Women on the Row: Revelations from Both Sides of the Bars

Number of Reviews: 1    Average Rating:  Write your own online review!A reviewer, A reviewer, September 3, 2003, More Alike than DifferentKathleen O'Shea does something with this book that no other has ever done for me. She shows clearly how similar we all are as human beings with what we hope for and dream about, who we love and why. She tells the stories of the women on death row, and generously and vulnerably offers up her own. In the 'listening', I realize how easily - with just a slight shift of circumstances here or there - even I could end up defenseless and alone behind bars, facing a death penalty. Regardless of your political persuasion, you cannot help but be moved by the voices of these women on the row. I applaud Kathleen O'Shea for sharing her own life's journey and how these women have affected her. It is obvious to me that the subjects of the book felt confident in sharing their experiences with this author because she so graciously opened the door with the offering of her own tragedies and triumphs.

This radiant memoir is a blend of O'Shea's own story with excerpts from life stories of women on death row. O'Shea is a lesbian and former nun who has been researching and talking to women in prisons across the United States, especially with those on death row. This is her third book on the subject, but the first that is told from her own point of view. With remarkable technique, O'Shea shows us the universality of human experience and closes the gap between us and those whose freedom has been taken away. I found the book utterly radiant, so far it's my favorite memoir of the year.

Once I started to read this book I couldn't put it down. I was moved, shaken and awed. Ms. O'Shea had the courage to confront the pain of women convicted of murder who are waiting to be put to death, and to establish personal relationships with them. In weaving her own personal story into their stories, she also confronts the pain of her own life and evokes a compelling sense of how circumstantial our differences can be. It is at once a horror story and a love story. A horror story because it lets us hear the voices of women whose last chance to redeem their lives is being taken from them. And a love story because it shows us how the author found redemption in her own life through the love she gave and received from others. The book led me to reflect on my own life, on what it means to be human, and on what we do to ourselves individually and as a society when we deny the possibility of forgiveness. Kathleen O'Shea has written a book that is profoundly important and healing.

O'Shea's work is a powerful memoir. It spans her life from the tender idealism of her youth, to the desperation and dispair of early mid-life. Paralleling her story are the stories of women currently on death row. What I found compelling was the extent to which her writing brought me into their lives, and the extent to which their lives made me look at my own life. We have all made mistakes. Some worse than others. Some we had consequences for and others that we didn't. Society and God give most of us a chance to redeem ourselves. We can repent, we can take a new path. We are forgiven. The great tragedy of the death penalty is the extent to which these women have lost these opportunities for inclusion in the human family. Redemption and forgiveness are denied them. Being human includes making mistakes. sometimes, horrible tragic mistakes. Being human also requires of us that we forgive. Kathleen O'Shea compells us to confront forgiveness as individuals and as a society. Much of what Jesus said was troubling.He spoke of a new way, of good news. Ms. O'Shea writes with his blessing.

Kathleen O'Shea has met the women on death row as persons, something few can or would attempt to do and manages to let us share that. Her persistence in breaking down the barriers of unwillingness to be objects of the press speaks to her intuitive ability to understand the heart. In weaving her own story with theirs she demonstrates how easily our life courses can be changed by forces in ourselves we don't understand. Many of the women on the row have been brutalized. Some may be innocent of the crime for which they are sentenced to die. Kathleen's own story of stunted sexual development and the tragic consequences and her willingness to tell it, stands in parallel with those of the women on the row and is one more of the increasing body of understanding of the destructiveness of SOME convent life before the Second Vatican Counsel and even after in too many communities of nuns.Many people contributed to the moment that brought these varied women to their moments of tragedy. The book gives us both a unique first hand account of what "life" before execution can be like in a variety of prisons and how vulnerable those who don't experience love and trust can be to mistakes that have untimate consequences for self and others.