This book I found deeply disturbing and morally confusing. It would make a superb reading group choice.
A young man of 24 is released from 14 years in prison, with a new identity. As a child of 10 he was involved in the killing of another 10 year old.
This book causes you to question all your closely held beliefs. Should the punishment fit the crime? Is what happens to young people in prison institutions, and I believe that the book accurately portrays what can happen, reprehensible or deserving? Do killers deserve forgiveness? Can they be rehabilitated? When is a child a child and when a monster? And what should we as a society do about them.
This book also raises deep, hard questions about the role of the media in demonising some children and putting others on pedestals thus making victimns of them all.
I challenge anyone to read this book and remain unmoved and unchanged. It gave me nightmares.....
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