godDAM, damien
WM3, all I've been thinking about, did my NaNo on it, mandatory disclaimer on how I think they're innocent, etc etc etc
But I started reading the books yesterday. Before this I'd been watching interviews, I listened to the LPOTL episodes (that's what started it all, thanks a lot Marcus Parks), I watched two of the Paradise Lost documentaries. But I started in on the books yesterday. I've got five of them. Almost Home by Damien Echols, Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt, Dark Spell by Mara Leveritt, Life After Death by Damien Echols, and, just for fun, High Magck by Damien Echols.
That's a whole lotta Damien.
When it comes to this case, I have never felt as emotionally connected to Damien as I have the other two. I connected to and felt immense respect for Jason Baldwin, and I felt so hard for Jessie Misskelley. But Damien had always been... Damien. I felt terrible about what he'd been through but it was--well, it was Damien. I saw him as almost a ridiculous figure, in a kind of weirdly likable way, and kind of a relatable way--when your teenage goth phase is plastered all over the headlines for the world to see, that's, I guess, the image people are going to take away. If I'm right (don't quote me on this), that's kind of the reason he hated the Devil's Knot movie so much. If I had to sum up his characterization in that movie, it would be the scene when Colin Firth asks him why he smokes if he has asthma and he just looks off into the distance and says, "Guess I'm just... self-destructive..." in a wonderfully goth kid way, like,, damn.
But today I finished Almost Home. I know that this is pretty much the same book as his later memoir, Life After Death, just shorter, but what gets left out of book can affect the story so I wanted to read them both. And fuck, man, I connected to this book. I'm not even talking about when he complains that Stephen King should get more credit cause he's a good writer, even looking past all the horror stuff (though, yes, 100%). I'm talking about a lot of the feelings he describes. I get what he's describing.
The book is incredibly well-written. When you think of prison memoirs, or at least when I think of prison memoirs, I don't think of books this captivatingly written. I just don't. The mastering of figurative language is something intense that goes down, like, shit. He pinpointed those feelings and he laid them on the page that made me underline like, a lot. So much.
I am waiting on Jason Baldwin to finish his memoir. He's gotten some flack recently cause he put up a kickstarter to raise money to work on it and it hasn't come out, but like, books take a lot of time, and in a very recent interview he said he was working on it. But that's less out of love of his writing and more out of, I have immense respect for the dude and want to see what he says about it in his own words.
But Damien's writing, man. It's delicious. I am excited for High Magick, and I'm not sure how excited I was about that before reading some of his stuff. He's got a gift with words that I don't think I've read in many other places. It's incredible.
But I started reading the books yesterday. Before this I'd been watching interviews, I listened to the LPOTL episodes (that's what started it all, thanks a lot Marcus Parks), I watched two of the Paradise Lost documentaries. But I started in on the books yesterday. I've got five of them. Almost Home by Damien Echols, Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt, Dark Spell by Mara Leveritt, Life After Death by Damien Echols, and, just for fun, High Magck by Damien Echols.
That's a whole lotta Damien.
When it comes to this case, I have never felt as emotionally connected to Damien as I have the other two. I connected to and felt immense respect for Jason Baldwin, and I felt so hard for Jessie Misskelley. But Damien had always been... Damien. I felt terrible about what he'd been through but it was--well, it was Damien. I saw him as almost a ridiculous figure, in a kind of weirdly likable way, and kind of a relatable way--when your teenage goth phase is plastered all over the headlines for the world to see, that's, I guess, the image people are going to take away. If I'm right (don't quote me on this), that's kind of the reason he hated the Devil's Knot movie so much. If I had to sum up his characterization in that movie, it would be the scene when Colin Firth asks him why he smokes if he has asthma and he just looks off into the distance and says, "Guess I'm just... self-destructive..." in a wonderfully goth kid way, like,, damn.
But today I finished Almost Home. I know that this is pretty much the same book as his later memoir, Life After Death, just shorter, but what gets left out of book can affect the story so I wanted to read them both. And fuck, man, I connected to this book. I'm not even talking about when he complains that Stephen King should get more credit cause he's a good writer, even looking past all the horror stuff (though, yes, 100%). I'm talking about a lot of the feelings he describes. I get what he's describing.
The book is incredibly well-written. When you think of prison memoirs, or at least when I think of prison memoirs, I don't think of books this captivatingly written. I just don't. The mastering of figurative language is something intense that goes down, like, shit. He pinpointed those feelings and he laid them on the page that made me underline like, a lot. So much.
I am waiting on Jason Baldwin to finish his memoir. He's gotten some flack recently cause he put up a kickstarter to raise money to work on it and it hasn't come out, but like, books take a lot of time, and in a very recent interview he said he was working on it. But that's less out of love of his writing and more out of, I have immense respect for the dude and want to see what he says about it in his own words.
But Damien's writing, man. It's delicious. I am excited for High Magick, and I'm not sure how excited I was about that before reading some of his stuff. He's got a gift with words that I don't think I've read in many other places. It's incredible.
Comments
Post a Comment