Prejean, Sister Helen - Dead Man Walking

[Ryan Scott]

This is a memoir of sorts, tracing the struggle of one New Orleans nun to engage the subject of capital punishment in her community. A movie was made, based on the book, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn - this led me to be a bit skeptical about the larger moral value of the book. I was wrong.

Prejean recounts everything, from her internal emotional struggle serving as spiritual adviser to a very guilty death row inmate - and watching him killed. To the moral and spiritual journey that led her into relationships (both rewarding and difficult) with victim's families and ultimately to starting both an abolition movement and a victims advocacy group.

I found it to be a powerful glimpse into her faith and work and well worth reading - it covers a lot of the politics and in-depth minutia of capital punishment with a solid Christian foundation.

[Jon Twitchell]

Ryan,

Can you expand a bit on this sentence: " A movie was made, based on the book, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn - this led me to be a bit skeptical about the larger moral value of the book." ?

Is your commentary of skepticism about the content of the movie? Or the choice of actors in the movie? Or just the very existence of a movie?

[Ryan Scott]

The fact that they made a movie of it led me to believe it was more biography/memoir than it is. She tells her story, but also includes a lot of debate about the death penalty and other in-depth discussion.