 2 lesbians being intimate was enough to insight violence. Especially if you were sexually abused as a child. I just couldn't make the connection with that excuse. We are never really privy to the truth. Though I suppose neither were Brenner and Wight.

I've wanted to read this book since I heard about it on WXPN 88.5 radio in Philadelphia back about 15 years ago. I finally bought it before Christmas 2009 and just picked it up to read this weekend. It was an amazing read - I could NOT put it down. It just confirmed for me that if you are gay/lesbian that you are NEVER alone outside of your own 4 walls! We are never truly "safe" anywhere we go. Things may have changed a teeny tiny bit since then but really not near enough. Stephen Roy Carr's name will forever be engrained in my brain. What was it that made him think that since he never found love that he should take someone else's? I think the book was wonderfully written and it's something every person should read.

This is a good book. I was outraged to read of such prejudice against lesbians. To stalk and murder a woman because she's gay goes way beyond hatred. It's freightening to think that anyone can be this vulnerable to such violence, or that any human can be given to such hatred.

When I read Bill Bryson's " A Walk in The Woods" he mentioned " Eight Bullets". I've never given much thought to Anti-gay violence. I've never given much thought to the people who survive such hate attacks. If you can read this book without thinking about it to your very soul, you are incapable of thinking. If you can read this book without crying you are incapable of feeling.

I read this book several years ago for the very first time. Since then I've browsed through it over the years to remember how lucky I am that I was able to read it and live an activist life full of efforts to iradicate this type of violence. It was a quick read in some ways, because I didn't want to put it down; but then in some ways, it took a while to get through because I HAD to put it down. It shook me to tears. It's an emotionally charged piece of writing that is so descriptive, that I lost all concept of space and time once I started reading. I am currently a teacher at the 12th grade level and have included Brenner's story on my course syllabus in an effort to outrage and organize a new generation of peace-mongers. I hope that Claudia's story will touch them as deeply as it's touched me.

Eight Bullets is a must read for anyone outraged by senseless acts of violence, or for anyone interested in equal justice, equal rights for gay/lesbian people. This is a moving story of loss and survival, the struggle to regain a healthy life free from fear and prejudice. A quest for justice.

American society has the rather unfortunate tendency to shun hate crimes legislation on the grounds that it would restrict an individual's right to freedom of expression and trivialize the First Amendment. Both assertions are clearly absurd, but the nasty allegations continue. In the greatest of ironies, the "pro-family" "pro-life" relgious right will oppose this legislation because it supposedly interferes with their political activities.

I challenge anybody to read this book and then still believe the lies and distortions popularized by the right wing.Hate crimes are meant to stigmatize both the indiviuals affected and the larger marginalized group of which they are members of. Supporters of hate crimes laws are not well-heeled elitists, they are (quite litterally) the most vunerable members of society who fear for their lives.

Brenner describes how she and her lover were enjoying a wonderful day in the mountains when the later was gunned down by a homophobic peeping tom. Although she survived and the physical injuries eventually healed, I could tell that it was still very emotionally hard for her. I applaud her for comming forward and retelling her story in the hopes that future generations of Americans will never have to personally experience the same fate.

Not supprisingly, Brenner became an anti-violence activist following this incident and has appeared before Congress urging passage of federal hate crimes measures. While her story did not recceive as much publicity as the later murder of Wyoming's Matthew Shepard, she helped personalize the face of hate crime victims.

Although it was her lover who was gunned down, Brenner realized that the day after that it could be somebody else's and the ugly pattern would continue until people of all sexualities started demanding an end to anti-gay violence and taught respect for different groups.

This book will grab your interest right from the prologue as in Claudia's own words she recounts the camping trip and the horror that followed. Claudia's vernacular "chosen family" etc. will ring a bell with those in the community. I felt as if I was listening to a friend speak of a terrible tragedy.
Claudia's wild trek out of the woods after the shooting, her vivid descriptions of it all made me ache..for her and Rebecca. Even though I knew the outcome I was still hoping that somehow it would be different......
I didnt' feel that Claudia was emotionless at all in the telling The very fact that she could speak of it, could put down in words that unbelievable tragedy speaks of her own courage and strength.
I found the book easy to read and the small breaks of the third person are actually a welcome respite from the terror.You can breathe a bit more before Claudia comes back to tell her story.
This is a page turner, real people that you come to care for and pray for and hope for a different ending.
I have never been camping and after reading this......I never will be!
Thank you Claudia for the strength to tell your story! Rebecca lives on!

This book was a gripping tale. It should remind us of what hate does when it is acted upon & lately it seems that people are hating others for just about anything. This could have happened anywhere in the US to any person for any reason...We need to stop the violence NOW.