- Paperback
- Publisher: Demco Media (October 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0606192174
- ISBN-13: 978-0606192170
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13 x 5.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 862 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
The Executioner's Song is a work of unprecedented force. It is the true story of Gary Gilmore, who in 1977 became the first person executed in the United States since the reinstitution of the death penalty. Gilmore, a violent yet articulate man who chose not to fight his death-penalty sentence, touched off a national debate about capital punishment. He allowed Norman Mailer and researcher Lawrence Schiller complete access to his story. Mailer took the material and produced an immense book with a dry, unwavering voice and meticulous attention to detail on Gilmore's life--particularly his relationship with Nicole Baker, whom Gilmore claims to have killed. What unfolds is a powerful drama, a distorted love affair, and a chilling look into the mind of a murderer in his countdown with a firing squad.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
In the summer of 1976 Gary Gilmore robbed two men. Then he shot them in cold blood. For those murders Gilmore was sent to languish on Death Row - and could confidently expect his sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment. In America, no one had been executed for ten years. But Gary Gilmore wanted to die, and his ensuing battle with the authorities for the right to do so made him into a world-wide celebrity - and ensured that his execution turned into the most gruesome media event of the decade.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Long Journey, but Worth it in the End,
By
This review is from: The Executioner's Song (Paperback)
This is an excellent true crime book, despite Mailer's verbosity and arrogant style. Gary Gilmore--a bright man who spent half his life in jail and eventually murdered two men in cold blood while on parole before being given a death sentance--is a fascinating example of a modern criminal. His life before his final crime and then his court battles to speed up his execution is an interesting case study and since this book is written like an extended newspaper article, it provides great insight. It also contains terrific accounts of the other tragic characters in Gilmore's life (his mother, father and girlfriend). The big fault of this book, of course, is its overwhelming length. There is no reason it needed to be over 1000 pages and after finishing it I was more than ready for it to be over. There is enough drama and action to keep the narrative flowing and to keep readers interested, but it isn't a book you can sit down and read in an afternoon, you will have to devote serious time and energy to finish it. I think the effort is worth it, but for people who do not want to commit to such an endeavor, do not read this book and buy the book by Mikal Gilmore (Gary's younger brother) or avoid Gilmore all together and buy In Cold Blood, which is a must read book and the best true crime I've ever read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thoroughly absorbing,
By
This review is from: The Executioner's Song (Paperback)
I started reading "The Executioner's Song" after completing Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banners of Heaven," a largely scathing account of the history of the Church of Latter-Day Saints and the culture of violence it has spawned during its 150 year existence. While Gary Gilmore isn't a Mormon, most of the story takes place in Utah, and many of the characters are Mormons, which shapes to some degree their views of the death penalty as a necessary "blood atonement" for murder.I ended up plowing through the entire book in two weeks--that's how compelling a story Mailer paints in this lengthy, but engaging true-crime fiction hybrid. As others have mentioned, it's the first-half of this book that is the true masterpiece, the frenzied tale of the few months between Gilmore's release from prison and his cold-blooded murder of two young Mormon men, told in spare and unadorned prose. I was stunned by the level of detail he employs, and unlike some who found it tedious, thought that it brought the characters to life in a way I have rarely encountered in either fiction or non-fiction. While the second half of the book is somewhat overly drawn out, his portrayal of the marketing of the Gilmore myth (which, ironically, Mailer is involved in himself) is worth the time. "The Executioner's Song" is full of people and moments told with a clarity that makes it unique and memorable.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too many words,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Executioner's Song (Paperback)
A heart wrenching story that got drowned in too many irrelevant details. The way that Gilmore and his compatriots spiraled downwards is gripping, but the number of cigarettes smoked each day, banal conversations, and details of each person's daily life, made me lose interest in these miserable people after the first 800 pages.
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