 "Outstanding read" | 2007-10-26 |
| - Reviewed By k-kj |
| Having struggled with the issue of forgiveness in my own life, I truly related to what was conveyed in this book. I commend Debbie on her courage in sharing her story, and God's work in her life. |
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 "Check out another" | 2007-07-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2XWGMBQZDDSOW |
| Along with this, Michael Varnado's "Victims of Dead Man Walking" gives excellent insight into the true story of the murders/rapists and their victims. Those crimes did not just affect the ones directly involved, but the entire community. |
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| "Moving but unsatisfying" | 2006-05-09 |
| - Reviewed By ear999 |
This was written by, or on behalf of, Debbie Morris, one of the victims of Robert Willie, a death row inmate supported by Sister Helen Prejean, as recounted in her book Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account Of The Death Penalty In The United States. As such, I think anyone interested in Prejean's work will want to read it, and I recommend reading Michael Varnado's Victims of Dead Man Walking (also issued as Losing Faith) and Dead Family Walking: The Bourque Family Story of Dead Man Walking by D.D. Devinci for other points of view.
I read this book when it first came out, and I have pondered it for all the years since. As an account of enduring and surviving a grotesque crime, this is a very moving account. As a comment about dealing with such issues, I found it unsatisfying.
The first problem is the ambiguities of the relationship between Morris and Prejean. Let me say that I have considerable admiration for Prejean, certainly more than for most people on her side of the death issue. At least she doesn't dismiss the victims as irrelevant. This story is told as a memoir, so Morris attempts to recount her feelings at the time, which are not necessarily how she feels looking backward. Before she met Prejean, Morris tells us that she was extremely critical of her for accepting without question what Robert Willie told her. Her anger was quite justified. It wouldn't have been difficult for Prejean to find other accounts. But now that Morris and Prejean are such great friends, does this criticism still stand? Further, it becomes clear that Prejean has no qualms about lying through her teeth to further her claims. She said in her interviews prior to Willie's execution that he was remorseful, a changed man. Willie contradicted her in his own interviews. She admits to Morris that Willie wasn't, and probably wasn't capable of being remorseful. Neither she nor Morris seem to have dealt with this untruthfulness.
I am bewildered by Morris' remarks about forgiveness. Many people who write on the issue of forgiveness have the odd idea that if one hasn't forgiven someone, one thinks of them obsessively, eaten up with anger. I had a friend who was murdered; I certainly haven't forgiven the murderer. He received a sentence that satisfies my sense of justice and I have almost forgotten him. I often think lovingly of my friend, but the only time that I think of him is when someone brings up this forgiveness issue. One of the proponents of forgiveness insisted that I must have forgiven him in some sense, but I insisted that I am the arbiter of my own feelings - he is not forgiven one whit. Forgiveness can be just as active and require as much energy as anger.
I'm glad that Morris has learned to cope with what happened to her, but I don't understand it as forgiveness. If she had forgiven him before the trial, would she have refused to testify? If it doesn't affect the course of the law, then what does it mean? Salvation is between the individual soul and God, so that is no explanation either. These are familiar platitudes, which people throw out so unthinkingly, confident that they are self evident, that when they are challenged to explain, they often cannot.
Personally, I recommend Forgiving and Not Forgiving:: Why Sometimes It's Better Not to Forgive by Jeanne Safer as a nuanced look at anger and forgiveness. |
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| "Superb story from a teen abducted by two rapist-murderers" | 2006-01-08 |
| - Reviewed By timtalbot5 |
It's hard to find enough words of praise for this book. Two vicious killers escape from jail and chance on a 16-year-old Christian girl talking with her boyfriend in his car in a small town in Louisiana. The escaped prisoners abduct them at gunpoint and head for Florida. They shoot the boyfriend on the way and leave him for dead on a fire ants' nest. They keep the girl with them, and rape her whenever they feel like it. She finds out they raped and killed at least one other young woman before her.
Debbie Morris survived this terrible ordeal and her testimony put the abductors back in jail. Later she found that a nun had befriended the main killer, Robert Willie, and he was now becoming something of a celebrity, even while headed for the electric chair.
It would have been easy to produce a book that was full of bitterness at the legal system, at the world, and at God. But this book doesn't do that. It is gripping yet sensitive, informative yet reserved, and as forgiving as it is powerful. What I like most about it is that the writers (professional writer Gregg Lewis put it together for Debbie Morris) know exactly when to give details and when to restrain them. For example, many writers would play up the rapes for their sensationalism, but in this book Debbie Morris says "he raped me" and leaves it at that.
This is factual writing at its best. I found it hard to put the book down. And it moved me more than books usually do. I cannot find a thing wrong with it to give it less than a five-star rating. |
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| "1st hand truth" | 2005-07-12 |
| - Reviewed By shann823 |
I remember this crime all too well. My cousin (Mark) was Debbie's boyfriend. I was only 9 at the time, but I remember the frantic phone call from my aunt and my dad joining other members of our family as they drove through town looking for Debbie and Mark. I will never forget overhearing the details of the wake of horror that Robert Willie left behind.
Debbie's book is full of courage, honor, and forgiveness. If should be in every victim assistance program and every victim of crime should read it. If you've read Dead Man Walking, you owe it to yourself to read this as well as Mike Varnado's book (he was the investigator who found Faith Hathaway's body). Helen Prejean cannot tell you about the "real" Robert Willie... only his survivor can. |
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| "To Forgive But Not Forget." | 2004-12-11 |
| - Reviewed By the-eternal-optimist |
As a sixteen year old victim of rape, torture, and attempted murder by Robert Willie in Louisiana, Debbie Ceuvas survived the brutality this killer used to subdue her during the kidnapping. After fifteen years of remembering the nightmarish ordeal, she was able to overcome the trauma and start speaking out.
Her appearance on the t.v. show, 'Frontline,' to tell what really happened to her as opposed to Hollywood's version of 'Dead Man Walking' proved a pivotal point in her recovery. It served as a turning point whereby she was invited to speak at conferences where other participants had endured their own form of confinement and torture.
At the Cleveland, Ohio, conference in 1997, titled "Forgiveness in a Violent Society,' she shared the platform with Beirut hostage Terry Anderson. At seminars directed by Terry Hargrave, a therapist and psychology professor from Amarillo, Texas, she learned the steps to inner healing through forgiveness: insight, understanding, remorse, compensation for past hurts, through two areas, salvage and restoration.
Though she was never mentioned in the film, her testimony led to Willie's conviction. In FORGIVE AND FORGET by Lewis Smedes, she found the section, "Forgiving Monsters" relevant to her experience. Refusing to forgive meant submerging the pain, shame, and self-pity.
Forgiveness seems so hard and you wonder, "Is it really worth it?" She learned that by forgiving that human monster, she was able to trust again -- to experience the giving and receiving of love. She married Conner Morris and is now a mother.
She writes, "People often ask how I feel about the death penalty now?" Her response: "Justice didn't do a thing to heal me. Forgiveness did." I've always been opposed to the death penalty due to the fact that so many 'criminals' on death row are there through revenge and lies.
This is the previously untold other half of "Dead Man Walking,' the movie starring Sean Penn, which depicted the death row relationship he had with spiritual advisor, Helen Prejean, author of the book, DEAD MAN WALKING. Sister Helen, though she tried to save the life of a killer, admires Debbie's refreshing honesty as she dealt with the 'traumatic aftershock and the long, painful road to become whole again.' This true story of the young woman whose testimony sent Willie to the electric chair is one of courage, faith, and forgiveness.
This book is Debbie's "walk" on an incredible journey which was life-changing. THE DAILY VARIETY describes her as 'a woman who is Prejean's equal in strength and virtue.' We are asked to contemplate, "Is there any crime, any hurt, any person beyond the power of forgiveness." |
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| "The other side of the story to Dead Man Walking" | 2004-12-09 |
| - Reviewed By boblaura9 |
If you have read Dead Man Walking, you really MUST read this book also! It is the other side of the story. Please consider reading it.
This book is written by the victim Debbie Morris. She takes you through her life (before and after the crime) and how she went on after being the victim of such a horrific ordeal. She ultimately found peace by forgiving Robert Willie. The parents of another girl that had been victimized and murdered by Robert Willie were the opposite of forgiving - they were filled with rage, hate and bitterness. The contrast between Debbie's response and their response really stood out to me. Debbie found peace and they did not...
This book also gives a different perspective on Robert Willie than the one given by Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking. Debbie portrays Willie as being the one in control. He was domineering, the leader, and heavily influenced his partner in crime Joe Vaccaro. In Prejean's book, Willie is portrayed rather the opposite!! (Should we be surprised that someone on deathrow might not honestly describe themselves?)
Overall, this is a well-written book about the power of a forgiving spirit. Please consider reading it to get both sides of the story of Dead Man Walking.
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| "More than just a book!" | 2002-07-05 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| The author gives just enough detail to imagine it all. Her descriptive words leave you with strong feelings of sadness for what happend to her. This is a great gift for just about any occassion. I would recommend it to my friends. |
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| "A wonderful book about forgiveness" | 2001-10-27 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| My sister gave me this book, and I found it to be one of the best books on a person personal journey from being victimized to forgiving the victimizer. It portrayed what Biblical forgiveness really means-it isn't saying what the victimizer did was okay, or that you have to be best friends with him, it simply means that you no longer hold anger in your heart, and will not let what happen to you grow to bitterness. Her journey wasn't easy, but her words were very genuine. I think this book is a great lesson in forgiveness to anyone, but I think any woman or man who has been the victim of a brutal crime should read this book. |
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 "Powerful Writing, Powerful Message" | 2000-11-15 |
| - Reviewed By gorc_editorial |
| This book is a must read for victims of violent crimes and their families. It is delivered in a very caring, warm way that endears the reader and prepares them for the horrors of the author's ordeal. Though it is my opinion a good deal of the narrative was glossed over for the audience the book has been markets to, it is accurate and the message is more important than the prose. This is not a book about the debate over capital punishment nor is it a treatise on religion, it's a testament to courage, faith and healing on a par by itself. |
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