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colleen_be 's review for:
True Notebooks: A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall
by Mark Salzman
This book was extremely good. It was the second time that I started reading it, and I finished it quickly. I must not have been in the mood before, because there was nothing about this book that I didn’t love.
This was a book about a writer seeking inspiration for a juvenile delinquent character in his upcoming novel. In order to develop his character further, Salzman begins teaching a writing class to high risk offenders at his local juvenile hall. Although he hesitated at first, he soon fell in love with the class and the rewards it brought.
I absolutely loved how Salzman kept the inmates writing as it had been when they wrote it. He failed to clean it up for the book, which brought a rawness to it. It was incredibly interesting to follow the progress of his relationships with the boys. How he started out so uncertainly and eventually threw his heart and soul into his work.
It was heart-breaking to hear him describe the trial and sentencing of one of his students. To know that he was never given a chance. To know that he made one mistake that has fundamentally ended his life. Salzman brought the inmates to life. He makes you feel compassion for them. Compassion that may or may not be earned, but is there nonetheless.
This was a book about a writer seeking inspiration for a juvenile delinquent character in his upcoming novel. In order to develop his character further, Salzman begins teaching a writing class to high risk offenders at his local juvenile hall. Although he hesitated at first, he soon fell in love with the class and the rewards it brought.
I absolutely loved how Salzman kept the inmates writing as it had been when they wrote it. He failed to clean it up for the book, which brought a rawness to it. It was incredibly interesting to follow the progress of his relationships with the boys. How he started out so uncertainly and eventually threw his heart and soul into his work.
It was heart-breaking to hear him describe the trial and sentencing of one of his students. To know that he was never given a chance. To know that he made one mistake that has fundamentally ended his life. Salzman brought the inmates to life. He makes you feel compassion for them. Compassion that may or may not be earned, but is there nonetheless.