Pure Land

A True Story of Three Lives, Three Cultures and the Search for Heaven on Earth

By: Annette McGivney

Narrated by: Christine Marshall

Pure Land is the story of the most brutal murder in the history of the Grand Canyon and how McGivney's quest to investigate the victim's life and death wound up guiding the author through her own life-threatening crisis. On this journey stretching from the southern tip of Japan to the bottom of Grand Canyon, and into the ugliest aspects of human behavior, Pure Land offers proof of the healing power of nature and of the resiliency of the human spirit.

Tomomi Hanamure, a Japanese citizen who loved exploring the rugged wilderness of the American West, was killed on her birthday, May 8, 2006. She was stabbed 29 times as she hiked to Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Indian reservation at the bottom of Grand Canyon. Her killer was an 18-year old Havasupai youth named Randy Redtail Wescogame, who had a history of robbing tourists and was addicted to meth. It was the most brutal murder ever recorded in Grand Canyon's history. Annette McGivney covered the tragedy for Backpacker magazine where she is Southwest Editor and she wrote an award-winning article that received more reader mail than any story in the last decade.

While the assignment ended when the article was published, McGivney could not let go of the story. As a woman who also enjoys wilderness hiking, McGivney felt a bond with Hanamure and embarked on a years-long pursuit to learn more about her. McGivney traveled to Japan and across the American West following the trail Hanamure left in her journals. Yet, McGivney also had a connection to Wescogame, Hanamure's killer, and her reporting unexpectedly triggered long-buried memories about violent abuse McGivney experienced as a child.

Pure Land is a story of this inner and outer journey, how two women in search of their true nature found transcendence in the West's most spectacular landscapes. It is also a tale of how child abuse leads to violence and destroys lives. And it is, ultimately, a story of healing. While chronicling Hanamure's life landed McGivney in the crime scene of her own childhood, it was her connection to Hanamure - a woman she did not know until after Hanamure died - that helped McGivney find a way out of her own horror.

©2017 Annette McGivney (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Intense stories

This book consists of three interwoven personal stories: the Japanese girl (Tomami), the boy who killed her, and the author's. During the first part of the book, I, like others, wondered about the inclusion of the author's story as it just didn't seem to fit. By the end of the book, however, she wove it into the narrative quite well, though I do still think some of the earlier entries were superfluous. Overall I think it is an engrossing narrative, one story about a boy neglected by the system and his family, a girl who falls in love with the American West, maybe too much, and an author gripped by the story she covers that won't let her go until she learns some surprising things about herself and her life, all set around the Grand Canyon. The book is well-written and keeps you engrossed in the tapestry she weaves. The narration is good, though having lived and worked at the Grand Canyon, I was frustrated by some of the pronunciation inconsistencies. I do think the interviews at the end didn't do much for the understanding of the story, as it was pretty much already in the main body of the book. Recommended for those interested in true crime, Native American history and issues, and the process of cause and effect in people's lives.

I'm going to read this one.

What other book might you compare Pure Land to and why?

Perhaps it was like "my sister milly" and "wild" in the way the author was able to convey a deeper understanding of the complex and often fragile nature of humans, by connecting her own story rather than detaching from it. I appreciate that. We are all so much more than "just the facts" and I believe our feminine nature is much more adept at telling this kind of story.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Unfortunately, this narrator just could not get in to the needed feel and nuance of telling this story well. I continually felt irritated that she just could not express what the writer was trying to convey. I have listened to the writer on other interviews as well as the welcomed bonus at the end of this audiobook. SHE SHOULD HAVE READ HER OWN BOOK!

Any additional comments?

This is one I wish they would re-record by the author, as it is one of those stories I know I could listen to again and again.

great book, narrator didn't research names

loved the book but I'm locally biased and knew the premise and wanted to learn more. as a local it was glaringly obvious the narrator/married and company didn't do enough research. there are some names that are mispronounced that are very obvious and well-known. example is the pronunciation of supai. another example is the pronunciation of Randy's last name.

Well told

A well told story of the tragic murder of a Japanese tourist in the Grand Canyon, intertwined with the author's personal journey of discovery and recovery from childhood violence. Compelling, harrowing, beautiful, touching. The reader comes to know the victim as a wonderful, inquisitive, sweet woman who loved America - especially the southwest and Native American culture. You also learn about the perpetrator and his and his people's troubled backgrounds, and the role of the government and NPS in their loss of homeland, identity, property, culture, and so much more. The author's personal story, which was unfolding as she researched the book and which she includes because of the connections she felt to the victim, but also to many other aspects of the story, is also raw and compelling. So much sadness in so many lives, but a book worth reading (or hearing) - maybe more than once.

profoundly moving

I felt everything. I felt empathy, sympathy, fear, sadness, joy, anger and confusion. but most of all I felt gratitude and ah ha. so much makes sense. I needed this book. I believe every American would be well-advised to read this book