Name: October Mourning
ISBN: 9780763658076

Lesléa Newman

Relates, from various points of view, events from the night of October 6, 1998, when twenty-one-year-old Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was lured out of a Wyoming bar, savagely beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die.

A Song for Matthew Shepard

October Mourning

Dorian Avers

I'm torn about this book. It is a tragedy what happened to Matthew Shepard, the fact that homophobia can make people so violent and hateful. My rating in no way reflects my beliefs about what happened to Matthew. For the sake of this review I'm going to judge just the book without the name that is attached to it.
 
 I don't understand why this book is so highly rated. The poetry in this novel shows the skill level of a freshmen in high school. And based on the back jacket of this book that lists Newman's accomplishments this should be so much better. There's one poem that seems well thought out and that is "Heartfelt Apology", everything else just seemed like something that would be written in a diary, just quickly scribbled out with next to no thought put into it. There should be no cutesy rhyming poems in a book like this either! I cannot emphasize that enough! There were times I was emotional, but that was more so because of the actual crime and the direct quotes, rather than the writing. I think this book could've been so much more if there was more thought and intent put into each one of the works. This just doesn't feel right, it doesn't feel like it was written with the most purpose.

Fatimah Laeeq

Very sad...shows the reality of what can happen in the world.

Tera West

This book is amazing. This book is beautiful. This book is breathe taking. The fact that this book is based on a true event absolutely amazes me.

October Mourning A Song for Matthew Shepard