Orange Is the New Black
My Year in a Women’s Prison
by Piper Kerman
★★★★
Like everyone else, I first heard about this book after marathon watching the Netflix TV series of the same name. The show is great, but the book is actually an excellent nonfiction memoir in its own right. Piper is relatable enough that it’s easy to picture yourself in her situation.
Like everyone else, I first heard about this book after marathon watching the Netflix TV series of the same name. The show is great, but the book is actually an excellent nonfiction memoir in its own right. Piper is relatable enough that it’s easy to picture yourself in her situation.
The book could easily have been subtitled: First World Problems. The picture of prison that Piper paints is an interesting one, but it’s not very scary. She gets pedicures and has time catch up on reading classics. One of her biggest problems is that the prison store is out of the radios that you need to listen to the audio on the movies they show, so she's stuck watching the movies with no sound.
She touches on more serious issues like sexual harassment from guards, lack of preparation for prisoners re-entering the work force, prisoner health problems, minority persecution, etc. but she never really has to deal with any of those things. They feel like distant possibilities, not real issues people are facing. To be fair, Piper acknowledges the fact that she is very lucky to not have to deal with those problems.
That being said, it was a really fun read. I knew the basic premise before I started it because of the TV series. If you are already a fan of the show I would encourage you to check this out. I was actually expecting there to be many more differences, but the show is just a sensationalized version of the book. There are added bits of drama in each episode, but much of the plot is based on her real experiences.
BOTTOM LINE: Read it if you love the show or are a fan of nonfiction. Don’t expect a revealing look at the American prison system.
