Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
Piper took a walk on the wild side right after college but she’s put that all behind her. But ten years later, her foray into drug trafficking rears its ugly head and Piper is off to prison.
This is an unflinching look at what Piper experiences during her time at the minimum security correctional facility in Danbury, CT. She shares her fears, her joys and her shame at what she’s putting her loving and wonderful family through. This is a glimpse into a life that thousands of women are experiencing every day.
It’s interesting to learn what these women do with their copious amounts of time and the strange prison etiquette that Piper has to learn, and learn quickly. (You can ask your bunkie how much time she has left on her sentence, but you can never ask what crime landed her in prison.) While all these women look forward to their freedom, some are more prepared then others. What do you do with no education and no family waiting to welcome you on the outside?
This book raises a lot of questions that make it an interesting book discussion book. Of course, I chose it for my non-fiction group. We’ll be meeting at 1pm on Thursday, January 13th (that’s in 2011!) at the Bridgewater Library.
