Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir

"I spent the next 1,427 nights in prison for a crime I did not commit."  This is how Amanda Knox ends the intro chapter to her book Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir.  She starts by telling the story of the night her roommate, Meredith Kercher, was murdered and how she found her the following day, and then backtracks to tell that entire "chapter" of her life.

I've always been somewhat interested in this story.  I followed the news clippings about the trial and the  investigation and really felt badly for her.  Even more so now that I have read her memoir.  To me, it appears that she was mistreated so many times in the investigation and the judicial system in Italy does not follow the American saying of "Innocent until proven guilty."  Quite the opposite actually.  Poor Amanda was put in prison just for being a suspect and held there throughout the investigation.

I felt like her story was one of those awful ones that could happen to virtually anyone who shows up at the wrong place and wrong time.  I know that this has happened to students of mine in the past and they end up getting in trouble for association or walking in on a situation that they shouldn't be a part of (and maybe even didn't know anything about).  Has this every happened to you?

Amanda's experience living in a women's prison in Italy changed her.  It would change anybody.  One of the most impactful lines that I highlighted while reading was said to her by one of her many, many roommates at prison when Amanda started to remain silent the majority of the time: "If you're always hiding inside yourself, you won't ever be able to find your way back."  Obviously it applies specifically to her situation, but I can see this really being universal advice.  I see it with those students that are so quiet and shy who just want to blend into the classroom and never be heard.  In a way, they are hiding, and probably not getting as much out of class as those who are engaged and vocal.

Another impactful line was one spoken by Amanda several years into her prison term.  She said, "And I understand how you could feel so locked inside your own life that you could be desperate to escape, even if it meant that you'd no longer exist."  I personally have never felt this, but I can imagine this is something prison could do to a person.  Could make them change.

I raced through this book in about four days.  I thought it was a quick read, engaging, and honestly…I couldn't put it down.  I am going to continue to follow Amanda's story.  (If you didn't know, the Italian courts are still trying Amanda in the case and are trying to reverse the acquittal).  I, for one, am Team Amanda.