Join a book club that is reading Notes on an Execution: A Novel!
Notes on an Execution: A Novel
In the tradition of Long Bright River and The Mars Room, a gripping and atmospheric work of literary suspense that deconstructs the story of a serial killer on death row, told primarily through the eyes of the women in his life—from the bestselling author of Girl in Snow.
BUY THE BOOK
These clubs recently read this book...
Community Reviews
I never thought that I could possibly see through a serial killer’s perspective, but this book allowed you to see how one’s path could change many outcomes in one’s life.
“We have billions of potential lives, thousands of alternate universes, running like streams beneath our current reality. If morality is determined by our choices, then we must also consider those other universes, in which we’ve made different ones.”
The different angles of this story provoke thought and outrage. The sadness and anger of the families of Ansel's victims. The disbelief and denial of Ansel's niece. The disappointment of Saffy at Ansel's lack of intelligence; her obsessive pursuit of him an anti-climax in her career. All easy to empathize and understand.
But the POV of Ansel, the serial killer scheduled to die in a matter of hours, is written in second person. An unusual approach, I was jarred by it at first. The "You" felt accusatory. It was hard not to think that it was me counting down the hours, minutes and seconds to my own death. Ansel's memories were my memories. His justifications, pleas, and regrets were mine. It was very unsettling to teeter on the edge of feeling sorry for a man abandoned by his birth mother, separated from his brother, wanting to be loved by a good woman, and struggling between good and evil. But at the end of the day, this man is a murderer.
“No one is all bad. No one is all good. We live as equals in the murky gray between.”
This book is fertile ground for discussion and debate.
“No one seems to care. No one seems to understand how intent can change things. Of all the facts that brought you here, this one feels most important: that night came from your very core. You did not plan it or fantasize it. You only moved on the force of what you knew yourself to be. It should matter, the distance between your desire and your actions.”
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.