Premise: Stevenson, an attorney and activist since the mid-1980s, shares his experiences representing incarcerated clients, mainly doing post-conviction work. The main through-line is his work with Walter McMillian, an Alabaman man convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in a gross miscarriage of justice. Stevenson also takes several detours into other serious issues with the American criminal justice system–the incarceration of youth, the prevalence of solitary confinement, and the criminalization of miscarriages, among others–as well as his own experience as a black, first-generation law student and then attorney.
Thoughts: I’d been meaning to read Just Mercy for a while–it’s relevant to my work, and both book and author were extremely well-regarded at my law school–but I’d put it off, mostly because I saw the movie in 2020 and felt like I’d gotten the general idea. I had not gotten the general idea. The movie is a solid courtroom drama with some good performances; the book is an absolutely stellar work of nonfiction, on par with the ecological horror story And the Waters Turned to Blood.
I understand why the book was streamlined for a film adaptation, but you really lose a lot when you take out all the tangents and most of Stevenson’s background. These aspects both enrich the book as a whole (because you’re seeing the problems with the system from several different angles, illustrated by one or two individuals’ stories) and add tension to the main story. Because Stevenson is a lawyer, most of his conflicts involve filing motions and diplomatically negotiating bullshit from other lawyers. This may not sound like it’d have you on the edge of your seat, but I was there.
Hot Goodreads Take: One reviewer accuses Stevenson of having “complicit bias.” Don’t we all! My hot take is that I’m glad I finally figured out that it was Just (as in fair) Mercy, not Just (as in only) Mercy.
Hand claps and snaps for Warner Bros. Who announced it is making its 2019 legal drama “Just Mercy” available for free on digital platforms such as Amazon and the Apple TV app throughout June in response to the death of George Floyd.
