Adnan’s Story: The Search for Truth & Justice after Serial by Rabia Chaudry
(Format for this read: Audiobook)
If you were a fan of the podcast “Serial”, you have GOT to read this book.
Seriously y’all.
YOU HAVE GOT TO.
Sooooo much more is revealed about Adnan and his life and his story and YOU NEED TO HEAR IT.
Here is the official summary:
“With intimate details and newly-uncovered evidence Adnan’s Story goes beyond what the hit podcast Serial covered in its investigation of Adnan Syed’s case.
“The first letter I received after being arrested in 1999 was from Rabia…As someone connected to me, my family, my community, my lawyers, and my investigation, there is no one better to help tell my story, and no one that I trust more to tell it, than Rabia.” ―Adnan Syed
On February 28, 2000, Adnan Syed was convicted and sentenced to life plus thirty years for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, a high school senior in Baltimore, Maryland. Adnan has always maintained his innocence. Rabia Chaudry, a family friend, believes he was wrongly convicted and has fought for his release. But by 2013, after appeals were exhausted, things looked bleak. Rabia contacted Sarah Koenig, a journalist and producer at This American Life, hoping that she would bring possibly shed new light on the case. Koenig’s investigation turned into Serial, the international phenomenon and Peabody Award-winning podcast.
Adnan’s Story reexamines the investigation that led to Adnan’s arrest, covers new evidence and possibilities that have since come to light, reviews the court successes that have breathed new life to Adnan’s case, and in this new edition, reveals how she achieved success in the courts when Adnan was granted a retrial in March 2018. Woven with personal reflections from Adnan himself, including new never-before-seen letters he penned from prison, this in-depth book offers new insight into the story that captivated millions.”
I am not a true crime kind of person like AT ALL people (I am VERY easily freaked out and scared ESPECIALLY if the scary things have happened in real life)…but when I listened to “Serial” a couple years ago, I was totally engrossed.
It was an uneasy feeling listening to it because there is SO much left unanswered even after the last episode.
But I totally thought Adnan was innocent.
This book confirmed that for me 100 percent.
Rabia did a phenomenal job sharing who he is as a person from her own personal knowledge and experience and also his very own words.
She is highly educated and informed in the law and also in all the intricate details of his trials…what went wrong, what went well, what misinformation was given and what made no sense what so ever
(Y’all…I was BAFFLED by the documented MULTIPLE inaccuracies in official court documents and questioning procedures…)
I appreciated how she also included beautiful explanations of the Muslim faith and actually starts each chapter with a correlating verse from the Quran.
So so so poignant and important in understanding Adnan’s family and community and personhood.
I think Adnan was completely wrongly convicted because of many aspects including false witness testimony, police bribing, racial profiling and stereotyping, unequipped lawyers, faulty evidence testing and so much more.
I think the flawed criminal justice system failed miserably…not just to Adnan but also to the poor teenage girl who was brutally murdered.
In my opinion, the real killer of Hae Min Lee is still out there …
that this young girls life was so violently taken and her and her family have no peace or closure or retribution is the ULTIMATE tragedy and injustice.
My heart breaks for that precious soul and her loved ones immensely 💔
In recent years, I have lost a lot of faith in how our criminal justice system really works by reading other books (“Just Mercy” and “The Sun Does Shine” are examples) and watching documentaries (“13th” and “When They See Us” are examples of those).
My eyes were ripped open to the reality of the injustice and unfairness and downright cruelty that happens to so so many wrongly convicted human beings.
I gotta admit that this book continued that downfall and awakening for me…changes gotta happen y’all.
In order for that to happen we have to listen to stories just like this and then find a way to act to prevent it from happening over and over again.
If you have listened to “Serial” this book is something you need to read.
If you haven’t listened to it…first go do that…THEN come read this book.