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Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir

Review

Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir

It was every girl's dream come true, and Amanda Knox knew it. She had worked long hours to save the money she would need to spend a year studying abroad, studied hard to achieve the required grades, and convinced her parents that she was mature enough to travel to and live in a foreign country far from family and friends. She was set, or so she thought.

Initially everything was great. Amanda quickly located an apartment near her school, the University for Foreigners, that she shared with three other girls. One was a British student, Meredith Kercher, who was slightly younger than Amanda and had come from England to study at the University of Perugia. The other two girls, Laura and Filomena, were Italians in their late 20s who were already working at secure jobs with local law firms.

"Amanda loudly proclaims her innocence, explains the naiveté that she blames for the many mistakes she made during the interrogation and her trial, and is finally free to reveal her thoughts and share with us the experiences that took over her life when she was accused of murder in a foreign country where she barely spoke the language."

Although she’d had a couple of romantic flings that didn't work out as well as anticipated, Amanda was still open to meeting the man of her dreams. When she met, and quickly became involved with, Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, it seemed as if everything was falling into place. Little did she know that just one week into her new relationship, their lives would change forever.

Amanda and Raffaele had quickly fallen into a routine of spending time at Raffaele's apartment, preparing meals, smoking marijuana and making love for hours at a time. That's exactly what Amanda says they did on the night that would radically alter her future. While they snuggled together at his place, Amanda's roommate, Meredith, who was home alone, was attacked and murdered at the apartment that the four girls shared. When Amanda returned to the apartment in the morning to shower and grab a change of clothes, she had no idea that Meredith lay on the other side of the door to her room in a pool of her own blood, the life she had only just begun to live viciously stolen from her by an unknown assailant.

Once Meredith's lifeless body was discovered, the police quickly focused their attention on the pair of lovers who had only each other for an alibi. The Italian police quickly formulated the salacious theory of a love game gone wrong. They supposed that Amanda and Raffaele, along with another man, Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede, had tried to force Meredith to their will sexually; when she refused, the trio mercilessly killed her by stabbing her and slitting her throat.

The local murder mystery soon went viral as it was splashed across the headlines of newspapers the world over. Before long, Amanda became known as "Foxy Knoxy," the sex-crazed temptress who took the life of the pretty, innocent student from the United Kingdom. Whether it was true or not, the Italian authorities were determined to make it so.

As a result, Amanda and her lover spent the next four years in Italian prisons where they suffered every indignity possible, including the loss of all hope of ever being free. In WAITING TO BE HEARD, Amanda loudly proclaims her innocence, explains the naiveté that she blames for the many mistakes she made during the interrogation and her trial, and is finally free to reveal her thoughts and share with us the experiences that took over her life when she was accused of murder in a foreign country where she barely spoke the language.

Reviewed by Amie Taylor on May 10, 2013

Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir
by Amanda Knox

  • Publication Date: April 30, 2013
  • Genres: Nonfiction
  • Hardcover: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Harper
  • ISBN-10: 0062217208
  • ISBN-13: 9780062217202