Adult, Older YA / Memoir / Death Row
I gave this book 4 out of 5 Stars
In Remain Free, author Gautam
Narula chronicles his unlikely friendship with death row inmate Troy Anthony
Davis, who was convicted in 1991 of murdering a police officer three years
earlier. When Narula was just fifteen, he learned of Davis’s case and the doubt
surrounding his guilt. Moved by what he heard and read, Narula wrote a letter
to Davis, which began a relationship that would span three years and included
written correspondence, phone calls, and even death row visits between the
two. As inmate and teen get to know each
other, Narula becomes passionate about saving Davis’s life and Davis becomes a
source of advice and encouragement as Narula navigates life as a teenager. In
“Remain Free,” Narula has compiled and shares letters, transcripts of phone
calls, converaations, and memories of visits the two shared while also providing
a record of his own actions to free Troy Davis from what he feels is a wrongful
death sentence. Remain Free is not just a recounting of the politics, harsh
realities, and humanity of Troy Davis, it is the personal story of a young
man’s disillusionment with the legal system and society in general, and how he
is driven to change the world.
Regardless of a reader’s opinion on
the death penalty, Remain Free is thought provoking and in bringing-out Troy
Davis’s personality, Narula humanizes the people on death row. The book is as much about Gautam Narula as it
is about Davis and definitely provides a perspective on the case that can’t be
found anywhere else. As a platform for casting doubt on Troy Davis’s guilt, the
most convincing element is Narula’s belief in Davis’s innocence. He provides Davis’s first hand account of the
night of the murder as well as the recantations of witnesses, the most
startling being that of witness Antoine Williams:
“They
asked me to describe the shooter and what he looked like and what he was
wearing. I kept telling them that I
didn’t know. It was dark, my windows were tinted, and I was scared. After the officers talked to me, they gave me
a statement and told me to sign it. I signed it. I did not read it because I
cannot read.”
Who knows if Troy Davis was really
an innocent man? There are always two sides, but Narula includes some
compelling details for readers to think about, casting doubt on Davis’s guilt
and whether or not he got a fair trial.
As the portrait of a teenager,
Gautam Narula is not your average young adult and is contemplating things that
many thirty-year-olds haven’t managed. In being exposed to the ugliness of
prison life and life’s injustices and feeling the weight of Davis’s world, Narula
becomes disillusioned and rejects the expectations and norms of a typical highschooler’s life. Instead of
concentrating on going to prom or preparing a good college resume, he pours his
energy into things that matter like Amnesty International and campaigning to
free Troy Davis. There are the rare
occasions when Narula shows his age, but for the most part he shows intellect
and maturity well beyond his years and even notes at one point, “Maybe my
anxiety about the future was robbing me of the present.”
Gautam Narula is clearly an
exceptionally good writer; however, the book needs editing to clear up issues
including typos, pronoun and punctuation errors, and repetitive content which
made it seem like he wasn’t giving the readers credit for remembering what he
has already told them. Additionally, the story doesn’t always move
chronologically, which is sometimes confusing, and some of the stories go into
so much detail that they are distracting and tedious.
Overall, the book is
intriguing. The Troy Davis portrayed by
Gautam Narula was thoughtful, intelligent, and deeply spiritual. When asked why
God allows bad things to happen, Davis told Narula, “God gave us free will, and
that if He always cleaned up our messes, we would never grow. He allows us to
live with the consequences of our mistakes so we can learn from them.” Whether
Davis was authentic or not, there is no denying that Troy Davis made a positive
impact on the life of one teenager, which resulted in one teenager wanting to
make a positive impact on the world -- including designating all publisher and
author profits from Remain Free going to The
Innocence Project.
This book was reviewed for Reader Views and is re-posted here by their permission. A print copy was provided to me in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give.
