As a true crime fan, I was hoping for more from this book. It could not keep my attention and wasn't very great.

In her second memoir, Amanda Knox offers a candid and introspective account of life after wrongful imprisonment. While personal, the memoir often dwells on introspection at the expense of storytelling, making it feel slow and uneven. Some readers may struggle to connect with Knox’s reflections.

This book focuses on when Amanda Know was in jail and how she handled life after jail. I didn’t feel like it was very well written or cohesive. I lost interest.

Amanda Know is a name everyone knows. What we don't know is her side. This book lets Amanda tell us what she always wanted us to know but was not allowed to tell us. This is a fascinating book and you will see this case in a new light and will wonder how someone so young could have survived so much.

The book moves between harrowing accounts of incarceration, moments of awkward reintegration, and her eventual return to Italy—culminating in an unexpected connection with the man who prosecuted her.

There are passages that feel genuinely revealing, particularly when she’s grappling with the gap between public perception and private reality. At the same time, the narrative sometimes circles familiar territory without adding much new, and the mix of memoir and self-help occasionally feels uneven in tone.

It’s candid in places, guarded in others—a read that offers flashes of insight but didn’t consistently hold the depth or cohesion I was hoping for.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Free: My Search for Meaning" was released on March 25, 2025. A big thank you to the publisher and author for providing an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley.

4 stars.

The first time I heard about Amanda Knox, I was in a required class that all university students had to take before studying abroad. I was 19 at the time, just one year younger than Amanda was when she left for her study abroad trip, one that turned into a nightmare in Italy. Her story was essentially used as a cautionary tale for college-aged students to be careful while overseas.

In her second memoir, Knox shares with the reader a story of trauma, healing, and forgiveness through an intimate look into her life after being acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher.

A powerful part of this memoir is the relationship that forms between Knox and her former prosecutor, the very person who once seemed determined to send her to prison for the rest of her life.

This is a devastating story on all fronts. Amanda ends her memoir with a chapter dedicated to Meredith. My condolences to Meredith’s loved ones.

This is a candid memoir that offers an introspective look at her experiences surrounding her wrongful conviction in Italy and her journey toward personal freedom. Knox shares her emotional and psychological struggles, as well as her resilience and determination to reclaim her life after years of media scrutiny and legal battles. The writing is honest and raw, providing insight into the challenges of being falsely accused, as well as her process of healing and finding her voice.

Insightful. A silenced voice is now heard. Whether you believe of her innocence or not, this is a very good insight into what happened and the affect it's had on everyone, post that tragic murder.

I've decided this year to read some biographies and autobiographies, and this is my second for the year. I've lightly followed Knox's case since it began and never really felt like she was guilty. I'm not sure if that's because Brokedown Palace is one of my favorite movies and the systems in certain other countries seem a little scary, but regardless of how Knox acted in court, I truly believed she wasn't guilty.

This is the second book she's written about what she went through, and I did not read her first book. I found this novel so eye opening and it really made me feel horrible for what she went through. It's like she was guilty until proven innocent, and Italy worked incredibly hard to keep her locked up regardless of the evidence.

By the end of this novel I was just happy that she's found some happiness throughout everything she went through. I'm sure she's never going to fully stop looking over her shoulder, but I'm hopefully that she's found a little bit of peace.

If you love true crime, this is an excellent read.

An incredible memoir about redefining your own self and what it means to be free in the face of adversity. If you're reading this, it's probably because you know the name Amanda Knox and the murder she was wrongly implicated in. FREE is both this and more; while exploring her wrongful conviction, imprisonment and the years of derision she faced after, Knox walks through the points in her life that should be the lowest, and how she learnt to overcome years of hate and loathing, both internally and externally.

If you've ever been unsettled in the way we use true crime - and wrongful doings - as entertainment in this current world, you will enjoy this, or at least I hope it changes your perspective on our consumption of other people's pain and suffering. I know it's changed mine.

I have never read Amanda's first memoir so this is the first I'm really hearing about this from her POV outside of news clips. I've always felt skeptical about people releasing second memoirs, but I think this one was necessary.

I could tell that with distance from the event, Amanda has had time to heal and better communicate her experience. Memoirs can never be perfect as no one's life is, but I enjoyed it.

In Free, Amanda Knox delivers a fearless, brutally honest memoir that goes beyond the headlines to examine what it truly means to reclaim one’s life, identity, and voice after being silenced by the justice system—and the world. With striking clarity and emotional courage, Knox invites readers into the aftermath of her wrongful conviction, not to rehash the case, but to illuminate the human cost of injustice and the complicated journey toward healing.

This is not a story of victimhood—it’s a narrative of reclamation. Knox explores how freedom is more than physical release; it’s the painstaking process of rediscovering truth, trust, and purpose after being dehumanized and defined by others. Her reflections on media scrutiny, institutional failure, and public shaming are sharp, insightful, and often unsettling—but always deeply human.

Free is a memoir about survival, but it’s also a manifesto. It challenges how we think about guilt, narrative, and redemption, while offering a bold, intelligent voice that is both vulnerable and unflinching. Knox’s writing is as precise as it is passionate, filled with a sense of moral clarity earned through extraordinary personal turmoil.

Perfect for: Readers of powerful memoirs, criminal justice reform advocates, and anyone who believes in second chances and the resilience of the human spirit.
Rating: ★★★★★

Amanda Knox’s story is one that has remained with me all these years. I read Waiting to Be Heard in 2013 mere days after it was released. I’ve followed her story over the years as her battle in the courtroom continued. This is her story, now 12 years later exploring who she is and what it all means. Highly recommend, an immediate purchase for my library branch and well as my personal collection.

Amanda Knox's memoir, Free, offers a deeply vulnerable and reflective account of her life after the harrowing experience of wrongful conviction and public scrutiny. It reads like a candid conversation with a trusted friend, revealing the immense emotional labor involved in rebuilding a life shattered by injustice.

Knox meticulously details her journey of recovery, from the arduous legal battles to the relentless prosecution in the court of public opinion. What truly stands out is her remarkable resilience and capacity for empathy. Despite the profound trauma, she actively works to support others facing similar plights and, perhaps most astonishingly, strives for forgiveness towards those who caused her immense suffering—a feat many would deem impossible. Free is a testament to the human spirit's ability to endure, heal, and even find purpose amidst unimaginable adversity.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Amanda Knox’s Free is not a sequel to her first memoir so much as a philosophical reckoning with the aftermath of survival. Where Waiting to Be Heard was a cry for justice, Free is a meditation on what it means to live after the world has already written your story for you.

Knox structures her memoir with a literary elegance that echoes Dante’s Divine Comedy—a descent into the inferno of wrongful imprisonment, a purgatory of public spectacle, and a hard-won paradise of self-acceptance. This triptych framework elevates the memoir beyond autobiography, transforming it into a spiritual and existential inquiry. The result is a narrative that feels less like a retelling and more like a re-becoming.

What makes Free so compelling is Knox’s refusal to sanitize her pain. She writes candidly about suicidal ideation, the corrosive effects of media vilification, and the disorienting task of rebuilding a life in the shadow of notoriety. Yet her voice is never self-pitying. Instead, it’s clear-eyed and often darkly humorous, as when she recounts the absurdities of post-prison reintegration or her surreal return to Italy to speak at an Innocence Project conference—where she meets, and eventually reconciles with, the very prosecutor who once sought her conviction.

Knox draws deeply from Stoicism, Zen Buddhism, and existentialist thought, weaving these threads into a tapestry of hard-earned wisdom. Her reflections on identity—how it is constructed, distorted, and reclaimed—are some of the most powerful in the book. “To be free is to be powerful,” she writes, “and if your power is kindness, you are always free.” It’s a line that lingers, not because it’s inspirational, but because it’s hard-won.

Strengths:

- Lyrical, introspective prose
- Philosophical depth and literary allusion
- Honest exploration of trauma and healing
- A rare, nuanced look at public shame and redemption

Shortcomings:

- The “Purgatorio” section occasionally rushes through pivotal moments
- Some passages veer into defensiveness, though perhaps understandably so...

Free is not just Amanda Knox’s story—it’s a mirror held up to a culture obsessed with guilt, innocence, and the spectacle of suffering. It’s a book for anyone who has been misrepresented, misunderstood, or misnamed—and who seeks to reclaim their narrative not with vengeance, but with grace.

What a raw and powerful reclaiming of narrative! Most of what I knew about Amanda Knox before reading this book centered around her initial trial and the crime she was accused of. Whatever you think you know about Amanda Knox, Free offers something more: a meditation on justice, womanhood, and the ways the media cannibalizes young women. It's journalistic and personal, unforgiving and full of grace. I really thought it was interesting to explore her life after everything that happened. I couldn't imagine what life would be like with such a notorious narrative following me everywhere.

I, like many other people my age, have always been fascinated and shocked by Amanda Knox’s story and couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was actually like for her to be in jail and fight her way to exoneration, so I was really excited to read her memoir and try to put myself in her shoes. She’s a great writer, and I flew through this book. There were a few times the pacing and her musings lost my attention, but overall I loved it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a digital ARC of the new memoir by Amanda Knox. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

Amanda Knox spent almost 4 years in prison and many more on trial for a murder she didn't commit. Even when she was completely exonerated, she was still in a prison of a different kind - a tabloid story afraid to live her life. This book looks into how she regained her life and her freedom, as well as a relationship she built with the man who sent her to prison. It's a story of afterwards, and should bring hope to anyone trying to move past a life crisis of any kind. I enjoyed hearing about her new family and life after the headlines.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars

Raw, powerful, and deeply moving.

In Free, Amanda Knox shares her story with unflinching honesty and grace. This memoir goes far beyond the headlines, diving into the emotional and psychological journey of a young woman fighting not just for her freedom, but for her humanity.

Knox’s voice is clear and compelling, weaving vulnerability with strength in a way that’s both heartbreaking and empowering. Her reflections on identity, injustice, and healing resonated deeply with me. It’s a book that doesn’t ask for sympathy—it earns your respect.

Highly recommended for readers of memoirs, true crime, and anyone interested in stories of survival, resilience, and reclaiming one’s narrative.

Thank you Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of my honest review.

I have followed Amanda Knox ever since she was accused of murder in Italy. I read her first book and was excited to come across the second book. Amanda Knox is one strong and intelligent human. This book felt raw and vulnerable as Amanda learns to navigate society as she is continually looked at as someone who could have committed murder (as some people still believe she is guilty). She talked about things she has to deal with on an every day basis, things I wouldn't have thought about. She is such a brave and courageous person to not only go back to Italy but to talk to the prosecutor who was horrible to her. A great read!