3 out of 4 stars
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Brock Turner is a young man who was charged with three felonies; assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. Brock was sentenced to six months and served only three of those six months.
The case was an unusual one in that Brock was not charged as a rapist even though he did attack the victim and perform a sex act against her wishes as she was unconscious. In my mind, this is a crime that should have had more time than what Brock was actually charged with. That said, the author says he does not hate Brock Turner but loves him.
I get that why the author states that he does not believe in hate but loves everyone. Mr. Hughes explains why he feels that way, how hate is such a useless emotion. I kind of agree with that to a certain extent. Hate is an emotion that wastes a lot of time for the person that hates. It can ruin a person's life. On the other hand, the crime that this person perpetrated is a horrendous one to commit on a woman. I don't know how I would feel if I was the victim. Hate would probably be in the front of my mind.
I did a search of the story and I guess I can see why some people found the book offensive, a crime of any kind is terrible, but a crime against a woman, especially a woman that was sexually abused can cause a lot of people to hate the perpetrator. It is a touchy topic for a lot of people. There was a lot packed into the 18 pages.
Even though I don't particularly agree with the author, on loving everyone no matter what, I did enjoy reading the authors thoughts on this case. Well written and well edited. I really don't understand how the book was banned as I have read books that in my opinion should have been banned but have not been. I do understand how people felt about it though. Like I said before, rape is a horrible subject and to have the perpetrator get off with such a light sentence is very controversial. The real topic of the book was that love can overcome hate, but it takes a mighty forgiving individual to love someone that commits a crime.
I rarely read a short story style book, this one I was able to read rather quickly and it was easy to understand. I think as far as the topic and the author loving the criminal is probably not what most people would say. I guess you can love the criminal as a person but hate the crime? Not sure if that makes sense but after reading the book, I did go out and do some research and read the victim's statement. In light of how I felt about the story, I give the book 3 out of 4, only because I did not completely agree with loving a criminal.
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The Banned Book about Love
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