spinstah 's review for:

True Notebooks by Mark Salzman

4.0

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In this book, Salzman tells the story of a writing group he started at a juvenile detention facility in LA. I admit I wasn't super excited to read this book club choice - while it sounded interested, this is the kind of topic where it's easy to get a bit too hokey or glib. I shouldn't have worried. Salzman is up front about his own reactions and emotions, and portrays the inmates he worked with fairly (or at least it seems to - obviously I can't say for sure one way or another). There's not much talk about their crimes or sentences, as that's not the focus of the book. Instead we read a lot of their original writing. The book moves quickly - I was drawn in almost immediately. Definitely worth picking up if you're at all curious.