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A review by khornstein1
Orange Is the New Black: My Year In a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman
5.0
"And what kind of gang is this that can make such music? Just twelve mortal men, seven of them black and five of them white boys from this county. Just twelve mortal men who are together."
- from Carson McCuller’s The Ballad of the Sad Café
This book is fantastic, one of the best memoirs I have read, after having seen the series on Netflix.
Piper Kerman maintains a delicate balance between a serious examination of prison life, brilliant character studies, and art in her description of life in prison. I was particularly impressed that rather than harping on the ridiculousness of her being in prison, she readily admits that she did indeed do something wrong, takes responsibility for it and writes about how she serves her time, sees herself as an equal--and more than an equal--a friend to the women she meets in prison.
Kerman writes artfully about the passing of the seasons in Danbury prison, the depressing surroundings of the MCC in Chicago, and her bliss upon being released. But more than this, she writes about her ability to connect with almost everyone she meets in prison, defying her ideas about stoicism and demonstrating how friendship can erupt between the most unlikely of people under the right circumstances--and she is hilarious when doing so.
My only complaint is that there are so many characters who come and go in the book, it is hard to keep track of them all--but that sounds like how life may be in prison--lots of coming and going, and friendships made in two minutes over contraband deviled eggs. Highly recommended and a good reminder of just how much reform our correctional system needs.
- from Carson McCuller’s The Ballad of the Sad Café
This book is fantastic, one of the best memoirs I have read, after having seen the series on Netflix.
Piper Kerman maintains a delicate balance between a serious examination of prison life, brilliant character studies, and art in her description of life in prison. I was particularly impressed that rather than harping on the ridiculousness of her being in prison, she readily admits that she did indeed do something wrong, takes responsibility for it and writes about how she serves her time, sees herself as an equal--and more than an equal--a friend to the women she meets in prison.
Kerman writes artfully about the passing of the seasons in Danbury prison, the depressing surroundings of the MCC in Chicago, and her bliss upon being released. But more than this, she writes about her ability to connect with almost everyone she meets in prison, defying her ideas about stoicism and demonstrating how friendship can erupt between the most unlikely of people under the right circumstances--and she is hilarious when doing so.
My only complaint is that there are so many characters who come and go in the book, it is hard to keep track of them all--but that sounds like how life may be in prison--lots of coming and going, and friendships made in two minutes over contraband deviled eggs. Highly recommended and a good reminder of just how much reform our correctional system needs.