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A review by candacesiegle_greedyreader
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
5.0
I was thrilled to be approved to read "The Mars Room" and even more thrilled to read it. The story is immediately engaging, each character is bright and immediate, and you crave learning more.
Romy Hall is sentenced to life in prison for killing a man who has stalked her since she was giving lap dances in a San Francisco "Gentleman's Club" called the Mars Room. Romy has had a rough life with an uninterested mother, occasional sex work and the lifestyle that goes with that. Romy is not stupid. She has made changes since she had her little boy, and one of those changes is to move to LA while her stalker is on vacation.
What hit me hardest is how completely powerless people who have no money or no one outside to run interference for them are in the justice system. Romy falls into both categories. She goes to prison and she has no way to communicate with her son or know what happened to him. Her lawyer does such a crappy job that even he feels bad about it. The other women she encounters in prison are similarly abandoned with no visitors and no one to even put a few bucks in their commissary so they can buy a bottle of liquid, rather than powdered, shampoo.
No more for fear of spoilers. This is a fine, strong novel that will hold you from first page to the last.
Romy Hall is sentenced to life in prison for killing a man who has stalked her since she was giving lap dances in a San Francisco "Gentleman's Club" called the Mars Room. Romy has had a rough life with an uninterested mother, occasional sex work and the lifestyle that goes with that. Romy is not stupid. She has made changes since she had her little boy, and one of those changes is to move to LA while her stalker is on vacation.
What hit me hardest is how completely powerless people who have no money or no one outside to run interference for them are in the justice system. Romy falls into both categories. She goes to prison and she has no way to communicate with her son or know what happened to him. Her lawyer does such a crappy job that even he feels bad about it. The other women she encounters in prison are similarly abandoned with no visitors and no one to even put a few bucks in their commissary so they can buy a bottle of liquid, rather than powdered, shampoo.
No more for fear of spoilers. This is a fine, strong novel that will hold you from first page to the last.