Almost Home: My Life Story Vol 1
by Damien Echols
Our Price: $176.95
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Damien EcholsEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-06-03
ISBN: 0595357016
Number of pages: 168
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Book Reviews of Almost Home: My Life Story Vol 1
Book Review: Convince me. Tell me everything.
Summary: 5 Stars
What Margaret Cho has to do with this situation, I will never know. She wrote the introduction. I thought at first that this was intended to be some kind of comic writing. Instead, it's the autobiography of Damien Echols, a young man in a small town in Arkansas currently on death row (along with his friend Jason and other friend Jessie serving a life sentance) for murdering three small boys. Cho's hook along with her comedy has always been to defend those who are different or odd, those who feel less alone. I can admire that, but I am just amazed that she would preach the word for this man, who she admits she doesn't know and who she said committed the murder. That aside, this was an excellent look inside the monster, the beast, the horror, the evil that is Damien.
Damien grew up poor white trash in Arkansas, having little advantages, little money, little hope for the future. He turned into a heavy metal poser, wearing all black and getting into magic because it was the cool thing to do for all of those who consider themselves outsiders. Like a lot of kids, we all dabble in the dark arts. It annoys people, makes our parents angry, gives us attention. Most of it is just a show. Not for Damien. In his mind, he was Satan's vessel. He became the subject of a witchhunt after the children were killed because he was different. Granted, he was visably different. But enough witnesses have come forward saying that he did and said things that an innocent person would not. Satan made him do it? No, Damien made Damien do it. Look at that face on the cover of the book. That's not an innocent, sensative, vulnerable child's face. That is the face of a killer, a killer who knows how cute he looks and how he can fool us.
And, Damien became a father while behind bars. He has gotten to physically hold his baby son, he could not be there for his birth, nor will he see him grown up. Instead he has been changed by fatherhood. While he cannot be with his child, experiencing the miracle of life rather than the pain of death he wanted to inflict on not just these three boys but others around him. He is up there with Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein, and all the other truly twisted people who have murdered. I'll bet some of their friends and family said "He was different". Different doesn't make someone a murderer. Evil makes one a murderer.
Summary of Almost Home: My Life Story Vol 1
Almost Home is a message to you from a faraway place. It is a message from a 12-foot by 9-foot cell in a cinderblock building surrounded by coils of razor wire in the middle of a dirt field in Arkansas. It was written by a young man named Damien Echols and it chronicles his life and his experiences in a way that clearly illuminates him, not as a monster, but as a human being. For over 10 years Damien has been an inmate on death row for a crime he did not commit. He, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley have become known as The West Memphis Three, and though the story of their arrest and conviction is widely known, most people don?t know the real people behind the sound bites and the TV news segment clips. Damien has spent much of his time behind bars diligently maintaining his integrity and his sanity by writing. Almost Home is the product of that self-discipline, and in it you will meet someone who has survived an ordeal many of us would find impossible to live through. There are a few who still believe that Damien is a devil-worshipping child killer, but as time passes and more facts rise to the surface, it becomes even more clear that he is the victim of a peculiar species of hysteria. Read this book and know the truth about him. It is an urgent message from death row; the whole story of who Damien Echols really is.Memoirs Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Memoirs Books
Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Centuryby Hunter S. Thompson
Penguin Books, Limited (UK); Published: 2008-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.45
Price in other shops:
Never Have Your Dog Stuffedby Alan Alda
Arrow Books; Published: 2007-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops:
The Hunger: A Story of Food, Desire, and Ambitionby John DeLucie, Graydon Carter
Ecco; Published: 2009-05-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.63
Price in other shops:
Brotherhood of Warriors: Behind Enemy Lines with a Commando in One of the World's Most Elite Counterterrorism Unitsby Aaron Cohen, Douglas Century
Ecco; Published: 2008-04-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.10
Price in other shops:
Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survivalby Carmina Salcido, Steve Jackson
William Morrow; Published: 2009-10-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Unlocked: The Life and Crimes of a Mafia Insiderby Louis Ferrante
Harper Perennial; Published: 2009-02-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Writing Places: The Life Journey of a Writer and Teacherby William Zinsser
Harper; Published: 2009-05-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.14
Price in other shops:
Got the Life: My Journey of Addiction, Faith, Recovery, and Kornby Fieldy
William Morrow; Published: 2009-03-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp
Harper Perennial; Published: 2008-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.86
Price in other shops:
The Ride of My Lifeby Mat Hoffman
It Books; Published: 2003-09-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.95
Similar Books and other products
The Long Hard Road Out of Hellby Marilyn Manson, Neil Strauss
ReganBooks; Published: 1999-03-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.65
Price in other shops:
Michale Graves & Damien Echols - IllusionsRelease date: 2007-10-30; Music CD
Best price: $13.36
Price in other shops:
The Darkest Night: Two Sisters, a Brutal Murder, and the Loss of Innocence in a Small Townby Ron Franscell
St. Martin's True Crime; Published: 2008-03-04; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.16
Price in other shops:
Free the West Memphis 3Release date: 2000-10-10; Music CD
Best price: $6.84
Price in other shops:
Devil's Knot : The True Story of the West Memphis Threeby Mara Leveritt
Atria; Published: 2002-10-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $56.92
The Last Pentacle of the Sun: Writings in Support of the West Memphis 3Arsenal Pulp Press; Published: 2004-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
Paradise Lost 2 - RevelationsNew Video; Release date: 2001-08-28; DVD
Best price: $10.18
Price in other shops:
Blood of Innocents: The True Story of Multiple Murder in West Memphis, Arkansasby Reel
Pinnacle; Published: 2000-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.26
Price in other shops:
Paradise Lost (Collector's Edition) (Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills / Paradise Lost 2: Revelations)New Video; Release date: 2008-10-28; DVD
Best price: $12.49
Price in other shops:
Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Threeby Mara Leveritt
Atria Books; Published: 2003-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.74
Price in other shops: