Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison Review

I can't even remember how I came across this book, but I had it on my Amazon wish list for a while and was dying to read it...but I didn't want to physically buy a copy and my library hold list was already crazy long. Then I got a Kindle. Enter obsessive book buying / hoarding.

Needless to say, this book was well worth the wait. I've never read a book about life in prison, much less life in women's prison and this book was definitely an eye opener. The only idea I had of time spent in prison is what I've seen on Lockdown on the NatGeo channel...and that's not a very flattering portrayal. Now the prison that the author went to is couldn't come close to being on Lockdown because it was minimum security and almost the prison that Martha Stewart  went to...but even so prison is prison. It's no fun either way you have it.

 Content-wise: Very interesting book. My favorite was finding out about the spoken/unspoken rules of prison. It's very much a sink or swim environment. As soon as you get in it's all about aligning yourself with the right people so that they can tell you social etiquette behind bars and keep you safe. The author also wrote a lot about relationships / making friends behind bars and maintaining support from friends in the real world. I was actually surprised by how friendly life behind bars seemed to be. And then of course, there are the rituals of prison...what it was like to squat and cough in order to see your visitors, no personal privacy to shower or use the restroom, going "gay for the stay", etc.

The author keeps a very consistent pace throughout the book and it didn't seem to have any dead spaces where I wanted to put the book down and pace around the house because nothing was happening.

Once I finished the book I immediately got hooked on finding out more about prison life. Everything from researching similar books on Amazon, watching Scared Straight on A&E (you must watch...it's amazing), to looking up various articles on Google about life in prison. You know it's a good book when it compels you to learn more.

Overall, a VERY solid book. If you like reading memoirs that are told in a story format and are interested in learning more about life behind bars...this is a must-read.

Rank: A