The Truth About Amanda Knox’s “Memoir”
Amanda Knox’s memoir, “Waiting to Be Heard,” is set to be released next week, and I will not read it, at least partly because I am not altogether convinced she is totally blameless in the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Italy the fall of 2007. I won’t bother to rehash the facts of the case because I’m pretty sure you already know them.
Now, I know Knox already scored a $4 million advance on the book, but the thought of her profiting further from “her side of the story,” which could potentially be total bullshit, makes me sick to my stomach.
I bring this up because the New York Times’ usually astute Michiko Kakutani has a review of the book this week, though I hesitate to call it a real review because it doesn’t say anything substantial about the book’s merits. Of course, it’s not Kakutani’s job to decide Knox’s guilt or innocence. But I do think this so-called memoir is trashy tabloid shit pretty much unworthy of Times coverage, to say nothing of the fact that it’s framed in even faintly glowing praise:
She spent a lot of time in prison writing journals, poems, stories, letters, even lists of what she would do with her life (i.e., things she would do if she got out immediately, or things she would do if she were 46 when she were released). All that practice and all that introspection have given her an ability to convey her emotions with considerable visceral power — the shock of feeling the supremely ordinary morph into the utterly surreal, the vulnerability of being on trial in a foreign country in a language she had not completely mastered, the isolation of being in prison and at the center of a swirling media storm… In the end her book is not only an effort to make a case for her innocence but it’s also a kind of bildungsroman.
But let’s entertain the notion that Knox did have anything to do with Kercher’s murder. (Which would practically be blasphemy to the press here in the U.S.!) Does Kakutani’s critique hold up if the book is in fact a work of fiction? I think it would have been worthwhile — or at the very least, amusing — for the reviewer to wonder aloud about that possibility.
NB: Another thoughtful writer, the New Yorker’s Rebecca Mead, has now also weighed in on Knox’s memoir — but, like Kakutani, she seems less interested in Knox’s version of “truth” than in the college student’s attitudes towards casual sex. Okay…?
Justice Hustler 
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Why would anyone believe anything Amanda Knox says? She gave three different alibis which all turned out to be false and repeatedly accused an innocent man of murder. The Italian Supreme Court recently confirmed Knox’s conviction for slander. She is a convicted criminal and a proven liar.
If you want to understand why Amanda Knox was convicted of murder, I recommend reading the translation of the official sentencing report which can be downloaded from the Perugia Murder File website:
http://www.perugiamurderfile.org/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=259
My thoughts exactly, harryrag. Unlike the European press, the American media coverage has been almost entirely sympathetic to Knox, almost unquestioningly so. I remember being absolutely floored when the “48 Hours” show on the case was broadcast several years ago — at the time, it was one of the first mainstream media specials dedicated to the case here in the U.S., and one which contrasted sharply with everything I had read previously regarding the facts of what had transpired the night of the murder and the days following. Guess it was more attention-grabbing (not to mention ratings-grabbing!) to fixate on the “pretty American girl locked up abroad” narrative than the very likely possibility that she was a real accomplice in this vicious murder.
The English translation of the Italian Supreme Court report which explains why Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito’s acquittals were annulled can be downloaded from the Perugia Murder File website:
http://www.perugiamurderfile.org/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=599
Amanda was at her boyfriends house all night. Meredith was killed by a scumbag African known criminal. Period. She was beaten, interrogated to the point of torture, questioned in a language she didn’t fully speak for days without food or sleep. The Italian justice system is a complete joke, and every judge, criminal investigator, and forensic “expert” used this “sensational” story to try and further their pitiful careers. The Anti-American sentiment from this story is apparent and disgusting. And I don’t think I’ll visit Italy again or buy their sub-par wine or anything else Italian for a long time. F@ck off Italy! How’s your pitiful economy doing these days?
You need to do a little research on how police interrogations frequently induce false confessions. Further, opinions about what she might or might not have been thinking or the reasons why she was behaving a certain way are completely worthless conjecture. The first consideration should be the evidence, of which there is none connecting her to crime. There is only outlandish hypotheses about her sex life based on fantasies of the now dismissed Italian prosecutor. Oh, and there are your personal convictions that Americans are privileged and therefore guilty. Again, not really evidence.