The problem I always have with reviewing non-fiction is that it feels as if I am reviewing the author's / "protagonist's" life or experience, which I of course have no right to. In this case, it was especially difficult, because this book made me feel so much I just wanted to right some injustice rather than judge the book. This is the story of Anthony Ray Hinton, a black man living in Alabama, who was wrongfully committed for two murders and spent 30 years on death row in constant fear of execution before gaining his freedom in a very long and hard legal battle. 

It is a terrifying thought, this injustice and the system that allows it, and the only thing worse is that it really happened. I liked how the book made clear that so much about the legal system in the United States depends on race and money (for lawyers and experts), which is just really unfair. It is a great book, very emotional, very powerful, filling one which hope and energy and teaching a lesson about perseverance. Read around all the legal talk and you will experience a story of inner strength and believe. 

The one thing I did not like was the pacing: some uninteresting parts were too dragged out - I do not want to read a muscle-movement by muscle-movement retelling of a baseball game, and neither am I particularly interested in Ray's fantasies about actresses. On the other hand, the reader does not really feel the immense amount of time spent in prison. In a short sentence, it was mentioned that it had been 12 years, and all I thought was: "Huh, it felt like maybe one or two." The slow passing of time, the repetitive nature, the boredom, the hopelessness - all of that did not really get through to the reader. But other than that, it was an amazing book.

The Sun Does Shine is an autobiography of Ray Hinton, a man wrongfully condemned to death for the murder of two people in Alabama, United States. The process of his trial was sketchy and many of the evidence against him did not hold up under proper scrutiny. Ray Hinton spent about 30 years on death row before being finally released in 2015 after a retrial. This book details his experience on death row, the plight of death row inmates and shady details of what the present justice system has come to represent when it comes to poor people, regardless of colour or background.

WHO WOULD ENJOY READING IT?
I recommend this as a must-read for adults of all ages.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT
It reads like a fiction, but its contents are mostly true. The ease of reading makes connection to the story straightforward and its concepts easy to grasp. This book shines a bright light on the state of western democracy and what needs to change.

MEMORABLE PASSAGE

    "We all did our time differently. I traveled in my mind. I had a whole, full life in my imagination, and so I didn’t always ache for what I was missing. Some guys never spoke. Some guys never stopped being angry. Some guys prayed to God, and some nurtured a darkness that no man should ever carry. I tried to remember the moments on the row that would make my mama proud. I tried to focus on the moments that held light and laughter. It’s what helped me get through. My case was winding down. I knew that. There was a clock counting down to the day I ran out of time—the day when I got my execution date and had to learn how to live with knowing the date and time of my death. I didn’t want to know. I would rather it be a surprise than have to live out thirty or sixty days seeing the faces of the men practicing for my death.

    "It was hard not to spend time wishing for a different life, but I tried not to dwell on all the what-ifs. What if I had never driven off in that car? What if I had taken a job somewhere besides Bruno’s? What if I hadn’t been born poor? What if I’d had Bryan as my lawyer from the start? I was still fighting for my freedom, but it was with a quiet acceptance of what seemed inevitable. They were never going to admit they had put the wrong man on death row. I was never going to walk out of there."


.......

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton and Lara Love Hardin is available to buy on all major online bookstores. Many thanks to St Martin'sPress for review copy.

For as long as governments have used the Death Penalty to punish criminals, innocent people have been murdered by the authorities in the name of public safety. Anthony Ray Hinton - Ray to his friends - was almost one of those people. Accused of a crime he absolutely could not have committed, he was lied about in court and sentenced to death so that the state of Alabama could say they got another "dangerous" black man off of the streets.

Thankfully for Ray, the Equal Justice Initiative was there to stand up for him. After suffering through a farce of a trial with an incompetent, if not complicit, public defender, EJI came through to file motion after motion, appeal after appeal, brief after brief in order to make the state of Alabama admit that their evidence against him was falsified. Though he never received an apology, his conviction was finally vacated and he became a free man after spending half his life waiting to die.

The implications of Ray's story are huge. During his time on Death Row, he met people sentenced to death who were not mentally competent to stand trial. He met others like him who were wrongfully convicted. And, of course, he met people who indeed had committed the horrible crimes they were accused of. But when one in ten people executed are actually innocent, that seems enough to me to cancel the death penalty altogether.

Ray talks a lot about faith in this book, but it never came across as preachy or overbearing. He struggled with his faith in God just like many do at one point or another. In the end, he prayed and prayed but also took the necessary action to save his life and also keep himself and his friends sane during the sweltering summer heat and abuses from the guards. 

Perhaps one of the best things he was able to do while he was in prison was convince the warden to let him start a book club. With the books, he and his fellow inmates were able to escape their situation for a few hours each month and learn new ways of thinking while discussing pertinent issues such as racism.

An incredible story! My heart hurt for Anthony Ray Hinton, an innocent man with extraordinary patience who sat on death row in a 5x7 ft cell for 30 years. This man missed half his life due to an unconscionable travesty of justice in Alabama’s court system before finally being exonerated and set free in 2015 at 58 years old after a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. I don’t know if I will ever be able to forget Ray’s story. Surely, the Alabama Senate will find it in their hearts to compensate this man as a small token to right this egregious wrong?

The fix was in from the start for Ray, an hard-working young black man living in racially charged Alabama. It infuriates me that people today use the ‘racist’ card when a behavior doesn’t suit them and have no idea what true racism is. Anthony Ray Hinton can educate them on that. 

“You know, I don’t care whether you did or didn’t do it. In fact, I believe you didn’t do it. But it doesn’t matter. If you didn’t do it, one of your brothers did. And you’re going to take the rap,” said District Attorney of Birmingham, David Barber as he interrogated Ray.

The cards were stacked against Ray - a white witness carrying a grudge, a white district attorney, a white judge, a white jury. Nobody cared about the truth. Mix in an incompetent public defender and a ballistics expert blind in one eye who had trouble working the microscope and asked for help doing his job who would be crucified on the stand by the prosecutor.

30 years in a cell nearby the room where 53 death row inmates were executed, I cannot imagine the psychological effects of being exposed long term to this barbaric practice, hearing anguished pleas, smelling burning flesh and urine…simply beyond comprehension. I was overwhelmed just thinking about it and the strength it must have taken to survive 30 years of this! I recently saw an interview of Ray, who seems to have no hate in his heart or carry a grudge. I am so inspired by his amazing spirit yet grieve for his loss of everything he’s missed out on over the years since back when Reagan was president including the love of his life, his mother, dying while he was still in prison.

Attorney Bryan Stevenson is a shining star, a man who for years has steadfastly dedicated his life to the less fortunate and incarcerated and who fought for decades  with his staff to get Ray his freedom. 
*will add to additional online venues upon publication.

Beautifully written, I really sunk my teeth into this fascinating story of the wrongful conviction of Anthony Ray Hinton, a young black man who spent 30 years on Alabama's Death Row.  His crime?   Nothing more than being born black and poor in Alabama.  He was convicted of the robbery, kidnap and attempted murder of one man, and the brutal murder of two others in a short period of time.  Similar robbery killings continued after he was locked up, but no one cared. 

All but the fact that he had an excellent alibi for the night of the crime that he went to trial for.   He was locked in a warehouse surrounded by a 15' fence topped with razor wire, doing jobs with other men, mostly driving a forklift. They had a guard that signed them in and out, miles away from the crime scene.   This book is a tough story of a long struggle yet filled with inspiration at the same time, as Anthony finds ways to remain strong during his time on death row. For those interested in true crime, death row stories, and wrongful imprisonment. 

An advance digital copy was provided by NetGalley,  authors Anthony Ray Hinton and Lara Love Hardin for my honest review.     

St. Martin's Press
Publication date is March 27, 2018.

I loved this book. So well written. I found this book unputdownable!!

The Sun Does Shine. Wow. What an incredible story. I was outraged just reading the introduction.  This is the very personal life story of a man wrongfully accused. 
I highlighted in my kindle as I read and found that there were just TOO many beautiful lines to highlight them all.
At the very beginning of the book Hinton gets up in court to defend himself. It was moving.  Hinton took advantage of the awful moment to tell those trying to convict them that he loves them and was praying for them. 
Every moment that Hinton spoke of his mother was touching. He loves and respects her greatly. I cannot speak highly enough of this book and of Hinton. He owns the things that he has done wrong, and does not allow his conviction to break his soul. Incredible. 


 "I'm not worried about that death chair.  You can sentence me to it, but you can't take my life. It don't belong to you. My soul, you can't touch it. " 


Beauitiful. Heartbreaking. Enraging.

One of the most inspiring books I have ever read. The story of Ray Hinton who was innocent of the crime of murder and spent 30 years on Death Row in an Alabama prison. He was  a poor black working man who lived with his mother when he was falsely accused of murder. It’s hard to believe that if you can’t pay for a defense then you essentially don’t get a defense.   This man was an easy scapegoat because no one was going to fight for him. Sadly, it took 30 years of his life, and one lawyer’s 15 year fight for his release.  This is the story of forgiveness, unconditional love from his mother and best friend, and about never losing hope. It’s also about Ray’s service to his fellow inmates who were also on death row.   Rays faith in God, his service to others, a wonderful imagination, and knowing  unconditional love saw him through 30 years of confinement.  This has certainly made me think of the death penalty in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Thank you, Mr. Hinton for continuing to serve others through your remarkable and inspiring story. Thank you Netgalley,  for allowing me the privilege of reviewing this amazing book in exchange for my honest review.

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was a 29-year old man who was on his way to discovering his path in life after a brief stint in prison for a nonviolent crime. He was happily dating someone and had found a promising job outside of the coal mines, where many in his town worked. His promising future was squashed in a quick moment when  was charged with a crime he did not commit. A crime that put him on death row despite his innocence. This is the story of his 30 year struggle to clear his name and go home.

I'm not sure how you can come out of reading this and still think the death penalty is okay (or at least leave it with an understanding of why some people are very much against capital punishment). Anthony Ray Hinton's story is simply crushing, and you can tell in his writing that he is telling it all from the heart. You can feel the initial confusion when he gets picked up by officers while mowing his lawn. You can feel the clear shock he experiences as he goes through his initial trial, believing until the end that there was no way he could be convicted of a crime he did not commit. From there, he expresses periods of anger (at the clearly racist prosecutors and Alabama State in general), depression, loss (and rediscovery) of faith, and above all of those things, an unbelievable ability to hold on to whatever joy he can in a place full of such fear and despair.

This is one of those stories that you just can't stomach at points for it's many injustices, but you just can't stop reading. It will linger with me for a very long time.

This truly made me look at my beliefs on the Death Sentence. I don't say that lightly. I'm one of those people who feels certain crimes deserve the Death Sentence especially when our prisons today treat the prisoners better than homeless people are treated. I guess I never really considered someone who could be innocent. Call me naive! I am truly appalled at what happened to Ray. I praise God for bringing it to light and using Bryan and his team to do that. I don't know that I could be so forgiving as Ray is. Thank you Ray for sharing your life. I will be praying that God uses your life story for His Glory!

This is a wonderful book about a man who is convicted for a crime he didn't commit. He served 30 years until his release. A poor black man from the South, Anthony believed that truth and justice would prevail. While he never gave up, he made the most of his time on death row, and helped other inmates in their quest if not for justice, but for their dignity. He started a book club even in the prison for the death row inmates. It didn't last long, due to security issues, but it was perhaps the first opportunity for many of these men, to read and share with each other. Anthony is a ray of sunshine and inspiration to others, especially to the reader of his memoir. What a wonderful writer! Bryan Stevenson writes the introduction. You may remember him from the book Just Mercy. This is a must read.
Thanks to Netgalley for this copy for providing an honest review.

This true story about the wrongly convicted man on death row brought tears to my eyes!

Ray was an ordinary man living with his mother in Alabama and was working in other places when the homicides took place miles away from him.

Ray was arrested, in front of his mother, for the murders and her gun was claimed to be used. It had not been fired in 25 years and the ballistic tests for forensic evidence showed the bullets were no match to the other bullets at the crime scenes but the district attorney and Ray’s first defence attorney did not present these claims to the presiding judge during the trial.

Racial prejudices and corruption were very common in Alabama. The judges and district attorneys were elected by the general public who were biased against the minority of non-white people.

Ray made many friends with the inmates on death row after he was found guilty of the murders that he did not commit and sentenced to death by electrocution. His cell was just 30 feet from the death chamber.

He found a new and brilliant attorney, Bryan Stevenson. after many failed appeals against the judge’s original decision. Ray was finally released after 30 years imprisonment which made shocking news headlines globally about the gross miscarriages of many judgements against innocent people.

I laud Bryan Stevenson with grace for his enormous help getting Ray released. I strongly recommend this book in the fight against capital punishment and torture against all the prisoners worldwide.  

Columpoirot

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

If you are on the fence about the necessity of the death penalty I suggest you read The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton. If you believe in the need for a death sentence, I also suggest you read it with open eyes and ears. Actually, everyone should read Hinton’s memoir, because it is in my opinion a necessary read on how broken the US justice system really is. And more: it is the story of how an innocent man spent nearly 30 years on Death Row in Alabama, and continued to fight for freedom when most people would have given up. Hinton is a true hero, a man who lived through hell year after year after year, and still manages to see so much positive in everything.

Anthony Ray Hinton, Ray, was arrested and convicted of a crime he could not have committed, by a prejudiced judge, jury, and court-appointed attorney. The details of the case are abhorrent: no jury should EVER have deemed this man guilty of the crimes the police said he had committed. On top of this, his appeals were continuously thrown out, the state of Alabama obviously not interested in admitting that they had sentenced an innocent man to death. It wasn’t until Bryan Stevenson started to work with Ray that things started to look up, but even then it took many more years for Ray’s conviction to be thrown out the court and for him to be released.

The Sun Does Shine is a memoir of 30 lost years, of absolute darkness, but it is also ultimately a story of hope, of love, of friendship and of forgiveness. Hinton’s innate need to care for others is absolutely uplifting, and his ability to navigate through darkness to see the light in everything is remarkable. I don’t believe that we have the right to sentence anyone to death, no matter the crime, and The Sun Does Shine has me all the more convinced that we need to fight so much harder to get it removed.

As Ray mentions at the end of the book, we should assume that every 10th person currently on death row is innocent. Should we be able to live with that?

The Sun Does Shine will be published by St. Martin’s Press on Marc 27th. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!

An amazing story of a young, poor black man wrongly committed for murdering 3 women although the evidence provided in court proved otherwise.  White judge,, prosecutor, defence lawyer and judge set out to make sure the verdict was guilty.    Sent to death row,   He describes the horrific conditions which makes you wonder how he survived,.   One of his lawyers suggested he could try for life in prison, he rejected the idea.  He was determined to get out an innocent man or die.   Made friends with all the other prisoners, regardless of what they had done.   Very emotional and in some places a tough read, but so powerful and enlightening, I recommend it.

I knew right from the start this wasn't going to be an easy read, but it is almost impossible to wrap your head around all that the author has had to go through during all that time. Powerful, infuriating, heartbreaking and with a dose of hope and forgiveness... The Sun Does Shine is one of the best true crime memoirs I have read to this date, and his story will stay with me for a long time. Why did this memoir have such an impact on me? Let's see if I can explain my reasons... In a nutshell, this memoir is about the life of a man who had to spend thirty years on death row despite being innocent and having a solid alibi. His crime? Being born poor and black in the South (Alabama), a place where he ended up being judged by the color of his skin and the money in his pocket instead of the simple fact he was guilty or not. This fact alone will be enough to enrage you, one infuriating detail of his case after the other causing sparks and making you want to scream and pull at your hairs. How is it possible that in 1985 things like this still happened? Incriminating an innocent man with a solid alibi, discriminating him and denying him his rights? It made me want to travel back in time and just tell those persons involved in his case what I really thought of them. The Sun Does Shine talks about the author growing up as well as the difficulties he has had to face during his entire life, even long before he was wrongly convicted of a crime. Racial segregation and discrimination is an important element in this memoir, and even though Anthony Ray Hinton never points a direct finger at the guilty and even stresses he forgives them, it shows us readers just how wrong the system was and still is in Southern Alabama. It's a topic that has always touched me, and it is very well described in this memoir.

But this memoir isn't just about injustice and racial discrimination. Like the author stresses, it is also about hope and forgiveness, which shines through in his writing and underlying message. His experience during all those years on death row is fascinating to read, as well as describing his personal relationships with fellow inmates and how the experience truly changes men. While I believe in punishment for those who have committed crimes, I don't think death row is a solution. Like Anthony Ray Hinton said, who are we to judge who is innocent and who deserves to die? And then I'm not even thinking about possibly innocent men and women killed because of a mistake during their trials. Anthony Ray Hinton's case shows us just how wrong things can go, sending an innocent man to spend thirty years of his life on death row. I'm truly impressed and inspired by his view of life and ability for forgiveness. I can recommend this memoir to everyone; it is a true eye-opener.

Powerful, inspiring, infuriating, heartbreaking, but also full of hope and forgiveness. The Sun Does Shine shows us how racial discrimination and prejudice helped send an innocent man to death row and keep him there for thirty years despite solid proof of his innocence. The pure injustice of it all makes you want to scream, but both his case and experience is very well documented in this memoir and makes for a painful, but inspiring, intriguing and very powerful read. I'm truly impressed by his views on life and his ability to be able to forgive the unforgivable. Highly recommended!

4.5 stars
The Sun Does Shine is an unforgettable, haunting story of a terrible injustice that was done to a black man from Alabama, Ray Hinton.  In 1985 Anthony Ray Hinton was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sentenced to die by execution. Ray spent nearly thirty years on death row before the state of Alabama admitted that they had made a mistake, and set him free. Although evidence and a polygraph test had proven Ray to be innocent of the crime, that he was accused of, he sat on death row for thirty years, anyway.

This memoir is heartbreaking and brought me to tears several times. When Ray Hinton decided to stop hating the people who put him on death row, his life and those around him began to change.  Ray adopted his inmates as his new family and brought inspiration, laughter, and faith to everyone on his cell block. Even the guards couldn’t help but like Ray Hinton. 

Although this story was difficult to read because of the terrible injustice, done to an innocent man, it’s a powerful novel; moving and unforgettable. This story will stay with me for a very long time. 

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley, for my advanced review copy.

Fascinating! This was a WONDERFUL book. I am so impressed with the determination of Mr. Hinton. This book could be made into an amazing movie. I am so glad that he was finally freed. Really opened my eyes to the death penalty, a topic I was always on the fence about. This is a must read.

Would you have the capacity to forgive those who stole almost three decades of your life through hatred and ignorance? Anthony Ray Hinton was falsely convicted of two counts of murder in a travesty of justice in 1985. Subsequent appeals were further abortions in the courts. Why? 

Anthony Ray Hinton was a young, poor black man, who had broken the law before so in the “wisdom” of the Alabama judicial system, he was sentenced to death by electrocution. Almost three decades of his life was spent on Death Row, in spite of compelling evidence that proved he could not have been the killer. Almost three decades of the life he could have had were lost forever, the children he could have fathered, the love he could have shared, any potential for contributing to society at large, gone. Who knows, maybe he would have fathered the child who grew up to cure cancer or who led the world to true peace?

What Mr. Hinton did was just as miraculous, he changed himself, he sought peace of mind, he sought knowledge and he brought people together in the name of hope and justice. He also found a man brave enough to say, I believe in you and I will fight for you when Attorney Bryan Stevenson took his case.

Today, Anthony Ray Hinton is a free man. Today he advocates justice and forgiveness and he believes in a God who never gave him more than he could bear. He has written of his grueling journey to freedom so the world will not forget what hatred and injustice are. He has written a book filled with undying hope through all that was lost. THE SUN DOES SHINE is compelling, riveting, shocking, appalling and simply astounding to realize that while we went on with our lives, someone should have to fight so desperately for their own.

A MUST read, no matter who you are, because once read, it will NOT be forgotten, or should this dark piece of human failings ever have to be repeated.

I received a complimentary ARC edition from St. Martin's Press!

Publisher: St. Martin's Press (March 27, 2018)
Publication Date: March 27, 2018
Genre: Non-Fiction | Racism | Social Sciences
Print Length: 272 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

This is a very profound, moving story. It is also true, the story of a man imprisoned for 30 years for a crime he did not commit. He was guilty only of being black and being poor. But instead of being filled with hate and thoughts of revenge, he was inspiring and a model example to others in prison with him. He was freed after 30 years in prison, no thoughts of revenge, but became an inspiration to others.