Book Review: Adnan’s Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial
Adnan’s Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial
by Rabia Chaudry
I listened to Serial. You listened to Serial. We all listened to Serial. It is, after all, the most downloaded podcast in the history of podcasts, which I’m pretty sure started in the summer of 1984 when some shitty kid read excerpts from his sister’s diary in his garage. Like the rest of the world, I considered myself obsessed. Obsessed with Adnan, obsessed with that asshole Jay, Asia in library with her jealous boyfriend, the goddamn cell phone towers and their pinging bullshit, and, of course, Sarah Koenig. Sarah was my new best friend. She read to me at bedtime. She gave me goosebumps at work. We laughed in my car together. We gasped and stared off into space for hours while my kids waited for dinner. Serial was real – it was consuming – and then it was gone. After the final episode aired I felt the same way I feel after viewing pretty much every documentary ever. Shit is ridiculous, the right people will get their hands on this, and everything will okay. Then the internet exploded all over itself and I was flooded with the extended universe. Everybody with an opinion had a new podcast. Everybody involved had an interview in a different magazine. There was a new appeal every other week. There was new evidence every other day. I literally had no idea where to start or what was real. It was overwhelming to say the least. I decided to ignore it all. If Sarah had something official to tell me she’d contact me via my podcast app and we’d get together to catch up with some wine and a plate of pickles (my go-to podcast snacks – shut up).
Sarah never called. Other than the odd, quick update, the second season of Serial was focused on something that couldn’t hold my interest for more than ten minutes into the first episode. It seemed my best friend and the world’s most popular investigative journalist had decided to move on. Cool. Since then any and all news about the Adnan Syed comes to me via the 367 Facebook links that pop up in my feed every time something of interest happens. Sometimes I click. Sometimes the headline is enough. Sometimes I just keep scrolling. If Sarah doesn’t want to talk about it, I rarely want to listen.
Enter ‘Adnan’s Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial’. The title lept out at while searching for a new audiobook early last week. The main thing that intrigued me immediately was its author. Rabia Chaudry, a long-time family friend of Adnan’s, is the main reason why Serial exists. After years of toying with the idea of taking Adnan’s case to popular media and a little inspiration from the West Memphis Three, Rabia contacted the first reporter she could find, Sarah Koenig, and the rest is unprecedented podcast history. From the casual listener to the obsessed sleuth, this book is everything any fan of Serial could ever wish for. It’s a prequel, a companion piece, and a sequel all rolled into one glorious package with a couple huge differences 1. While Koenig did an impeccable job of introducing us to Adnan’s story and delivering the facts through research, Rabia lived it. She was in the courtroom for most of the trials. She has relationships with a lot of the people involved. And 2. She’s completely and wholeheartedly bias that Adnan is innocent. Koenig did her best to present both sides of the case, even leaving you with suspicions of guilt after the odd episode of the podcast. Rabia hates this nonsense and covers it in full detail here. Her and Sarah have a surprising amount of battles as the show gains popularity and begins changing the lives of everybody involved.
What I loved most about the book is how much work Rabia saves me. Remember all those random podcasts, and articles, and Facebook links, and headlines, and “10 Things You Need to Know About Serial – Number 5 made me gasp!” click bait bullshit columns that popped up endlessly after the first season of Serial ended? Well, Rabia sorts through it all and gives us just the facts here. And there are A LOT of facts I needed to get caught up on. Not only am I convinced Adnan is innocent now, I have also switched who I think did it. Twice.
I take a lot of shit for my audiobook preference instead of reading the print version but this is one time it truly pays off. Read by Rabia, the audio version brings you right back into the old habit of sitting down with Serial for an hour each week. It’s a really long podcast – but it’s a book. You might not even have to be a fan of Serial to enjoy this. Any fan of true crime or mystery has lots to love throughout Adnan’s Story. Rabia covers it all, from the budding relationship between Adnan and Hae Min Lee, the impact being an American Muslim had on that relationship, the police investigation, and continues to have within public opinion, to the incredible lengths the new defense team has lined up for his new trial and hopeful exoneration. She is an impressive woman – a lawyer, a human rights activist, and my new best friend.
Rating: 9/10