Book Report - Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison

Image Source: http://piperkerman.com/orange

I just finished reading Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman.  Now, if you know me at all I'm not a fan of Memoirs.  I just don't seem to connect with memoirs and I really can't get into them.  That being said, something about this book caught me.  I decided to disregard all past memoirs I've encountered and check it out from the library.  I have this wonder of things that happen in a women's prison.  See, about a year ago I was working on a construction site for a medium security prison.  Some of the project team were maintenance workers at a maximum security prison.  The stories I heard about incidents, experiences and inmates were completely fascinating to me.  I couldn't get enough of their stories.  Only men were and would be held at the prisons so I began to wonder what a women's prison would be like.  I saw this book had come out and HAD to read it. 

Like the months I was working on the prison, I again became fascinated with the stories that come from prison.  This book gave me a different perspective seeing that she was a middle-class white woman being charged with a 9 year-old crime.  It's crazy to think how she'd changed in those years leading up to her sentence.  I was taken to a whole new place when reading this story of vivid characters and realistic situations.  I cannot imagine how she survived but she was portrayed to be a strong woman who was doing the right thing and serving the sentence she'd earned.  She had taken responsibility for her actions and it was good to see that.  I couldn't have been as strong as she was.  I couldn't put the book down.  I read at every chance I could and really hope you take the time to enjoy it also.