Norman Mailer

Reconstructs the crime and fate of Gary Gilmore, the convicted murderer who sought his own execution in Utah, based on taped interviews with relatives, friends, lawyers, and law-enforcement officials.

The Executioner's Song

The executioner's song

Lamia Hajani

As long as this book is, and as long as it ended up taking me to finish it, it is definitely one of the most astounding books I have ever read. It makes you question the death penalty, murder, death, and crime. It shows a perspective to the justice system that the reader would not normally see. Norman Mailer is a renowned writer -- I now know why. I will probably continuously think about this book for a long time to come. Five stars.

Dark, heavy book that seriously messed with my mood over the course of my reading. It's riveting and I walked away thinking intently about human nature and human connection. 

Sarah Erle

Melody Izard

wow! too much to say with the use of just one hand.

Trevor Berrett

The fact that I read the entire 1000+ pages of this book does let you know that it was interesting and written in such a way that helps the reader not get bogged down. Gary Gilmore's story, I assume most of it is fairly accurate, is really interesting. Likewise, I found the legal battle over capital punishment and whether or not the person on death row has a right to be executed really interesting. However, I got tired of all of the detail about the media battle over the rights to Gilmore's story. I'm sure it was fascinating to some, but to me it was too much. 
Still, if you're interested in "true crime," it is worth it. If you're interested in the history of the death penalty, you won't get much here except for the detailed account of Gary Gilmore's execution, which was the first execution after the Supreme Court ceased the moratorium on the death penalty. And while you'll read about the lawyers involved, you'll only get the basics of their arguments.

Gabe Cortez

Helen Bright

Jackson Weaver

A kabel 

Joshua Line

Maurice FitzGerald

Anne 

Yulande Lindsay

Norman Mailer's Pulitzer Prize-winning and unforgettable classic about convicted killer Gary Gilmore now in a brand-new edition. Arguably the greatest book from America's most heroically ambitious writer, THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG follows the short, blighted life of Gary Gilmore who became famous after he robbed two men in 1976 and killed them in cold blood. After being tried and convicted, he immediately insisted on being executed for his crime. To do so, he fought a system that seemed intent on keeping him alive long after it had sentenced him to death. And that fight for the right to die is what made him famous. Mailer tells not only Gilmore's story, but those of the men and women caught in the web of his life and drawn into his procession toward the firing squad. All with implacable authority, steely compassion, and a restraint that evokes the parched landscape and stern theology of Gilmore's Utah. THE EXECUTIONER'S SONG is a trip down the wrong side of the tracks to the deepest source of American loneliness and violence. It is a towering achievement-impossible to put down, impossible to forget.

The Executioner's Song

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