It's nearly impossible to imagine what it might be like to walk in Amanda Knox's shoes, but her new book "Free: My Search for Meaning" is certainly a good place to start.

Knox goes into some detail about the crime that unfortunately made her famous—the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher while they both studied in Italy as college students—but that's not what the book is primarily about. Knox spends most of the time reckoning with the realities of prison, unwanted (and unwarranted) fame, and the continuing attempt to reclaim her truth and her life. It's brutally honest, moving, hard to relate to, but ultimately enlightening and inspiring. I'm totally baffled by people convinced of Amanda's guilt; Rudy Guede 100% murdered Meredith, and there's evidence to prove it! So why are there people who don't even KNOW his name, but DO know of and blame Amanda Knox?! If that question interest you—or you're one of those people!—you should pick this one up and be prepared to do some introspection.

The most inspiring part of this book to me, surprisingly, centered around her experience in prison. In this early section of the book, Amanda ruminates on the idea of freedom, and what it can mean to live a meaningful life regardless of your physical circumstances. She emphasizes that freedom can sometimes be more of an idea than a condition, and acceptance and purpose can exist even in the most traditionally un-free-seeming situations. And in fact, she confesses that she at times felt more of a prisoner once she was released because of all the media attention on her. She comes to the conclusion that she can't really win in the court of public opinion, and there comes a point where she shouldn't really try. All she can do is continue speaking the truth, and speaking out against the injustice that she faced to try to bring attention and hope to those in the same situation.

Amanda also spends a lot of time detailing the evolving relationship between her and her one-time prosecutor, and her drive to understand him and reconcile their adversarial positions. She accepts that though she may not ever get him to admit he was wrong or declare her innocence, she can meet him where he is and lead with empathy for his position. Empathy seems to be a main driver of mosts of her actions and interactions, and this informs her worldview and what she tries to communicate to us throughout this book.

So even though Amanda Knox's life has been extraordinary, her book "Free" tells a supremely human story full of heartbreak and healing. I really felt that I got to know her through this book, and I highly recommended giving it a read if you're at all interested in themes of wrongful conviction, trial by media, human connection, overcoming trauma and redemption. And a lot of other things too. 4.5/5 stars and a lot to unpack.

[Thanks for NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advance reader copy of this book!]

I was hoping this would be more intriguing but it's just endless random disconnected thoughts. I just found myself not caring at all to pick it back up. 

I truly enjoyed reading Free by Amanda Knox.  This is less true crime and more about the life long impacts and consequences from the wrongful conviction she experienced in front of the entire world.  First, this is definitely a unique perspective.  How often are you going to get to hear someone's story that went through something so public and so media influenced? I think the author did an amazing job conveying the stress and anxiety that she experienced throughout.  This book covers a small part of the time that Amanda Knox spent in prison in Italy for a crime that she didn't commit.  But it covers the story beyond that.  The prison inflected by the media and constant paparazzi bombardment post the overturning of her conviction. This story and reflection really makes you think about how you consume and participate in social media and even news broadcast.  We are so quick to convict and the news outlets are so quick to sensationalize and hearing this from Amanda's perspective is really eye opening.  I loved to learn about her life and family outside of the 24/7 trial coverage.  I hope that people can read this story and think before they jump to conclusions and impressions about people when they see coverage on the news. 
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.  And thank you to Amanda Knox for providing this look inside her life and time beyond Perugia.    

I started this but grew bored and set it aside. After two weeks I’ve got no desire to pick it up again.  It’s just not riveting and I don’t care about what she did in jail.

I had watched the Netflix documentary and seen the dramatized version. I knew her name and knew about what happened. It was very interesting and moving to read her story from her point of view. Hard to read at times because we can easily put ourselves in her shoes. But her writing is very strong and she seems like a very interesting person to know.