What do you think?
Rate this book
The Mercy Seat
As the sun begins to set over Louisiana one October day in 1943, a young black man faces the final hours of his life: at midnight, eighteen-year-old Willie Jones will be executed by electric chair for raping a white girl - a crime some believe he did not commit.
In a tale taut with tension, events unfold hour by hour from the perspectives of nine people involved. They include Willie himself, who knows what really happened, and his father, desperately trying to reach the town jail to see his son one last time; the prosecuting lawyer, haunted by being forced to seek the death penalty against his convictions, and his wife, who believes Willie to be innocent; the priest who has become a friend to Willie; and a mother whose only son is fighting in the Pacific, bent on befriending her black neighbours in defiance of her husband.
In this exceptionally powerful novel, Elizabeth Winthrop explores matters of justice, racism and the death penalty in a fresh, subtle and profoundly affecting way. Her kaleidoscopic narrative allows us to inhabit the lives of her characters and see them for what they are - complex individuals, making fateful choices we might not condone, but can understand.
In a tale taut with tension, events unfold hour by hour from the perspectives of nine people involved. They include Willie himself, who knows what really happened, and his father, desperately trying to reach the town jail to see his son one last time; the prosecuting lawyer, haunted by being forced to seek the death penalty against his convictions, and his wife, who believes Willie to be innocent; the priest who has become a friend to Willie; and a mother whose only son is fighting in the Pacific, bent on befriending her black neighbours in defiance of her husband.
In this exceptionally powerful novel, Elizabeth Winthrop explores matters of justice, racism and the death penalty in a fresh, subtle and profoundly affecting way. Her kaleidoscopic narrative allows us to inhabit the lives of her characters and see them for what they are - complex individuals, making fateful choices we might not condone, but can understand.
Paperback
First published May 8, 2018
133 people are currently reading
3143 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 368 reviews
July 1, 2020
An emotional, powerful and extremely well written novel that really packs a punch. A book I certainly will remember a year from now.
This was recommended to me some time ago and I finally sourced a copy to read. A host of strong memorable voices and a masterful plot that gives the reader a glimpse of the racism and hate of the 1940s. The story is inspired by real events.
The Mercy Seat tells the story of the hours before the midnight execution in Louisiana of a very young man, Willie Jones, for rape. Told from the point of view of nine characters, spread over very short and effective chapters. Each chapter is headed with the character’s name and this works really well in the telling of the story. What was really interesting in the telling of this story is that seven of characters are white and two are African Americans, the prisoner and his father. The tensions and atmosphere is superbly done and I was so tense while reading this novel and emotionally drained on finishing.
The novel was only 258 pages long and the author manages to create a moving and thought provoking story in so few pages. Characters came to life and I had a clear vision of each of them and their voices in my heard very early on in the novel. Not a word or sentence is wasted here.
Fight the tough fight, Here’s your chance to make a difference. Quote from The Mercy seat.
This is my first novel by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop and it has certainly left me wanting more.
I think this would also make a terrific bookclub discussion book.
This was recommended to me some time ago and I finally sourced a copy to read. A host of strong memorable voices and a masterful plot that gives the reader a glimpse of the racism and hate of the 1940s. The story is inspired by real events.
The Mercy Seat tells the story of the hours before the midnight execution in Louisiana of a very young man, Willie Jones, for rape. Told from the point of view of nine characters, spread over very short and effective chapters. Each chapter is headed with the character’s name and this works really well in the telling of the story. What was really interesting in the telling of this story is that seven of characters are white and two are African Americans, the prisoner and his father. The tensions and atmosphere is superbly done and I was so tense while reading this novel and emotionally drained on finishing.
The novel was only 258 pages long and the author manages to create a moving and thought provoking story in so few pages. Characters came to life and I had a clear vision of each of them and their voices in my heard very early on in the novel. Not a word or sentence is wasted here.
Fight the tough fight, Here’s your chance to make a difference. Quote from The Mercy seat.
This is my first novel by Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop and it has certainly left me wanting more.
I think this would also make a terrific bookclub discussion book.
May 19, 2018
5 stars to emotive and lyrically-written, The Mercy Seat! 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟
Thanks to my friend, Cheri, for this recommendation. As you can see, I adored it!
It is 1943 in New Iberia, Louisiana, and Willie Jones is eighteen-years-old and sitting in prison cell on the eve of his execution by electric chair.
Told through sometimes short vignettes, we hear multiple perspectives in third person carefully pieced together. The DA who prosecuted Willie, Willie’s father who is lugging a gravestone on a highway via an old mule (imagine, oh how my heart hurt), a married couple, Ora and Dale, who have secrets of their own; all of these viewpoints round out this story and add so much depth.
This book was the starkest contradiction of beauty and brutality, pure of heart and total heartbreak. Elizabeth Winthrop’s gift for prose is beyond memorable, not only to my ear as I felt I was hearing these characters speak to me as I read, but also to my heart, as the words were etched firmly there.
I recommend this one without hesitation to my friends who enjoy eloquent writing and deeply moving, important stories. The Mercy Seat is a standout.
Thank you to Elizabeth Winthrop, Grove Press, and Netgalley. The Mercy Seat is available now!
My reviews can also be found on my shiny new blog www.jennifertarheelreader.com
Thanks to my friend, Cheri, for this recommendation. As you can see, I adored it!
It is 1943 in New Iberia, Louisiana, and Willie Jones is eighteen-years-old and sitting in prison cell on the eve of his execution by electric chair.
Told through sometimes short vignettes, we hear multiple perspectives in third person carefully pieced together. The DA who prosecuted Willie, Willie’s father who is lugging a gravestone on a highway via an old mule (imagine, oh how my heart hurt), a married couple, Ora and Dale, who have secrets of their own; all of these viewpoints round out this story and add so much depth.
This book was the starkest contradiction of beauty and brutality, pure of heart and total heartbreak. Elizabeth Winthrop’s gift for prose is beyond memorable, not only to my ear as I felt I was hearing these characters speak to me as I read, but also to my heart, as the words were etched firmly there.
I recommend this one without hesitation to my friends who enjoy eloquent writing and deeply moving, important stories. The Mercy Seat is a standout.
Thank you to Elizabeth Winthrop, Grove Press, and Netgalley. The Mercy Seat is available now!
My reviews can also be found on my shiny new blog www.jennifertarheelreader.com
March 18, 2018
“The Mercy Seat” is why I read historical fiction - to gain insight into a different time and place. But for it to be a book I recommend to others it also has to have an absorbing plot, excellent writing, and in-depth character development. And this book contains all these elements within a thought-provoking story inspired by real events. As young Willie Jones awaits execution the reader is exposed to the injustices black men in the South suffered during the Jim Crow era. The story is told through the voices of numerous local residents which provides a multifaceted portrait of how a diverse group of people are affected by the impending execution. I’m still haunted by “The Mercy Seat” and Elizabeth Winthrop’s powerful writing and will be recommending this book, particularly to book groups.
May 22, 2018
Inspired by true events, this is the story of Willie, an eighteen years old black male, who sits in jail awaiting his punishment. It is 1943 in Louisiana, and whites have all the power, and there are some who will do anything to make sure his sentence of death is given and carried out. He is charged and convicted of raping a white girl, his sentence death by electric chair. But the real question is, was it actually rape?
Nine people close to Willie, the sentence or the execution will share their stories, and through these stories we piece together the real truth, and the sequence of events. We hear from Willie himself, his regrets, his fears as he approaches the day of his mandated death. The prose is clear and precise, the story emotionally enough as shared. There were three that resonated for me the most. The preacher who suffers from a crisis of faith, his helplessness at being unable to prevent Willie's death. Ora, a mother of a son who is fighting in the war, but who is kind to two young black boys. Unknown through most of the novel, her own life will change, but not before she is called on to provide and integral service. It is Willie's father though and the tenderness in which his story is told that really effected me. His determination to provide for his son the only way he is able, his last quest, that I found heartbreaking.
The ending takes an unexpected detour in an unusual way, but it was very fitting and unusual. Another good book about the abuse of power and society's cruelness in the face of prejudice and racial bias.
ARC from Netgalley.
Nine people close to Willie, the sentence or the execution will share their stories, and through these stories we piece together the real truth, and the sequence of events. We hear from Willie himself, his regrets, his fears as he approaches the day of his mandated death. The prose is clear and precise, the story emotionally enough as shared. There were three that resonated for me the most. The preacher who suffers from a crisis of faith, his helplessness at being unable to prevent Willie's death. Ora, a mother of a son who is fighting in the war, but who is kind to two young black boys. Unknown through most of the novel, her own life will change, but not before she is called on to provide and integral service. It is Willie's father though and the tenderness in which his story is told that really effected me. His determination to provide for his son the only way he is able, his last quest, that I found heartbreaking.
The ending takes an unexpected detour in an unusual way, but it was very fitting and unusual. Another good book about the abuse of power and society's cruelness in the face of prejudice and racial bias.
ARC from Netgalley.
April 30, 2018
”Into the mercy seat I climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And, anyway, I never lied
“And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this weighing of the truth
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And, anyway, I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.”
-- The Mercy Seat, Songwriters: Nicholas Edward Cave / Mick Harvey
The year is 1943, as a bright red 1941 International Harvester drives through Louisiana with a chair the likes of which the driver’s never before set eyes on inside the trailer of this truck. Lane, a prison trusty, knows what it is, and where he’s headed, on this dusty, hot road.
This story unfolds slowly, as slowly as these heat-filled, dusty days seem to last, but there is a scheduled execution to be held, soon. An eighteen-year old young man, Willie Jones, is scheduled to die for the act of raping a young white woman. Found by the girl’s father, despite protests that they were in love, the act consensual, Willie Jones is arrested, tried, found guilty, and has been sentenced. He sits in his jail cell waiting for the scheduled date of his execution.
As Willie waits, so do the various characters that make up this town, and whose thoughts we are privy to as time passes. The prosecuting attorney, Polly, dwells on his role in this case, remains unsure of Jones’s guilt. Polly’s wife, Nell, Father Hannigan, the town priest, whose thoughts also dwell on the imminent enactment of this death sentence. Willie’s father, Frank, whose heart is set on delivering a headstone to the burial site, so that his son’s final resting place is recognized. And there is Ora, who just recognizes everything that is intrinsically wrong with this system of “justice,” but is also, at the same time, consumed with worry over their son who is fighting overseas, while Ora’s husband struggles to reveal the secret he carries with him.
”She turns on the fan and sits on the bed in the semidarkness, the only source of illumination the dim light from the hallways. She puts her head into her hands, listening to the fan’s hum as she stares at her bare feet against the blue-and-white crochet of the rug. There is a stain by her big toe: coffee, from a breakfast in bed years and years ago when the bedroom was still theirs. At the memory, her heart gives an unexpected lurch. Her boys, she thinks, her boys. She lies down and curls onto her side, her head on Tobe’s pillow. She breathes in deeply, as she always does, and notices, with a pang, that his smell is fading.”
As Willie sits in his cell in the jail in New Iberia, he closes his eyes and sees his mother in the kitchen, bringing dinner to the table where his father waits, the dog patiently wandering in the yard. The edge of the bayou, a willow tree with branches gently bending over the water. He pictures the fire in the hearth of another time, the dog curled up beside his father’s feet.
”He sees his life with every bite. He swallows his memories whole.”
Race, racism, justice and injustice, seen, experienced, endured, during the Jim Crow era South, we follow how this event affects this town, and these people. The stories shared by these individuals give us a more intimate look at the changes that ensue in both these people and this town, and the sorrow and the stories that remain.
There is a lingering sense of tenderness to this story that is filled with compassion, despite the brutality of the topic or the central story, a reverence for life shared with us through Elizabeth Winthrop’s lovely prose. Although this takes place in an era that is in the past, discrimination and intolerance still remain, making this a haunting and timely read.
Pub Date: 08 May 2018
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Grove Atlantic
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And, anyway, I never lied
“And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this weighing of the truth
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And, anyway, I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.”
-- The Mercy Seat, Songwriters: Nicholas Edward Cave / Mick Harvey
The year is 1943, as a bright red 1941 International Harvester drives through Louisiana with a chair the likes of which the driver’s never before set eyes on inside the trailer of this truck. Lane, a prison trusty, knows what it is, and where he’s headed, on this dusty, hot road.
This story unfolds slowly, as slowly as these heat-filled, dusty days seem to last, but there is a scheduled execution to be held, soon. An eighteen-year old young man, Willie Jones, is scheduled to die for the act of raping a young white woman. Found by the girl’s father, despite protests that they were in love, the act consensual, Willie Jones is arrested, tried, found guilty, and has been sentenced. He sits in his jail cell waiting for the scheduled date of his execution.
As Willie waits, so do the various characters that make up this town, and whose thoughts we are privy to as time passes. The prosecuting attorney, Polly, dwells on his role in this case, remains unsure of Jones’s guilt. Polly’s wife, Nell, Father Hannigan, the town priest, whose thoughts also dwell on the imminent enactment of this death sentence. Willie’s father, Frank, whose heart is set on delivering a headstone to the burial site, so that his son’s final resting place is recognized. And there is Ora, who just recognizes everything that is intrinsically wrong with this system of “justice,” but is also, at the same time, consumed with worry over their son who is fighting overseas, while Ora’s husband struggles to reveal the secret he carries with him.
”She turns on the fan and sits on the bed in the semidarkness, the only source of illumination the dim light from the hallways. She puts her head into her hands, listening to the fan’s hum as she stares at her bare feet against the blue-and-white crochet of the rug. There is a stain by her big toe: coffee, from a breakfast in bed years and years ago when the bedroom was still theirs. At the memory, her heart gives an unexpected lurch. Her boys, she thinks, her boys. She lies down and curls onto her side, her head on Tobe’s pillow. She breathes in deeply, as she always does, and notices, with a pang, that his smell is fading.”
As Willie sits in his cell in the jail in New Iberia, he closes his eyes and sees his mother in the kitchen, bringing dinner to the table where his father waits, the dog patiently wandering in the yard. The edge of the bayou, a willow tree with branches gently bending over the water. He pictures the fire in the hearth of another time, the dog curled up beside his father’s feet.
”He sees his life with every bite. He swallows his memories whole.”
Race, racism, justice and injustice, seen, experienced, endured, during the Jim Crow era South, we follow how this event affects this town, and these people. The stories shared by these individuals give us a more intimate look at the changes that ensue in both these people and this town, and the sorrow and the stories that remain.
There is a lingering sense of tenderness to this story that is filled with compassion, despite the brutality of the topic or the central story, a reverence for life shared with us through Elizabeth Winthrop’s lovely prose. Although this takes place in an era that is in the past, discrimination and intolerance still remain, making this a haunting and timely read.
Pub Date: 08 May 2018
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Grove Atlantic
June 11, 2021
The beautiful writing! The moving story! The unbearable whiteness of the novel's voices, however, don't lead to celebration.
There are many third-person cinematic, or subjective, points of view. That gives us a kaleidoscope view of a day in the life of a bog-standard racist Louisiana burg in the waning days of Jim Crow. The entire story, the trial for rape of a Black young man, his conviction and sentencing to death, and remand into local custody the night before his judicial murder, takes place before we join the proceedings.
I read the story with great reluctance after a bookish-social-media friend damn near blew her brains out warbling its virtues. I can honestly say, Kickass Katie, you've never steered me less wrong than with this wonderful, tight, dense tale of a day in the life of a dead man and those who killed him. The factual inspirations for the work, detailed in the Afterword, are so grim as to make me want to bury myself in something soft so as to absorb the blows the mere idea of them give my already-battered psyche.
But in fiction's no-less-brutal embrace, the violation doesn't stop: As I read this book, I was bashed and struck and shoved into realizing this is a similar, though not identical, set-up to the also nonfictonally inspired 1981 novella Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez. I'll assume that most people who read my blog are familiar with, at the least, the story of the incredibly wonderfully named Santiago (patron saint of Spain, country eternally "reconquering" itself from the Muslims) Nasar (as in Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt)'s murder at the hands of his ex-girlfriend and lover, Angela Vicario's, twin brothers. Both are stories of sex "crimes" that are, in fact, the crimes of women who love too freely for the comfort of the men around them. Who exactly asked them, I don't know; but they certainly receive a lot of cultural support for their rage and hate of the men who "defiled" the women in question. Who were, let us note, both in love with the defilers....
Well, such was and is the lot of Woman in a world defined by and run by and for men. It revolts and disgusts me. It twists every act into something pointed and edged with noxious bigotry and unforgiving judgment. It demands lies to sustain itself, and the lies are to self and others in equally toxic and ruinous measure. Willie remembers his time with Grace as love; Grace, whose death was ruled a suicide, isn't there to tell us what she felt and no one, evidently, thought to ask. It is Grace's father who brings this nightmare into being. He, like the Vicario twins in García Márquez's story, decides that his daughter's sexual indiscretion must be punished, and raises the hue and cry against the "perpetrator" Willie. She must've been raped! No good white woman would open her legs to a Black man voluntarily!
Hogwash.
And Grace, poor lamb, pays the ultimate price for her "crime" as she dies of a gunshot wound to the head. We're given no information about that, it is announced as a fait accompli, and no investigation or even questioning of it occurs. I question it. I suspect Grace's father, faced with a daughter who would defile herself by offering her body to a Black man (yes, yes, the N-Word is used throughout the book, but I am not so constituted as to be able to use it myself), couldn't live with her and couldn't allow her to live. He is the epitome of the man I loathe and despise the most: The zealot. He resorts to the foulest, most evil-souled means to enforce his will for the world onto all others. Never mind what they think, feel, want. He Knows Best and you, scum, exist to obey him.
So here is Willie, doomed by the State to die. We spend some time with Willie on this, his last day of life. But he's not a memorable character. He's a kid, a boy in love for the first time (never stated but feels so implicit that I assume it's true), and barely aware of life before and after his flare-up of primal passion. Memories come to him, simple things like frost and a brother's love; but in the end, they are nothing compared to the fact that Grace, the reason he existed so hard if so briefly, is dead. He ponders what a normal boy does:
Try as he might, this guff makes no headway against the rushing river of regret that Grace is dead, Grace is dead, he killed her, Grace is dead. And so he, the victim of appalling and malevolent men's rage, does nothing to fight the horror of his impending judicial murder:
Willie is not the first man to be killed by his regrets.
And the state whose judgment will kill him at midnight, served by the local District Attorney? What does the state have to say for itself? Nothing, really; the DA's participation in the judicial murder of a boy whose only crime was falling in love was not easy or uncomplicated.
He and his Massachusetts Yankee wife were set at odds by this execution's run-up, and on this day, they both are doing their best to be fully present with each other. They are not succeeding:
Each in their own way made a hell of this moment by living it again and again and each has left the other behind in search of meaning outside their pair bond. A wife and mother, a woman, thinks of her son as the center of her existence; her son's father demanded this boy be murdered by the state. The husband and father can't force himself to contemplate the reason he did this thing that so troubles himself and his wife. And they each remain unaware of the other's cause of turmoil, assigning it to things that make sense to them but, in all honesty, wouldn't to the other.
The ending is so wrenching, so extreme, so deeply fitting, that I can't bear to take away your unmediated reaction to it. Suffice to say that it, too, is based on fact. The parts invented to make the story work as fiction are pitch-perfect enhancements of the facts.
There are other stories told here, not at all lower in emotional resonance than the main one; but they are, of necessity, less urgent: A wife's long-brewing loathing of a once-loved husband; a man's reckoning with the universality of fatherhood; a father's wretchedness and loss and dignity; a religious man's struggles against demons his god has no way to defeat but whose reality is tragically evident; a gormless man-boy without his own place in the world whose effort to carve one has dire consequences. All weave a beautiful basket to carry the main story in; others could easily see them as the main story in and of themselves. I won't say they're wrong. I will say that, in light of the polyphonic choices made by the author, the many stories are well-chosen and work together to make a syncretic whole.
There has to be a bruise, or it's not an apple: What the hell is the DA's dying mother doing here? Nothing at all. She's used as somewhat mawkish window-dressing for a sentimental moment or two. The story's momentum and depth would not change were she to be cut entirely.
At long last, I'll get to the point: Go get this book, and I swear it won't be wasted time to read it.
There are many third-person cinematic, or subjective, points of view. That gives us a kaleidoscope view of a day in the life of a bog-standard racist Louisiana burg in the waning days of Jim Crow. The entire story, the trial for rape of a Black young man, his conviction and sentencing to death, and remand into local custody the night before his judicial murder, takes place before we join the proceedings.
I read the story with great reluctance after a bookish-social-media friend damn near blew her brains out warbling its virtues. I can honestly say, Kickass Katie, you've never steered me less wrong than with this wonderful, tight, dense tale of a day in the life of a dead man and those who killed him. The factual inspirations for the work, detailed in the Afterword, are so grim as to make me want to bury myself in something soft so as to absorb the blows the mere idea of them give my already-battered psyche.
But in fiction's no-less-brutal embrace, the violation doesn't stop: As I read this book, I was bashed and struck and shoved into realizing this is a similar, though not identical, set-up to the also nonfictonally inspired 1981 novella Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez. I'll assume that most people who read my blog are familiar with, at the least, the story of the incredibly wonderfully named Santiago (patron saint of Spain, country eternally "reconquering" itself from the Muslims) Nasar (as in Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt)'s murder at the hands of his ex-girlfriend and lover, Angela Vicario's, twin brothers. Both are stories of sex "crimes" that are, in fact, the crimes of women who love too freely for the comfort of the men around them. Who exactly asked them, I don't know; but they certainly receive a lot of cultural support for their rage and hate of the men who "defiled" the women in question. Who were, let us note, both in love with the defilers....
Well, such was and is the lot of Woman in a world defined by and run by and for men. It revolts and disgusts me. It twists every act into something pointed and edged with noxious bigotry and unforgiving judgment. It demands lies to sustain itself, and the lies are to self and others in equally toxic and ruinous measure. Willie remembers his time with Grace as love; Grace, whose death was ruled a suicide, isn't there to tell us what she felt and no one, evidently, thought to ask. It is Grace's father who brings this nightmare into being. He, like the Vicario twins in García Márquez's story, decides that his daughter's sexual indiscretion must be punished, and raises the hue and cry against the "perpetrator" Willie. She must've been raped! No good white woman would open her legs to a Black man voluntarily!
Hogwash.
And Grace, poor lamb, pays the ultimate price for her "crime" as she dies of a gunshot wound to the head. We're given no information about that, it is announced as a fait accompli, and no investigation or even questioning of it occurs. I question it. I suspect Grace's father, faced with a daughter who would defile herself by offering her body to a Black man (yes, yes, the N-Word is used throughout the book, but I am not so constituted as to be able to use it myself), couldn't live with her and couldn't allow her to live. He is the epitome of the man I loathe and despise the most: The zealot. He resorts to the foulest, most evil-souled means to enforce his will for the world onto all others. Never mind what they think, feel, want. He Knows Best and you, scum, exist to obey him.
So here is Willie, doomed by the State to die. We spend some time with Willie on this, his last day of life. But he's not a memorable character. He's a kid, a boy in love for the first time (never stated but feels so implicit that I assume it's true), and barely aware of life before and after his flare-up of primal passion. Memories come to him, simple things like frost and a brother's love; but in the end, they are nothing compared to the fact that Grace, the reason he existed so hard if so briefly, is dead. He ponders what a normal boy does:
...the stuff in the Bible he doesn’t believe, though he’s tried—he’s read the Bible, he’s prayed, he’s gone through all the Christian motions, hoping to believe. Wanting to believe. He figures it would make this whole thing easier if he did, but he can find no comfort in religion, in the book his mother lives by.
–and–
...{Willie} stays where he is, watching his white breath curl away and slowly mingle with the world’s cold air, watching himself breathe for the first time.
Try as he might, this guff makes no headway against the rushing river of regret that Grace is dead, Grace is dead, he killed her, Grace is dead. And so he, the victim of appalling and malevolent men's rage, does nothing to fight the horror of his impending judicial murder:
And when these visions come, it is all Willie can do not to beat his head against the concrete walls of his cell, his soul aching with regret; he ran away. He’d have never let it happen if he’d stayed.
Willie is not the first man to be killed by his regrets.
And the state whose judgment will kill him at midnight, served by the local District Attorney? What does the state have to say for itself? Nothing, really; the DA's participation in the judicial murder of a boy whose only crime was falling in love was not easy or uncomplicated.
If he’s read it once, he’s read it a thousand times, the warrant he chased after, sentencing Willie Jones to a current of electricity of sufficient intensity to cause death, and the application and continuance of such current through the body of the said Willie Jones until said Willie Jones is dead.
He and his Massachusetts Yankee wife were set at odds by this execution's run-up, and on this day, they both are doing their best to be fully present with each other. They are not succeeding:
...he wonders which is worse, to be lynched or to be shocked to death in an electric chair. There was a time when he was sure there was difference, but now that he’s had a hand in it, he wonders if it really matters in the end what kind of justice it is—mob or legal—when the end result is death.
–and–
“I suppose I care for many things, but what I live for is my boy.” (spoken by the wife)
Each in their own way made a hell of this moment by living it again and again and each has left the other behind in search of meaning outside their pair bond. A wife and mother, a woman, thinks of her son as the center of her existence; her son's father demanded this boy be murdered by the state. The husband and father can't force himself to contemplate the reason he did this thing that so troubles himself and his wife. And they each remain unaware of the other's cause of turmoil, assigning it to things that make sense to them but, in all honesty, wouldn't to the other.
The ending is so wrenching, so extreme, so deeply fitting, that I can't bear to take away your unmediated reaction to it. Suffice to say that it, too, is based on fact. The parts invented to make the story work as fiction are pitch-perfect enhancements of the facts.
There are other stories told here, not at all lower in emotional resonance than the main one; but they are, of necessity, less urgent: A wife's long-brewing loathing of a once-loved husband; a man's reckoning with the universality of fatherhood; a father's wretchedness and loss and dignity; a religious man's struggles against demons his god has no way to defeat but whose reality is tragically evident; a gormless man-boy without his own place in the world whose effort to carve one has dire consequences. All weave a beautiful basket to carry the main story in; others could easily see them as the main story in and of themselves. I won't say they're wrong. I will say that, in light of the polyphonic choices made by the author, the many stories are well-chosen and work together to make a syncretic whole.
There has to be a bruise, or it's not an apple: What the hell is the DA's dying mother doing here? Nothing at all. She's used as somewhat mawkish window-dressing for a sentimental moment or two. The story's momentum and depth would not change were she to be cut entirely.
At long last, I'll get to the point: Go get this book, and I swear it won't be wasted time to read it.
May 21, 2018
High 4 stars
The Mercy Seat is one of those short powerful novels. Set in the 1940s in Louisiana, it takes place over the course of one day. But what a day. It is the day on which a young black man, Will, is scheduled to be electrocuted for a rape he did not commit. The story is told from several seemingly disparate points of view, including Will, his father, his prosecutor, the prison Minister, and one of the men driving the electric chair to the location of the planned execution. All characters have different perspectives on the execution, but all of their emotions are running high. Winthrop's prose is simple, but the emotions she conveys are very sharp. It's the kind of book you read in one or two sitting, feeling tense and alert, and with a clenched jaw. Very much worth reading. I would definitely read another book by Winthrop. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
The Mercy Seat is one of those short powerful novels. Set in the 1940s in Louisiana, it takes place over the course of one day. But what a day. It is the day on which a young black man, Will, is scheduled to be electrocuted for a rape he did not commit. The story is told from several seemingly disparate points of view, including Will, his father, his prosecutor, the prison Minister, and one of the men driving the electric chair to the location of the planned execution. All characters have different perspectives on the execution, but all of their emotions are running high. Winthrop's prose is simple, but the emotions she conveys are very sharp. It's the kind of book you read in one or two sitting, feeling tense and alert, and with a clenched jaw. Very much worth reading. I would definitely read another book by Winthrop. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
February 25, 2019
4***
"You answer me this-what white man would ever be put to death for rape?
This was an emotively driven novel, set in a small Louisiana town during WW2 a young black man awaits his end- at midnight he will be executed for raping a white girl. This novel looks at a host of voices and perspectives leading up to the execution. Some of the community believe he is innocent, others are surged with racism and anger and want nothing but to see him "fry".
The novel alternates between different voices of those in the community, especially those affected by the case in some way. These alternating voices allow for past secrets and hidden thoughts to be expressed and the reader learns something about each character. Each perspective would only last a few pages until a new perspective takes place, the quick alternating of characters perspectives lead to a truly unputdownable novel.
This novel explored themes of love, compassion, racism and injustice. The book also left some open-ended questions so that the reader is left to their own imagination as to what happens to certain characters.
"You answer me this-what white man would ever be put to death for rape?
This was an emotively driven novel, set in a small Louisiana town during WW2 a young black man awaits his end- at midnight he will be executed for raping a white girl. This novel looks at a host of voices and perspectives leading up to the execution. Some of the community believe he is innocent, others are surged with racism and anger and want nothing but to see him "fry".
The novel alternates between different voices of those in the community, especially those affected by the case in some way. These alternating voices allow for past secrets and hidden thoughts to be expressed and the reader learns something about each character. Each perspective would only last a few pages until a new perspective takes place, the quick alternating of characters perspectives lead to a truly unputdownable novel.
This novel explored themes of love, compassion, racism and injustice. The book also left some open-ended questions so that the reader is left to their own imagination as to what happens to certain characters.
March 3, 2018
mercy seat n.
1. (Bible) Old Testament the gold platform covering the Ark of the Covenant and regarded as the throne of God where he accepted sacrifices and gave commandments (Exodus 25:17, 22)
2. (Ecclesiastical Terms) Christianity the throne of God
Collins English Dictionary
One day. One sweltering, sweat-soaked day in 1943 Louisiana. In 1943, Americans had been battling enemies across the sea for two years. But by 1943, Americans had been battling enemies within their own souls for many more.
One long, miserable Louisiana day, Will Jones, a young black man - a boy really - is scheduled to be electrocuted at midnight for the crime of raping a white woman. The reality of the situation, if his accusers had known it, would have burned even more strongly in their guts, because it was a crime of audacity. Audacity that a young black man and a young white woman could ever be in love and that they dared to share that love with each other. Love of that nature wasn’t welcome in the stifling atmosphere of 1943 Louisiana.
This exquisitely written book is about love and cruelty, sons and mothers and fathers. It’s about what is planted within us by others and by life, and how we either nurture or destroy those seeds of kindness or loathing. It’s about what we do, how we choose to act, who we are, and how we endure it all. It’s about heartbreak.
The story, written in the third person and seen through the eyes of multiple characters in rotating chapters, advances through the afternoon and evening of Will’s day of execution. The inhabitants of the story are all tied together in some way through unfolding events, some loosely and some tightly woven. Yet all of them are tangled within themselves, threatening to come undone.
This was a painful novel to read, and one of the best I’ve ever read. The story is so perfectly written; the words are put together so well that I felt everything. Everything. There are very few books that have overwhelmed me with such intense feelings as this one. There is so much hurt here that it was almost unbearable to read at times, yet I couldn’t put it down. I will read everything this author ever writes.
With much gratitude to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Grove Press for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Also hand-over-heart thanks to the author, Elizabeth H. Winthrop for her beautiful story. If I could rate this one a thousand stars, I would.
1. (Bible) Old Testament the gold platform covering the Ark of the Covenant and regarded as the throne of God where he accepted sacrifices and gave commandments (Exodus 25:17, 22)
2. (Ecclesiastical Terms) Christianity the throne of God
Collins English Dictionary
One day. One sweltering, sweat-soaked day in 1943 Louisiana. In 1943, Americans had been battling enemies across the sea for two years. But by 1943, Americans had been battling enemies within their own souls for many more.
One long, miserable Louisiana day, Will Jones, a young black man - a boy really - is scheduled to be electrocuted at midnight for the crime of raping a white woman. The reality of the situation, if his accusers had known it, would have burned even more strongly in their guts, because it was a crime of audacity. Audacity that a young black man and a young white woman could ever be in love and that they dared to share that love with each other. Love of that nature wasn’t welcome in the stifling atmosphere of 1943 Louisiana.
This exquisitely written book is about love and cruelty, sons and mothers and fathers. It’s about what is planted within us by others and by life, and how we either nurture or destroy those seeds of kindness or loathing. It’s about what we do, how we choose to act, who we are, and how we endure it all. It’s about heartbreak.
The story, written in the third person and seen through the eyes of multiple characters in rotating chapters, advances through the afternoon and evening of Will’s day of execution. The inhabitants of the story are all tied together in some way through unfolding events, some loosely and some tightly woven. Yet all of them are tangled within themselves, threatening to come undone.
This was a painful novel to read, and one of the best I’ve ever read. The story is so perfectly written; the words are put together so well that I felt everything. Everything. There are very few books that have overwhelmed me with such intense feelings as this one. There is so much hurt here that it was almost unbearable to read at times, yet I couldn’t put it down. I will read everything this author ever writes.
With much gratitude to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Grove Press for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Also hand-over-heart thanks to the author, Elizabeth H. Winthrop for her beautiful story. If I could rate this one a thousand stars, I would.
November 18, 2023
Taking it's name from a Nick Cave song (Johnny Cash covered it magnificently) and loosely based on the true stories of Willie McGee (accussed of raping a white woman and executed in Mississippi) and Willie Francis (accused of killing a white man, whose initial execution failed), The Mercy Seat is a powerful exploration of death by electrocution. Set in Louisiana during WW2, Willie Jones is accused of raping a white girl and is sentanced to death in an electric chair. Willlie's true crime was falling in love with a white girl, who took her own life when her father discovered their relationship. The story is told by 9 characters and the multiple voices give it pace and drama. It's a stunning and brave piece of writing about a difficult subject, and as the story develops it's a real page turner.
March 1, 2021
"Tai, kad elektros kėdė atrodo kaip kėdė, Leinui kelia nerimą."
Puiki, atmosferiška, lipni. Per smulkmenas, kaleidoskopiškai, įsukanti į svetimus gyvenimus taip, kad iš pradžių sunku susigaudyti, bet tai ir atima žadą: mes čia be pasiruošimo, be įspėjimo, lyg įžengus į svetimus namus, kur visi kažkodėl priima kaip savą.
Atmosfera, karštis, pyktis, neteisybė - viskas labai susišaukė su "Žaliąja mylia", gal net "Nežudyk strazdo giesmininko". Akimirką galvojau, kad bus pojūčiai kaip per "Paskutines apeigas", bet čia visai skirtingos operos, tik kad skausmas toks pat. Ir viskas be patoso, lengva ranka, vietomis gal čiuuut per daug užsižaidžiant kaleidoskopo sukinėjimu, bet geras smūgis į paširdžius.
Puiki, atmosferiška, lipni. Per smulkmenas, kaleidoskopiškai, įsukanti į svetimus gyvenimus taip, kad iš pradžių sunku susigaudyti, bet tai ir atima žadą: mes čia be pasiruošimo, be įspėjimo, lyg įžengus į svetimus namus, kur visi kažkodėl priima kaip savą.
Atmosfera, karštis, pyktis, neteisybė - viskas labai susišaukė su "Žaliąja mylia", gal net "Nežudyk strazdo giesmininko". Akimirką galvojau, kad bus pojūčiai kaip per "Paskutines apeigas", bet čia visai skirtingos operos, tik kad skausmas toks pat. Ir viskas be patoso, lengva ranka, vietomis gal čiuuut per daug užsižaidžiant kaleidoskopo sukinėjimu, bet geras smūgis į paširdžius.
January 25, 2023
The story centers around the execution of a young black man named Will in the South in the days of Jim Crow. He is scheduled to be electrocuted at midnight and Winthrop tells us the story of that day through the eyes of nearly a dozen supporting characters: the men delivering the chair, the couple who owns the gas station on the way there, the DA, his wife, his son, the father of the accused, the Father who will give last rites. . . and, of course, Will. I was enthralled by this story as it played out. Human beings can be ruthless and they can show great compassion. We see the entire spectrum of human interactions in this relatively short novel and we feel them intensely. This would make an excellent book group selection. Highly recommended!
Thank you to Grove Press and Edelweiss for a digital ARC of this heartbreaking novel.
Thank you to Grove Press and Edelweiss for a digital ARC of this heartbreaking novel.
July 5, 2018
5 stars to this gut-wrenching book. If you are a fan of Southern fiction, this one is a winner. I didn't realize until the Acknowledgements at the end that the story is based on two real-life cases. This is my first book by Elizabeth Winthrop, but I'm going to seek out her other books because this one was outstanding.
Filled with lyrical writing, this book made me feel like I was in the dripping heat of WWII Louisiana. The book builds toward the execution of a black man for raping a white woman. There are many different narrators, the parents of the condemned man, the DA who prosecuted the case, the local priest, the family who runs the gas station, the sheriff and his "trustee" inmate who are bringing the execution chair to carry out the sentence. Some of the heartbreaking scenes happen with the son of the DA and the "good-ole boys" in town who would really like to carry out their own justice.
The optimist in me would like to think that we've come a long way in this country and that things like this don't happen anymore.
Filled with lyrical writing, this book made me feel like I was in the dripping heat of WWII Louisiana. The book builds toward the execution of a black man for raping a white woman. There are many different narrators, the parents of the condemned man, the DA who prosecuted the case, the local priest, the family who runs the gas station, the sheriff and his "trustee" inmate who are bringing the execution chair to carry out the sentence. Some of the heartbreaking scenes happen with the son of the DA and the "good-ole boys" in town who would really like to carry out their own justice.
The optimist in me would like to think that we've come a long way in this country and that things like this don't happen anymore.
August 25, 2018
The Mercy Seat is inspired by true events and explores matters of ignorance, racism, and compassion to name a few. Set over the course of a day, this novel consists of multiple viewpoints in very short chapters. At first, this format is confusing, slow paced, and off putting but soon turns into a suspenseful page turner. As the novel moves forward, you see how each person’s viewpoint is linked and tie the plot together. Also, Winthrop does an excellent job of bringing the Louisiana setting to life and capturing the 40s south well. Wanted a bit more from the ending but overall I’m satisfied with it. 4★stars!
August 8, 2019
Rasizmo tematika tiek knygose, tiek filmuose - mano viena mėgstamiausių. Todėl "Paskutinė malonė" buvo laukiamiausia šių metų knyga. Anotacija išduoda, jog istorija paremta tikrais faktais. Jaunas juodaodis vaikinas nuteistas myriop už nusikaltimą, kurio nepadarė. Miestelio žmonės susiskirsto į dvi stovyklas: užjausti ar bausti? Pasigailėti ar pasmerkti? Ir tai yra lygiai tiek, kiek Jums reikia žinoti apie knygos siužetą. Nes nieko daugiau įdomaus joje nėra.
Nors knygos tema labai jautri, bet joje pritrūko visko. Ypač pačio nusikaltimo aprašymo, to įvykio, kuris privedė pagrindinį veikėją iki kalėjimo kajutės. Sakysit toks buvo autorės sumanymas? Gerai, bet jeigu jau tu nusprendi neatskleisti nusikaltimo, nepateikti nuteistojo versijos ir nori žaisti tik psichologijos korta, tai turi būti labai stipru. Taip stipru, jog sugebėtum paveikti skaitytoją, priverstum jį šluostytis ašaras, atvertum širdį ir išimtum visus empatijos likučius. Viso to nebuvo. Istorija nei paveiki nei realistiška.
Taip pat labai blankūs veikėjai, neišvystyti personažų charakteriai. Tokie blankūs, jog neatsimenu nei vieno iš jų ir net nepasakyčiau dabar pagrindinio veikėjo vardo. Nors kitą dieną aš visos knygos jau neprisiminiau.
Iš tokių knygų aš tikiuosi vieno - jausmo. Šį kartą buvo vienintelis jausmas - greičiau baigti skaityti. Mano laukiamiausia knyga tapo prasčiausia metų knyga. Buvo galima "išspausti" žymiai daugiau.
Galiu pagirti tik knygos viršelį bei pavadinimą, kuris taikliai atspindi knygos pabaigą. Būtų galima ilgai ir nuobodžiai diskutuoti, ar tai, kas nutiko tikrai yra (ne)malonė.
Jeigu Jūs norite knygos, kurioje būtų labai stipriai aprašyta mirtininko psichologija, tai geriau skaitykite H. Kent "Paskutinės apeigos". Jeigu norisi knygos apie įvykdytą nusikaltimą su rasizmo prieskoniu, tuomet imkite H. Lee "Nežudyk strazdo giesmininko". Man ši knyga yra šių dviejų mišinys. Tik labai prastas mišinys.
Nors knygos tema labai jautri, bet joje pritrūko visko. Ypač pačio nusikaltimo aprašymo, to įvykio, kuris privedė pagrindinį veikėją iki kalėjimo kajutės. Sakysit toks buvo autorės sumanymas? Gerai, bet jeigu jau tu nusprendi neatskleisti nusikaltimo, nepateikti nuteistojo versijos ir nori žaisti tik psichologijos korta, tai turi būti labai stipru. Taip stipru, jog sugebėtum paveikti skaitytoją, priverstum jį šluostytis ašaras, atvertum širdį ir išimtum visus empatijos likučius. Viso to nebuvo. Istorija nei paveiki nei realistiška.
Taip pat labai blankūs veikėjai, neišvystyti personažų charakteriai. Tokie blankūs, jog neatsimenu nei vieno iš jų ir net nepasakyčiau dabar pagrindinio veikėjo vardo. Nors kitą dieną aš visos knygos jau neprisiminiau.
Iš tokių knygų aš tikiuosi vieno - jausmo. Šį kartą buvo vienintelis jausmas - greičiau baigti skaityti. Mano laukiamiausia knyga tapo prasčiausia metų knyga. Buvo galima "išspausti" žymiai daugiau.
Galiu pagirti tik knygos viršelį bei pavadinimą, kuris taikliai atspindi knygos pabaigą. Būtų galima ilgai ir nuobodžiai diskutuoti, ar tai, kas nutiko tikrai yra (ne)malonė.
Jeigu Jūs norite knygos, kurioje būtų labai stipriai aprašyta mirtininko psichologija, tai geriau skaitykite H. Kent "Paskutinės apeigos". Jeigu norisi knygos apie įvykdytą nusikaltimą su rasizmo prieskoniu, tuomet imkite H. Lee "Nežudyk strazdo giesmininko". Man ši knyga yra šių dviejų mišinys. Tik labai prastas mišinys.
June 23, 2018
I read this book in a day, go me.
This is a story told from different people, what they have in common is that they are all being pulled to a moment in time. When a Black man who is only 19 will be placed in a chair and excuted for his crime.
Some are heart broken for this moment, the Father who, leaving everything to the last moment, has the grave stone for his son, will he make it. There will be trouble for him along the road, you are hopeing for him to get there on time.
Then their are those, who put the right pressure on the right people to make sure, this boy dies, their anger and hatred, you can feel seeping through the pages. Will they be satisfied with the result, someone this night will pay, they will make sure of that.
Then their are the women, one will find the courage, to do something when help is needed.
First and Last is the chair, Gruesome Gertie, and the two men traveling the road to get to the court house on time, we get to know them quite well.
This story starts of quiet, giving you a false sence of security, then as the moment gets closer my heart started to pound harder, I didn't want to be draged along, I didn't want to be part of the crowed, that has come to watch, my heart was breaking for this boy and all that went on during slavery and beyond.
This is a story told from different people, what they have in common is that they are all being pulled to a moment in time. When a Black man who is only 19 will be placed in a chair and excuted for his crime.
Some are heart broken for this moment, the Father who, leaving everything to the last moment, has the grave stone for his son, will he make it. There will be trouble for him along the road, you are hopeing for him to get there on time.
Then their are those, who put the right pressure on the right people to make sure, this boy dies, their anger and hatred, you can feel seeping through the pages. Will they be satisfied with the result, someone this night will pay, they will make sure of that.
Then their are the women, one will find the courage, to do something when help is needed.
First and Last is the chair, Gruesome Gertie, and the two men traveling the road to get to the court house on time, we get to know them quite well.
This story starts of quiet, giving you a false sence of security, then as the moment gets closer my heart started to pound harder, I didn't want to be draged along, I didn't want to be part of the crowed, that has come to watch, my heart was breaking for this boy and all that went on during slavery and beyond.
July 9, 2019
Būti atviram? Pasakojimas pasirodė silpnas. Nori nenori, bet skaitydamas ELIZABETH H. WINTHROP PASKUTINĖ MALONĖ, galvoje visą laiką girdėjau žodžius „Žalioji mylia“. Su ja siejosi šis pasakojimas. Ir nelyginti jų tarpusavy nesugebėjau, todėl šiandieninis pasakojimas neatitiko mano lūkesčių. Iš tokių istorijų tikiuosi kiek daugiau nei mano vertinimo, kas teisinga, o kas ne. Nepajaučiau to, ko norėjau – nepravirkau, kaip galėjau. Jaučiausi sugėdintas, laukdamas mirties bausmės ir tokioss knygos pabaigos, kuri turėjo būti kitokia.
„ – Tas negras gavo, ko nusipelnė. <...> Ką reiškia jo žodis prieš baltaodžio?“
PASKUTINĖ MALONĖ – tai slogios nuotaikos tekstas. Dauguma knygos personažų yra apvilkti į suspaustų emocijų drabužius. Nori nenori, bet trumpi tekstai, skyriai suteikė progos perprasti vieno ar kito abejonę, baimę, rūpestį, atsakomybę. Vis tik labiausiai – abejonę. Ji tvyrojo kaip damoklo kardas, tarsi dramblys kambaryje, apie kurį niekas nieko garsiai nesakė.
Stebėjau žmogiškąsias emocijas, kurios tik ir tirština visą pasakojimą – pyktis, įniršis, teisingumas, sąžiningumas, abejonės, bailumas, pareiga, atsakomybė. O kur dar korupcija, nusistovėjusi tvarkos palaikymas, taisyklės ir suvaržymai. Veikėjai, kaip pelytės, tykiai nagrinėja, apmąsto, taip dėlioja pasakojimą. Tarsi kurpia voratinklį, tik kažkodėl viduriuką paliko visai nuošaly, nepaliestą.
„ – Neteisinga tėvui laidoti savo vaiką, – taria Lesteris.“ – o aš štai turiu retorinį klausimą, ar teisinga vaikams laidoti tėvus? Dažnai minimas tik vienintelis scenarijus, kuris tarsi tapęs norma, bet kodėl taip? Negaliu su tuo sutikti, man tai nėra savaime suprantamas dalykas, tokių iš viso neegzistuoja.
Tai, jog knygos ateityje neprisiminsiu taip gerai, kaip kad būčiau norėjęs, nereiškia, kad ji yra prasta. Vieniems ji pasirodys unikali, įdomi, negirdėta ir neskaityta. Kitiems, matyt perskaičiusiems daugiau panašios kilmės istorijų, ji bus eiline, paprasta, tiesiog knyga.
Rekomenduoju tiems, kas jaučia prieraišumą slogioms istorijoms. Tai Juodųjų ir Baltųjų batalija, tai žmogaus asmeninių savybių ir emocijų kova su savimi ir visais kitais. Tiems, kas išdrįstų pasverti kas priimtina, o kas ne, ir tuo pačiu mėginti išlikti kiek įmanoma objektyviems. Būtent!, kiek pavyks išlaikyti sveiką protą. Ir, aišku, tiems, kas nuolatos mėgsta užduoti klausimą sau – ką aš daryčiau tokiu atveju.
„ – Tas negras gavo, ko nusipelnė. <...> Ką reiškia jo žodis prieš baltaodžio?“
PASKUTINĖ MALONĖ – tai slogios nuotaikos tekstas. Dauguma knygos personažų yra apvilkti į suspaustų emocijų drabužius. Nori nenori, bet trumpi tekstai, skyriai suteikė progos perprasti vieno ar kito abejonę, baimę, rūpestį, atsakomybę. Vis tik labiausiai – abejonę. Ji tvyrojo kaip damoklo kardas, tarsi dramblys kambaryje, apie kurį niekas nieko garsiai nesakė.
Stebėjau žmogiškąsias emocijas, kurios tik ir tirština visą pasakojimą – pyktis, įniršis, teisingumas, sąžiningumas, abejonės, bailumas, pareiga, atsakomybė. O kur dar korupcija, nusistovėjusi tvarkos palaikymas, taisyklės ir suvaržymai. Veikėjai, kaip pelytės, tykiai nagrinėja, apmąsto, taip dėlioja pasakojimą. Tarsi kurpia voratinklį, tik kažkodėl viduriuką paliko visai nuošaly, nepaliestą.
„ – Neteisinga tėvui laidoti savo vaiką, – taria Lesteris.“ – o aš štai turiu retorinį klausimą, ar teisinga vaikams laidoti tėvus? Dažnai minimas tik vienintelis scenarijus, kuris tarsi tapęs norma, bet kodėl taip? Negaliu su tuo sutikti, man tai nėra savaime suprantamas dalykas, tokių iš viso neegzistuoja.
Tai, jog knygos ateityje neprisiminsiu taip gerai, kaip kad būčiau norėjęs, nereiškia, kad ji yra prasta. Vieniems ji pasirodys unikali, įdomi, negirdėta ir neskaityta. Kitiems, matyt perskaičiusiems daugiau panašios kilmės istorijų, ji bus eiline, paprasta, tiesiog knyga.
Rekomenduoju tiems, kas jaučia prieraišumą slogioms istorijoms. Tai Juodųjų ir Baltųjų batalija, tai žmogaus asmeninių savybių ir emocijų kova su savimi ir visais kitais. Tiems, kas išdrįstų pasverti kas priimtina, o kas ne, ir tuo pačiu mėginti išlikti kiek įmanoma objektyviems. Būtent!, kiek pavyks išlaikyti sveiką protą. Ir, aišku, tiems, kas nuolatos mėgsta užduoti klausimą sau – ką aš daryčiau tokiu atveju.
June 15, 2018
4 stars
Solemn, thought provoking, and direct. One day unfolds in the pages of this book. Just one day in the lives of a number of people. Each person has a perspective. Innocent, guilty, scared. without faith, a victim, young, old, racist, sorry, helpful - all descriptors of the people who are privy to this one day. We see the upcoming execution of Willie Jones through each of their eyes.
This book was based on factual research. It is the first day of the execution of Willie Jones. It boasts of the Jim Crow south in 1943 Louisianan. It is the injustices of the time, the misguidance of a community and the secrets of a prosecuting attorney.
Just one day in the life of Willie Jones, 12 hours, that speaks for the innumerable wrongful deaths of a time period that was unjustly out for blood.
Written in short chapters, jetting between the witnessing characters, Winthrop has captured a time in history that should never be forgotten, least we recreate our mistakes. Nice research, great adaption, and attention to detail makes this novel one to read.
Solemn, thought provoking, and direct. One day unfolds in the pages of this book. Just one day in the lives of a number of people. Each person has a perspective. Innocent, guilty, scared. without faith, a victim, young, old, racist, sorry, helpful - all descriptors of the people who are privy to this one day. We see the upcoming execution of Willie Jones through each of their eyes.
This book was based on factual research. It is the first day of the execution of Willie Jones. It boasts of the Jim Crow south in 1943 Louisianan. It is the injustices of the time, the misguidance of a community and the secrets of a prosecuting attorney.
Just one day in the life of Willie Jones, 12 hours, that speaks for the innumerable wrongful deaths of a time period that was unjustly out for blood.
Written in short chapters, jetting between the witnessing characters, Winthrop has captured a time in history that should never be forgotten, least we recreate our mistakes. Nice research, great adaption, and attention to detail makes this novel one to read.
May 7, 2021
Man buvo panašu į seną gerą Grisham.
4*, nes tikėjausi pabaigos, kažkokio (nesvarbu, gero ar blogo), bet išrišimo.
Vis dėlto ir pabaigos nebuvimas yra pabaiga...
4*, nes tikėjausi pabaigos, kažkokio (nesvarbu, gero ar blogo), bet išrišimo.
Vis dėlto ir pabaigos nebuvimas yra pabaiga...
July 13, 2019
Aš nuo vaikystės, kai pas babą kaime suvariau “Dėdės Tomo trobelę” ir iki dabar prisimenu tos knygos kvapą bei likusius jausmus, labai jautriai reaguoju į kūrinius kaip šis.
Rasizmo paliekama tamsa, mirties bausmės neteisybė ir gailestingumas yra “Paskutinės malonės” ašis ir ji negali skausmingai nesujaudinti.
Aš labai šitą grynuolį išliūdėjau. Jis taip iš pagrindų kutena klausimą, kiek žmonės mes esame. Ir nors veiksmas sruvena, net jaučiu tą medvilnės laukų karštį, pietinėje Amerikos dalyje, prieš beveik aštuoniasdešimt metų, visas tas poetiškas eilutes galima taikyti sau ir šiandien.
Kaip atleisti, kaip neteisti, kaip išbūti netektį, kaip neužsimerkti prieš bendruomenės žvėriškumą.
Labai gražus, tikrais faktais paremtas skaitinys.
Nepraeikit pro šalį.
Rasizmo paliekama tamsa, mirties bausmės neteisybė ir gailestingumas yra “Paskutinės malonės” ašis ir ji negali skausmingai nesujaudinti.
Aš labai šitą grynuolį išliūdėjau. Jis taip iš pagrindų kutena klausimą, kiek žmonės mes esame. Ir nors veiksmas sruvena, net jaučiu tą medvilnės laukų karštį, pietinėje Amerikos dalyje, prieš beveik aštuoniasdešimt metų, visas tas poetiškas eilutes galima taikyti sau ir šiandien.
Kaip atleisti, kaip neteisti, kaip išbūti netektį, kaip neužsimerkti prieš bendruomenės žvėriškumą.
Labai gražus, tikrais faktais paremtas skaitinys.
Nepraeikit pro šalį.
May 13, 2020
4,5 Sterne. Es spielt in Lousianna 😍, damit hat man mich im Prinzip direkt. Ein atemberaubender Show-don't-tell Schreibstil geleitet uns durch Momentaufnahmen verschiedener Protagonisten in einer Kleinstadt um 1943. Alles kreist um einen, wegen Vergewaltigung zum Tode auf dem elektrischen Stuhl verurteilten, schwarzen jungen Mann. Schmerzhaft, schrecklich, großartig!
August 6, 2020
4/5⭐
Labai daug minčių po šios knygos liko. 🤔
Labai daug minčių po šios knygos liko. 🤔
May 25, 2018
Set against the backdrop of WWII, with themes of race, injustice and community, The Mercy Seat is an emotionally charged read. When I first started reading this novel, I was thrown by how quickly the perspectives changed, I wondered how I was ever going to settle into the novel, and get to know the characters, if I only heard from them for a few pages at a time. Little did I know just how powerful this snap shot narration would be. With a constant change of perspective every few pages, it was vital Winthrop was, not only able to convey the progression of this plot but also, able to convey the emotion of each character, and to my delight, this was achieved. The writing, at times, is so beautiful and thought-provoking. Not only does this novel shine a light on the prejudices rife in Louisiana in 1943, but it also raises questions on the use of the death penalty.
It isn’t obvious at first, but as the novel progresses, you see how each person’s perspective is connected and this brings the plot together nicely. You see those who are certain of Will’s guilt, and those believe in his innocent, those gearing up to watch the electrocution, and those who believe it’s wrong to sentence a man to death.
The strongest perspective in this novel, for me, came from Will’s father, Frank – you can just feel that Frank has had a hard life, a black man in Louisiana in 1943, knowing his son is due to die at midnight, trying his best to get back in time to see him one last time before it’s too late. I can’t even put into word how much I felt Frank’s narration in my heart.
There’s no denying this novel is, in places, exceptionally powerful, thought-provoking and heartfelt but…. of the nine perspectives, only two of them were black. A story of a possible wrongful conviction, wrought with racial tension, a black man is about to be electrocuted – a novel that promotes discussion on justice and race, you can’t help but see the imbalance in perspectives. Interestingly, Will’s narration didn’t feel at the centre of this plot. A young man alone in his cell waiting for death with nothing but acceptance to keep him company – acceptance that death is coming, yet, I never really felt like this novel was Will’s story. Now, it’s worth mentioning this is a white female author writing the perspective of a young black male facing the death penalty, so you have to allow for a bit of leeway in the narration; I can imagine Will’s, and Frank’s, perspectives were incredibly hard to write, and Winthrop did an amazing job writing them, Frank’s in particular. But, one has to wonder, this novel is about how a community reacts to a black man sentenced to death, why is it so heavily focused on how white people feel about this potential injustice? They’re not on the receiving end of this racial prejudice, yet their perspective on this racial prejudice is dominant….
The ending of this novel came as a real surprise, it’s an open ending, but a powerful one, one that leaves you questioning law and justice. To end the novel this way was a very clever move by Winthrop, because it ensure you stay thinking about it.
Overall, I do recommend this novel, it is highly heartfelt and very well-written. It is intentionally slow-paced, so you have time to process the emotions you’ll feel as you read it, I just wish the character creation was a little more diverse.
*My thanks to the publisher (Sceptre) for providing me with a copy of this book*
It isn’t obvious at first, but as the novel progresses, you see how each person’s perspective is connected and this brings the plot together nicely. You see those who are certain of Will’s guilt, and those believe in his innocent, those gearing up to watch the electrocution, and those who believe it’s wrong to sentence a man to death.
The strongest perspective in this novel, for me, came from Will’s father, Frank – you can just feel that Frank has had a hard life, a black man in Louisiana in 1943, knowing his son is due to die at midnight, trying his best to get back in time to see him one last time before it’s too late. I can’t even put into word how much I felt Frank’s narration in my heart.
There’s no denying this novel is, in places, exceptionally powerful, thought-provoking and heartfelt but…. of the nine perspectives, only two of them were black. A story of a possible wrongful conviction, wrought with racial tension, a black man is about to be electrocuted – a novel that promotes discussion on justice and race, you can’t help but see the imbalance in perspectives. Interestingly, Will’s narration didn’t feel at the centre of this plot. A young man alone in his cell waiting for death with nothing but acceptance to keep him company – acceptance that death is coming, yet, I never really felt like this novel was Will’s story. Now, it’s worth mentioning this is a white female author writing the perspective of a young black male facing the death penalty, so you have to allow for a bit of leeway in the narration; I can imagine Will’s, and Frank’s, perspectives were incredibly hard to write, and Winthrop did an amazing job writing them, Frank’s in particular. But, one has to wonder, this novel is about how a community reacts to a black man sentenced to death, why is it so heavily focused on how white people feel about this potential injustice? They’re not on the receiving end of this racial prejudice, yet their perspective on this racial prejudice is dominant….
The ending of this novel came as a real surprise, it’s an open ending, but a powerful one, one that leaves you questioning law and justice. To end the novel this way was a very clever move by Winthrop, because it ensure you stay thinking about it.
Overall, I do recommend this novel, it is highly heartfelt and very well-written. It is intentionally slow-paced, so you have time to process the emotions you’ll feel as you read it, I just wish the character creation was a little more diverse.
*My thanks to the publisher (Sceptre) for providing me with a copy of this book*
February 6, 2018
Set on a single day as a young black man aged just 18 waits to go to the electric chair for a crime he never committed, this is a kaleidoscopic narrative that rotates between a multitude of PoVs, some merely a page or two in length. It's this fragmentation, almost a cliche of contemporary fiction, which brought my rating down. Winthrop' s writing is marked by an admirable precision and clarity, empathy and lack of sensationalism, but the broken pieces of stories mean we're constantly being jostled out of one tale and into another.
There are undoubtedly some standout moments: Will' s consciousness, the final wordless meeting between him and his father - but Winthrop perhaps lets people off with more kindness and sympathy than was actually the case when it came to race in the southern US states in 1943.
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley.
There are undoubtedly some standout moments: Will' s consciousness, the final wordless meeting between him and his father - but Winthrop perhaps lets people off with more kindness and sympathy than was actually the case when it came to race in the southern US states in 1943.
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley.
July 8, 2020
1943, a young black man Willie Jones is days away from being executed for the rape of a young white woman. While he waits, so do others in the community, and their thoughts and reflections are written in very short chapters. A very quick read that I'll remember for a long time.
October 6, 2020
Very good and a well researched piece of the history of discrimination against black people in the United States of America..
Particularly in the midst of so much chaos in the States, and the "Black Life matters" movement, this is a timely novel shedding much necessary light on the history and roots of racism and xenophobia..
The novel is structure with short chapters..
Every chapter is the voice of a character..
So the story moves fast and from the view of their many fictional persons..
I strongly do recommend the audio book from Audible!!!
They have done a great job indeed, bringing this heartbreaking story to even more colorful and higher levels..
A young black man is accused of rape, and is waiting his death sentence..
The story is placed in the deep South..
Meanwhile a few people fight for his life, but they cannot avoid the strong current of blind hate..
Also other stories are told and they are all interlaced together..
A World War is ragging assunder whole families..
A story told bravely and boldly!!
Dean;)
Dean;)
Particularly in the midst of so much chaos in the States, and the "Black Life matters" movement, this is a timely novel shedding much necessary light on the history and roots of racism and xenophobia..
The novel is structure with short chapters..
Every chapter is the voice of a character..
So the story moves fast and from the view of their many fictional persons..
I strongly do recommend the audio book from Audible!!!
They have done a great job indeed, bringing this heartbreaking story to even more colorful and higher levels..
A young black man is accused of rape, and is waiting his death sentence..
The story is placed in the deep South..
Meanwhile a few people fight for his life, but they cannot avoid the strong current of blind hate..
Also other stories are told and they are all interlaced together..
A World War is ragging assunder whole families..
A story told bravely and boldly!!
Dean;)
Dean;)
October 10, 2020
Aš visada galvojau, kad knygos apie senus laikus ne man. Na taip, buvo viena kita, kuri patiko, man nebuvo jos kažkokios įspūdingos. Kol nepaėmiai į rankas "Paskutinės malonės". Nors nieko daug šioj knygoj ir nevyksta, veiksmo iš vis beveik nerasta, bet mane ji sujaudino. Pykau iki sielos gelmių, dar ir dabar pykstu, už visą tą neteisybę, žiaurumą, nusistatymą. Žavėjausi Vilio ramybe, susitaikymu.. Knygos esmė, tai situacija iš daugelio personažų pozicijų, jų tarpusavio pokalbių, gal ne tiek pokalbių, kiek aišku pasidaro iš jų nutylėjimų. Gale susigraudinau, leisiu sau tikėti gera pabaiga, susikursiu ją pati sau mintyse..
December 17, 2019
Ein unfassbar ergreifendes Buch,welches ganz ruhig das Grauen erzählt und die schleichende Zeit schnell vergehen lässt. Die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven halten die Spannungsbogen konstant auf einer Linie und das Ende lässt den Leser genauso verzweifelt zurück,wie so manche Proragonisten. Es hat mir sooo gut gegallen
July 9, 2023
Die Erzählung hat sehr viele Perspektiven was den Lesefluss etwas hemmte. Ich habe mich aber mit der Zeit mit den Charakteren weitestgehend eingefunden.
Das Buch wirft viele Moralfragen auf und überlässt es dem Leser sie für sich zu beantworten oder auch nicht.
Das Buch wirft viele Moralfragen auf und überlässt es dem Leser sie für sich zu beantworten oder auch nicht.
April 2, 2018
"Surely, he thinks, in a world where such a thing as this exists, surely there can be no God." Father Hannigan in The Mercy Seat
The Mercy Seat by Elizabeth H. Winthrop is a brilliant and heart-wrenching novel. Historical Fiction set in the Jim Crow South, the book addresses relevant issues of complicity in injustice and the pressures that maintain the status quo.
The story is told through the viewpoints of fathers and sons, husbands and wives, black and white, lawman and criminal, revealing who is truly innocent and who is guilty.
On a brutally hot day, a young black man awaits midnight. He has an appointment with the electric chair.
Will was found guilty of the rape and murder of a young white woman. Will's memories flash back on a loving moment they shared, and the fear that made him run away when discovered.
Will's father Frank knows his worn out mule is not up to the task, but he is determined to deliver his only son's tombstone to the cemetery.
Ora and Dale have a son Guadalcanal. They haven't heard from him for weeks. Dale has hidden the telegram. A Northerner, Ora has never adjusted to the Jim Crow South. Behind Dale's back, she secrets candy to the young boys working in the field behind their store.
Lane is a prison trusty who is helping to deliver the electric chair. He is halfway through his sentence, having killed a man during a robbery. Sometimes, he says, working ain't enough. Especially when an accident left his father crippled. The captain in charge drinks his way along the road trip.
Father Hannigan is filled with doubt, finding New Iberia more foreign than his Madagascar mission. His job is to console the grieving but he has no words of hope.
The lawyer Polly dreads the coming of midnight, for he must witness the execution. Since boyhood, he has been haunted by the postcard of a lynching his father had given him. His wife Nell does not understand how Polly gave Will the death sentence. He keeps secret the threats he received. Their boy Gabe decides to witness the execution, hitching a ride with the family of the murdered girl.
"...he wonders if it really matters in the end what kind of justice it is--mob or legal--when the end result is death."
During the course of the day, these people question their complicity in evil, make connections, and make enemies. Some find mercy, others are dealt justice; some get away with murder.
This book has haunted me. I want to talk about it and dissect it. I think it would make a great book club pick.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
4.5
The Mercy Seat begins with a quote from the song The Mercy Seat by Nick Cave, "And the mercy seat is waiting...And I'm not afraid to die." But what is the mercy seat?
The ancient Israelites' religious writings, the Torah, which Christians know as the first five books of the Old Testament, had a sacred cover, the kapporet, which Martin Luther translated as "seat of mercy." This cover protected men from the judgment of God. Sacrificial blood was sprinkled on the kapporet as an atonement for men's sins, and God would extend mercy while still being holy and just.
The title then refers to the themes of sin and guilt and substitute sacrifice/scapegoat.
The Mercy Seat by Elizabeth H. Winthrop is a brilliant and heart-wrenching novel. Historical Fiction set in the Jim Crow South, the book addresses relevant issues of complicity in injustice and the pressures that maintain the status quo.
The story is told through the viewpoints of fathers and sons, husbands and wives, black and white, lawman and criminal, revealing who is truly innocent and who is guilty.
On a brutally hot day, a young black man awaits midnight. He has an appointment with the electric chair.
Will was found guilty of the rape and murder of a young white woman. Will's memories flash back on a loving moment they shared, and the fear that made him run away when discovered.
Will's father Frank knows his worn out mule is not up to the task, but he is determined to deliver his only son's tombstone to the cemetery.
Ora and Dale have a son Guadalcanal. They haven't heard from him for weeks. Dale has hidden the telegram. A Northerner, Ora has never adjusted to the Jim Crow South. Behind Dale's back, she secrets candy to the young boys working in the field behind their store.
Lane is a prison trusty who is helping to deliver the electric chair. He is halfway through his sentence, having killed a man during a robbery. Sometimes, he says, working ain't enough. Especially when an accident left his father crippled. The captain in charge drinks his way along the road trip.
Father Hannigan is filled with doubt, finding New Iberia more foreign than his Madagascar mission. His job is to console the grieving but he has no words of hope.
The lawyer Polly dreads the coming of midnight, for he must witness the execution. Since boyhood, he has been haunted by the postcard of a lynching his father had given him. His wife Nell does not understand how Polly gave Will the death sentence. He keeps secret the threats he received. Their boy Gabe decides to witness the execution, hitching a ride with the family of the murdered girl.
"...he wonders if it really matters in the end what kind of justice it is--mob or legal--when the end result is death."
During the course of the day, these people question their complicity in evil, make connections, and make enemies. Some find mercy, others are dealt justice; some get away with murder.
This book has haunted me. I want to talk about it and dissect it. I think it would make a great book club pick.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
4.5
The Mercy Seat begins with a quote from the song The Mercy Seat by Nick Cave, "And the mercy seat is waiting...And I'm not afraid to die." But what is the mercy seat?
The ancient Israelites' religious writings, the Torah, which Christians know as the first five books of the Old Testament, had a sacred cover, the kapporet, which Martin Luther translated as "seat of mercy." This cover protected men from the judgment of God. Sacrificial blood was sprinkled on the kapporet as an atonement for men's sins, and God would extend mercy while still being holy and just.
The title then refers to the themes of sin and guilt and substitute sacrifice/scapegoat.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 368 reviews