The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed
by Judy Shepard
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Book Summary Information
Author: Judy ShepardEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2009-09-03
ISBN: 1616847581
Number of pages: 273
Publisher: Hudson Street Press
Book Reviews of The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed
Book Review: The Meaning of Matthew
Summary: 5 Stars
A little over 10 years after the trial and sentencing of Matthew Shepard's murderer and accomplice, Aaron McKinney and Russell Hunderson, Matthew's mother thankfully wrote a book, "The Meaning of Matthew." The NBC movie "The Matthew Shepard Story," while not bad as far as TV movies go, had some inaccuracies in it and didn't get beyond the superficial emotional appeal that most TV movies have. Further, most of the people who have told Matthew's story have been people who were removed from the intimate and raw intensity of any kind of firsthand knowledge, and more important, who didn't know him as well as his family. For those reasons, Judy Shepard's book is a welcome and necessary addition.
Judy tells, in a detailed yet concise way, basically her story- how she met Matthew's father Dennis, and of course, about Matthew's upbringing. One of her main aims is to show that Matt was very real. That sounds trite, but many cultural depictions of him cast as a saint, crucified for being gay. Judy shows that he was no saint, but subject to the same ups and downs as any young adult, albeit with the challenge of growing up gay. Specifically, he struggled with depression, was sometimes irresponsible with his parents money, and had problems with alcohol and prescription drugs. On the other hand, ever since he was very young, Matt cared about other people and was genuinely interested in them. He could not understand how any person would ever be deliberately mean to anyone else, and his only intolerance was for people to deliberately not accept others. His death was tragic precisely because he was more than an icon and had a life entwined with so many others.
I'm going to assume that most people know the terrible story of his murder, so I won't recount it here (though Judy's relating of the events is well-worth reading). What struck me most in Judy's account of the murder and its aftermath is how she was able to get through it. She explains how she, Dennis, and her other son Logan (who I didn't even know about prior to the book) spent time with Matthew while he was in a coma, and how they dealt with the influx of well-wishers from around the world. Judy at first resented the presence of activists, thinking they were there more to use the murder as an icon than for Matt. But eventually she realized that Matt would be happy that his death would help other people, and came to be willing to lend her name in support of a good cause. What I thought most powerful is at the point when she says that the way she has been able to "keep going" is to not go to the place of the murder in her mind.
In sum, "The Meaning of Matthew" is well worth reading, and the socio-political issues raised by his brutal murder are far from over.
Summary of The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed
The mother of Matthew Shepard shares her story about her son's death and the choice she made to become an international gay rights activistToday, the name Matthew Shepard is synonymous with gay rights, but before his grisly murder in 1998, Matthew was simply Judy Shepard's son. For the first time in book form, Judy Shepard speaks about her loss, sharing memories of Matthew, their life as a typical American family, and the pivotal event in the small college town that changed everything.
The Meaning of Matthew follows the Shepard family in the days immediately after the crime, when Judy and her husband traveled to see their incapacitated son, kept alive by life support machines; how the Shepards learned of the incredible response from strangers all across America who held candlelit vigils and memorial services for their child; and finally, how they struggled to navigate the legal system as Matthew's murderers were on trial. Heart-wrenchingly honest, Judy Shepard confides with readers about how she handled the crippling loss of her child, why she became a gay rights activist, and the challenges and rewards of raising a gay child in America today.
The Meaning of Matthew not only captures the historical significance and complicated civil rights issues surrounding one young man's life and death, but it also chronicles one ordinary woman's struggle to cope with the unthinkable.
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