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ktswings's review against another edition
5.0
Kudos for Lamb for "walking the walk", or to say, assisting to "writing the write(right)". This book was powerful and eloquent, and I am touched by Lamb's willingness to work with these amazing women in a CT women's prison. These stories are heart-breaking, but that we are able to read and have shared in them, is incredible.
bbrad86's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
anasof's review against another edition
5.0
Gives a voice to criminals who experienced the terrible things written about in books like “The Bluest Eye,” but did not have the power nor resources to write about it. Almost every woman who wrote a memoir in this book had been raped in her childhood years. Had grown up in an inconsistent, unbalanced family setting. As the writing teacher, Dale Griffith wrote, “to look beneath the surface of her conviction, to the complexities that shaped her for prison,” was, to me at least, to understand their predisposition for crime. Makes you think. Makes you angry!
vninny's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.75
lil_owl_reads's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
4.25
Read for a criminology class. Immediately a new favorite. I didn't rate it higher only because it's a short-form essay style, which is just generally not my most liked style, but this excelled in that genre. I strongly encourage anyone who has ANY interest in the criminal justice system, in rehabilitation, in sociology/criminology, or even in the lives of others. I was brought to tears by so many of these essays. I think this book will affect me for a long time after this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Drug abuse
arosales1483's review against another edition
5.0
Such an amazing book. Even after being in corrections for over a decade, I learned from this book. I laughed, cried and was provoked into thinking about my approach to incarceration throughout the entire book. Everyone should read it to embrace and understand the most important way to view those who are incarcerated...human first, incarcerated man/woman second.
ari__s's review against another edition
4.0
This is the third Wally Lamb book I've read so I came into it expecting something amazing. I wasn't disappointed. Even though only the introduction was written by Lamb and the stories edited by Lamb, his writing style still somehow comes through the writing of these women. (writing this review on a borrowed iPad is trickier than I would have hoped. Damn you, technology). Anyway, these stories are moving, with incredibly powerful and unique voices for every one of them. I've never been the kind of person to read memoirs or personal narrative essays and question their truth - generally I accept these kinds of stories as just stories for enjoyable reading. Even just as stories, the lives of these women hit you like a bag of bricks and their blunt story telling left me with little curiosity as to whether they embleished their tales or not. Regardless of every grain being true, this book reminded me to keep an open mind about those people who society has labeled as a criminal, etc. Following the cliche, and the recurrent theme in this book, I think - you can't always judge a book by its cover.
bbqrplanting's review against another edition
5.0
This book smashes the notion that people who are incarcerated are uneducated, stupid and not fully human. I really enjoyed the pieces in this book.