Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
Feb. 12th, 2019 09:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rosewoodpipOrange is the New Black
Piper Kerman
Audiobook: Tantor Audio, read by Cassandra Campbell, 11 hr 11 min
Originally published by Spiegel & Grau, 2010
I suspect most or all of the internet is familiar with OitNB by now. Having not watched the TV show, I knew the basic setup, but didn't know any of the details.
Kerman's experiences in prison are, for the most part, handled lightly. Topics like sex abuse by prison staff, mass incarceration of people of color, and the essential uselessness of jail sentences as a redemption vehicle are mentioned in passing, but as an upper-middle-class white lady, she neither sees nor has to deal with the worst of it. She sees a little corner of the even worse face of the federal prison system as she spends a few weeks in fortress-like facilities in Oklahoma and Chicago at the end of the book, making her long for the relative comfort--both physical and psychological--of Danbury, where she served out the majority of her sentence.
The narrative as a whole more strongly focuses on the bonds and solidarity that grow between her and the other prisoners, the little bits of fun, quiet, and humanity they can carve out of a system that is depressing, dehumanizing and lacking in privacy by design. Birthday parties, yoga sessions run by fellow inmate "Yoga Janet," "prison cheesecake" and deviled eggs made with a combination of commissary and contraband ingredients, illicit hugs of consolation (because prisoners aren't allowed to touch each other, regardless of the motivation).
Kerman seems to be a fairly extroverted person who frequently boasts of her large circle of friends, and is proud of being one of the popular girls in the prison. I can imagine her being one of those people who claims they were liked by everyone in high school regardless of clique or race. She also makes little brags about her looks, her athleticism, being good at the prison jobs she does, etc.
While her pool of friends is broad, it doesn't feel very deep. The accents that narrator Cassandra Campbell gave many of the prisoners in the audio version added to this effect. Kerman respects her fellow inmates, treats them kindly, mostly avoids stereotyping them, but I never got a full sense of what they were like. Even Larry, her fiancé, reads like a typical devoted lover--defined by his relationship with her--rather than a person in his own right. I also question the closeness with her fellow prisoners when she makes her exit from the book without any hint that she communicates with Pop or Natalie, etc. after she's released.
In addition to being a story about Kerman's experiences of prison life, this book is something of a character study of Kerman, written by herself. The book worked for me because of her admission of her own weaknesses and mistakes, her friendly and forgiving outlook, and the vivid descriptions of her surroundings. Her story is easy to fall into as she tells her charming and funny vignettes about life at Danbury. My favorite was the story of the accidentally stolen screwdriver. :)
My rating: 3 1/2 stars.
Piper Kerman
Audiobook: Tantor Audio, read by Cassandra Campbell, 11 hr 11 min
Originally published by Spiegel & Grau, 2010
I suspect most or all of the internet is familiar with OitNB by now. Having not watched the TV show, I knew the basic setup, but didn't know any of the details.
Kerman's experiences in prison are, for the most part, handled lightly. Topics like sex abuse by prison staff, mass incarceration of people of color, and the essential uselessness of jail sentences as a redemption vehicle are mentioned in passing, but as an upper-middle-class white lady, she neither sees nor has to deal with the worst of it. She sees a little corner of the even worse face of the federal prison system as she spends a few weeks in fortress-like facilities in Oklahoma and Chicago at the end of the book, making her long for the relative comfort--both physical and psychological--of Danbury, where she served out the majority of her sentence.
The narrative as a whole more strongly focuses on the bonds and solidarity that grow between her and the other prisoners, the little bits of fun, quiet, and humanity they can carve out of a system that is depressing, dehumanizing and lacking in privacy by design. Birthday parties, yoga sessions run by fellow inmate "Yoga Janet," "prison cheesecake" and deviled eggs made with a combination of commissary and contraband ingredients, illicit hugs of consolation (because prisoners aren't allowed to touch each other, regardless of the motivation).
Kerman seems to be a fairly extroverted person who frequently boasts of her large circle of friends, and is proud of being one of the popular girls in the prison. I can imagine her being one of those people who claims they were liked by everyone in high school regardless of clique or race. She also makes little brags about her looks, her athleticism, being good at the prison jobs she does, etc.
While her pool of friends is broad, it doesn't feel very deep. The accents that narrator Cassandra Campbell gave many of the prisoners in the audio version added to this effect. Kerman respects her fellow inmates, treats them kindly, mostly avoids stereotyping them, but I never got a full sense of what they were like. Even Larry, her fiancé, reads like a typical devoted lover--defined by his relationship with her--rather than a person in his own right. I also question the closeness with her fellow prisoners when she makes her exit from the book without any hint that she communicates with Pop or Natalie, etc. after she's released.
In addition to being a story about Kerman's experiences of prison life, this book is something of a character study of Kerman, written by herself. The book worked for me because of her admission of her own weaknesses and mistakes, her friendly and forgiving outlook, and the vivid descriptions of her surroundings. Her story is easy to fall into as she tells her charming and funny vignettes about life at Danbury. My favorite was the story of the accidentally stolen screwdriver. :)
My rating: 3 1/2 stars.
