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184 reviews for:
This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life
Nigel Poor, Earlonne Woods
4.33 AVERAGE
184 reviews for:
This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life
Nigel Poor, Earlonne Woods
4.33 AVERAGE
I'm biased because this is from one of my favourite ever podcasts, but this was everything to me!
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
My main critique of this book is that it felt like a solid 15% was self gratifying reflection and repetition from Nigel, and that often took me out of it. I wish there had been a few more interviews or narratives from other incarcerated folks in lieu of that, especially towards the end.
I am torn about Ear Hustle. I enjoy it, but am also super aware that it sometimes seems to tip towards...not pro-prison, but definitely not pro-abolition. They seem to focus on positive transformative stories, and they address that a little bit in the book, but it is a sticking point for sure, even though I do enjoy them as a team. No one owes me any trauma for sure, I don't need to read prison misery, the positive prison-helped-me-change spin just feels weird sometimes, since we know it isn't the usual experience.
as a long time listener of the podcast, I couldn’t get my hands on this fast enough
It’s written in script format. Transcript I guess?
Anyway, I probably wouldn’t have read it if I had realized that before checking it out from the library. It did become easier to get past the format as I kept reading. And even though I’ve only listened to 6 or 8 episodes, I definitely felt like I could hear them talking.
It wasn’t all personal stories (maybe like 50%?) During parts when they were covering other peoples’ stories, I found myself thinking I may as well have just listened to more episodes, instead of bothering with the book…
Anyway, I probably wouldn’t have read it if I had realized that before checking it out from the library. It did become easier to get past the format as I kept reading. And even though I’ve only listened to 6 or 8 episodes, I definitely felt like I could hear them talking.
It wasn’t all personal stories (maybe like 50%?) During parts when they were covering other peoples’ stories, I found myself thinking I may as well have just listened to more episodes, instead of bothering with the book…
If you haven't listened to the podcast Ear Hustle I can't recommend it more. It's incredibly powerful and insightful and will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about prison and incarcerated people. If you have a hard time listening to podcasts, this accompanying book does a good job introducing you to the original podcast hosting team of Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods, and revisiting some of their major themes and moments, in a written format. The book also adds a lot of background on Woods' and Poor's vision for the show and its purpose, as well as their process putting together some of their most memorable segments. As someone who's been listening faithfully to the show for several years, I had wished for a little bit more new content, and found the process discussion dragged a bit by the end. But I really appreciate everything that Earlonne and Nigel do and the overall value of this book, especially for people who want to expand their hearts and minds about incarcerated people, but struggle a bit with podcast/audio formats.
I listened to the audiobook and LOVED IT! Informative, funny, and answered pretty much every question that popped into my head while listening. The stories are honest, raw, and heartfelt. I had never heard of this podcast before and heard about this book via San Francisco's Public Library One City One Read initiative. I can see how long time listeners might find the book repetitive since they do borrow from previous podcast episodes. But for a newcomer like me it worked great. I'm hooked and want to know more. I will be going through the podcast archives.
My favorite podcast in book form!
I liked that we got fresh stories and fresh perspectives.
I liked that we got fresh stories and fresh perspectives.