Monday, May 21, 2012

My Review Of John Kercher’s Great Book “Meredith”

Posted by Jeffski1




Having just recently finished reading the excellent book by John Kercher “Meredith” i felt compelled to write a review.

From the start as John describer’s the first phone call he received while in a bank, that a young English woman in Perugia had been found murdered, to the desperate hours waiting for information regarding the identity of the victim, to the realisation that it was in fact Meredith, you can feel the pain and the despair in his words.

This book takes you on an emotional roller coaster of a ride, from laughter at some of the antics Meredith got up to as a child, to the chilling account of her brutal murder, then again on to the many personnel messages that John prints at the end of the book.

Messages from complete strangers to the family, a heart warming message the family received from a American woman, that will leave you in tears. And the many accounts of the lasting impression Meredith has left on all who had the pleasure to meet her.

You read for yourself how very close Meredith was to her whole family, that she worried constantly about her mother Arline’s health, that she kept in daily contact with her mother, how very close she was to her sister Stephanie, and that smile, that beautiful smile that we have all come to recognise and be ever so familiar with.

The bubbly out going personality, the witty intelligent young woman that John so proudly describes. It is so very very hard to understand, as John puts it, how anyone could do harm to such a person.

One of the things i found quite heart-warming and funny was that Meredith was always running late. As John puts it it was her trademark, when reading this you can imagine her running around in a mad rush.

The book covers quite extensively the trial, the verdict and also the appeal. You get a true feeling of all the pain, the agony, and the difficulties the family had, not only with there unbearable loss, but also their failing health, the long painful trips to Italy for the court hearings, John lays it all out.

It is a testament to the family’s steely determination for justice for Meredith, what they have had to endure over the last 4+ years. It is at times heart breaking to read, but also you will be so pleased to read thing’s about Meredith that have never been printed before.

Thank you, Mr Kercher.

Posted by Jeffski1 on 05/21/12 at 09:20 AM in News media & movies,  Excellent reporting

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Comments

Great review Jeffski!  I have been wondering about reading the book to learn more about the case but it looks like its mostly about Mr Kercher’s relationship with his daughter.  That’s worth reading about on its own but could someone recommend something that goes into the evidnce in more detail?  I heard Barbie Latza Nadeau wrote about the case.  Is that recommended?

Posted by olly on 05/21/12 at 11:16 PM | #

Hi Olly,

About three quarters of ‘Meredith’ chronicles the various trials and discusses the evidence against the three accused.

Barbie Nadeau’s book is worth a read, but is very short.

John Follain’s ‘Death in Perugia’ (2011) is probably the most comprehensive, but has flaws for those like you who want more coverage of the evidence. There is no index, and the book keeps switching from one group of characters to another then another and back again, so finding what you’re looking for can be a problem (though less so if you have the kindle edition, I guess).

‘Darkness Descending’(Russell, Johnson and Garofano, 2010) goes into the evidence quite deeply and is the one I’d recommend (with Follain coming in second)for your purposes, although it ends with the first trial and contains some critical comments of the investigation by Garofano.

There is also the translation of Massei’s report which you can download from this site.

Posted by Daoud on 05/22/12 at 01:12 AM | #

This is a beautiful review. Sums up my exact feelings too…the book makes you realize how much a few kind words can mean to such families during their times of grief. Meredith was truly a wonderful person.

Posted by Sara on 05/22/12 at 02:19 AM | #

Thanks, Jeffski! All the many wonderful reports on ‘Meredith’ are making it harder to wait for when I’ll have time to sit down and read it. In the meantime, reviews like yours will have to do.

Posted by Earthling on 05/24/12 at 06:13 AM | #
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Or to previous entry What Struck Me In John Kercher’s Excellent And Very Telling Book