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Journal Of The Dead: A Story Of Friendship And Murder In The New Mexico Desert (2004)

Journal of the Dead: A Story of Friendship and Murder in the New Mexico Desert (2004)

Book Info

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Genre
Rating
3.38 of 5 Votes: 3
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ISBN
0060959223 (ISBN13: 9780060959227)
Language
English
Publisher
harper perennial

About book Journal Of The Dead: A Story Of Friendship And Murder In The New Mexico Desert (2004)

I found this book on a thrift store shelf and got it with some others three for a dollar. I thought it sounded like a fascinating true crime story and after finishing reading it I know I was right.Two friends on a cross country road trip stop along the way to camp overnight in the desert. On their way out the next morning they get lost, become dehydrated, and eventually one friend supposedly begs the other to murder him as a way of mercy killing. They were only missing for a few days so its hard to exactly call it euthanization but the courts found that he did believe he was ending his friend's suffering from imminent death. We read about their friendship, their families and even the park rangers and investigators involved in the case.I was stationed overseas in South Korea when this was in the headlines so I never previously heard of this case. I don't know how big it was in the news or if this book offers much more than what was covered on television at the time. The author begins by telling us that he will not pick a side and let us decide weather we believe in the innocence found by the courts or not and I believe for the most part he stayed true to that.I liked the parts where the author moved away from the main plot to tell about dehydration studies and the history of the area and felt that he did a great job of painting a vivid picture of the place and mindset as well as rounding out what could have been a very thin story based on court records and notes from the murder trial.This was a quick read and an interesting way to pass the time. I don't feel the author was the most skilled and there were times where sentence structure was ineloquent or words were left in after editing changes but for the most part I could gloss over them and just enjoy this haunting tale.

Great review! I marked it to-read. Hope you guys had fun Tues. With the snow and all I thought it was wonderfull. I have not seen the pictures yet. Darrel wants to crop them. I just hope my hand was not shacking to bad. Hope your NYeve is great. ;), JoPS-Please give your other half my e-mail or # if he has any questions from Tues. I do not have a real solution??? I do love the support.

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Perhaps it is the distancing effect of "It's just a story" that separated me from the disgust expressed by others for this book. "Journal of the Dead" is the author's version of the witnesses' reactions to Raffi's explanation of the journal's account of whatever actually happened to the main characters. And therein lies the fascination. The way we perceive an event occurring IS, for us, the reality of what occurred. Which is why I also had no issues with the author's tendency to drop facts and hints like the scattered breadcrumbs of two separate survival trails. Very rarely in life do we get the whole story handed to us, neatly sliced and buttered. In the absence of an omniscient narrator, each reader must interpret the clues and make his own final judgment (or not!) about the actuality of the horrific events of that day in Rattlesnake Canyon.
—Leta-Kaye

Had to read this translated version which mostly does not make a book better.I agree with other reviewers. We do not really get to know Raffi Kodikian. Secondly it was obvious the author believed him to be innocent.What made me sick was that Raffi even all what happened still said he was not wrong killing his friend. That's crazy. If he had not killed him Dave would still be alive so that says enough to me.I think it is a very fishy story and that Raffi was lucky that the prosecutor did not want him to get a long jail time. Since when does a prosecutor decide that? anyways. It was an interesting read but hardly any real inside info.
—♥ Marlene♥

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