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A review by shimmery
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
4.0
3.5 stars.
Romy Hall is serving two consecutive life sentences in a Californian prison. Her crime was murdering a stalker who followed her when she tried to start a new life away from the strip club she worked in. In jail, with no visitors, she has no idea what has happened to her five year old son.
This is an insightful look at incarceration in America — Romy and many of the other characters she meets in jail are extremely vulnerable women, many of whom were not properly cared for as children, were abused, and didn’t get a good start in life.
I found myself really rooting for Romy, and yet for me the structure of this book was just a bit all over the place. One of my pet hates is when books have some sections in third person and some in first. This has sections from several different characters’ points of view which does add insight to different aspects of prison life but also makes it feel a little fragmented.
Overall a good book though, very readable and well written.
Romy Hall is serving two consecutive life sentences in a Californian prison. Her crime was murdering a stalker who followed her when she tried to start a new life away from the strip club she worked in. In jail, with no visitors, she has no idea what has happened to her five year old son.
This is an insightful look at incarceration in America — Romy and many of the other characters she meets in jail are extremely vulnerable women, many of whom were not properly cared for as children, were abused, and didn’t get a good start in life.
I found myself really rooting for Romy, and yet for me the structure of this book was just a bit all over the place. One of my pet hates is when books have some sections in third person and some in first. This has sections from several different characters’ points of view which does add insight to different aspects of prison life but also makes it feel a little fragmented.
Overall a good book though, very readable and well written.