I read The Last Suppers by Mandy Mikulencak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have spent quite a bit of time in Huntsville, TX, home of executions in Texas. They moved the executions outside the city, but there is a heaviness that hangs in the air on execution day to me. Other people don’t seem to notice. I am not making a political stance. The whole situation is desperately sad. The types of turns your life must take to end up on death row are unimaginable to me. I am grieved for those left in the wake of it on every side.
When I saw this book at the DCA airport, I stared at it for a moment. It’s a novel about a woman who fought for the last suppers of death row inmates. The book is full of plot twists and thoughtful looks into the lives of the inmates and families surrounding them. The story is set in the 1950’s and shows the dark side of racism and the clan.
There is some alluded to sex and murder, but it isn’t overly descriptive. It tells a story I feel could be real. It not only shows you what is likely happening behind the scenes. The gift it gives is the ability to see past the label to the humanity of each person.
I was sitting in my mom’s house watching the news and reading this book. On the news was a story about an execution that day. The man executed was someone I knew growing up. It was a sobering twist to my reading.
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