The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir
"The Fact of a Body is one of the best books I've read this year. It's just astounding."
-- Paula Hawkins, author of Into the Water and The Girl on the Train
"This book is a marvel. The Fact of a Body is equal parts gripping and haunting and will leave you questioning whether any one story can hold the full truth." -- Celeste Ng, author of the New York Times bestselling Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere
Before Alex Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, they think their position is clear. The child of two lawyers, they are staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley's face flashes on the screen as they review old tapes--the moment they hear him speak of his crimes -- they are overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by their reaction, they dig deeper and deeper into the case. Despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.
Crime, even the darkest and most unsayable acts, can happen to any one of us. As Alex pores over the facts of the murder, they find themself thrust into the complicated narrative of Ricky's childhood. And by examining the details of Ricky's case, they are forced to face their own story, to unearth long-buried family secrets, and reckon with a past that colors their view of Ricky's crime.
But another surprise awaits: They weren't the only one who saw their life in Ricky's.
An intellectual and emotional thriller that is also a different kind of murder mystery, THE FACT OF A BODY is a book not only about how the story of one crime was constructed -- but about how we grapple with our own personal histories. Along the way it tackles questions about the nature of forgiveness, and if a single narrative can ever really contain something as definitive as the truth. This groundbreaking, heart-stopping work, ten years in the making, shows how the law is more personal than we would like to believe -- and the truth more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.
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Community Reviews
As I got started listening yesterday afternoon, I was much more excited about learning about the case the author had researched than anything having to do with her as a person. That changed somewhere along the way. I can't even tell you exactly when, but I became more involved in her story than in Ricky's. Not that the case and families involved weren't interesting. They were and my heart went out to many of the people involved. But it was Marzano-Lesnevich's life - and the sorts of events we had in common - that ended up hitting me in the gut.
The author slowly and carefully unravels her own past expertly. I didn't even realize what was happening until I became irritated by moving from her story back to the case. I caught myself a few times wondering when the switch happened and I could never figure it out. She completely exposes herself to the reader and I couldn't look away. This has been one of those reading experiences where I feel like I've made a friend of sorts with a character except this character is a real human, not a fictional one. I can't remember the last time I had a burning desire to reach out to an author to let them know just how touched I was by reading, or in this case listening to, their words.
I'm pretty sure I won't actually contact the author so I'll say here, thank you. Thank you for sharing so much of yourself and your family.
But how then can we call that truth? To determine a beginning and call that The Story which then becomes the truth?
Alexandria blew my mind with her compassion and inner conflict. This is a raw and sometimes difficult read emotionally so I can't begin to understand how it must have been for the author to live this.
There are two stories here, the author's and Ricky Langley's. The way the two stories are woven together is deft and delicate.
This left me rethinking everything from the death penalty to forgiveness.
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