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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced
This is the first book review I’ve ever written, but felt called.
I can’t put into words how this book made me feel. It’s not often that I find a deep continued sadness to be something that keeps me reading a book, but the self-awareness and writing that is seen throughout is next level.
Wow.
I can’t put into words how this book made me feel. It’s not often that I find a deep continued sadness to be something that keeps me reading a book, but the self-awareness and writing that is seen throughout is next level.
Wow.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt
A really powerful memoir. More than a story of triumph, this is a first hand account of the dehumanization in the prison system. What does it say about us as a country that this is how we choose to treat the incarcerated. Really eye opening and beautifully written.
fast-paced
There's a book in here I liked, about how a miserable privileged child tried to fill the aching void within with increasingly destructive activities until she figured out that making the world a better place through work was the way. Because of her and some murderbelia collectors, Texas prisons are giving more people dentures. Because of her, a guard who raped a person at Rikers' Island got charged. She has done good things.
There's a book in here I found frustrating, where this privileged child spins out in narcissistic misery without insight or kindness. She allowed awful things to happen to people she should care for again and again.
Her descriptions of life in jail and prison are gripping. They are awful places that almost seemed designed to work against rehabilitation. They're like society itself has a self-reinforcing personality disorder. But that is where her hepatitis gets treated and where she finally kicks her drug addictions.
One thing that made this story bearable was a random piece of kindness from a property manager. When Blakinger was arrested and her boyfriend bolted, they left her dog locked in the apartment. Her property manager made sure the dog was somewhere where she would be loved and safe. Her dog did not die abandoned in her apartment. I have read that story all too often. After Blakinger got out and stable, she got to take her dog back. That is as profound a redemption story as I can imagine.
There's a book in here I found frustrating, where this privileged child spins out in narcissistic misery without insight or kindness. She allowed awful things to happen to people she should care for again and again.
Her descriptions of life in jail and prison are gripping. They are awful places that almost seemed designed to work against rehabilitation. They're like society itself has a self-reinforcing personality disorder. But that is where her hepatitis gets treated and where she finally kicks her drug addictions.
One thing that made this story bearable was a random piece of kindness from a property manager. When Blakinger was arrested and her boyfriend bolted, they left her dog locked in the apartment. Her property manager made sure the dog was somewhere where she would be loved and safe. Her dog did not die abandoned in her apartment. I have read that story all too often. After Blakinger got out and stable, she got to take her dog back. That is as profound a redemption story as I can imagine.
challenging
reflective
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
I don’t really enjoy memoirs but this one was an interesting and sad look at the social justice and prison system. Her writing is smooth and easy to read. I appreciated her vulnerability and the end was inspiring
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced