A stripper goes to jail for killing her stalker to protect herself and her child. As she moves through the prison system we learn more about her past, the stories of the prisoners she interacts with, and the intricacies of the prison system itself.
This book is my own personal nightmare come to life. It’s like what would happen if the Cell Block Tango became a book about those women, but with the horrors of the prison industrial complex that exist today.
I have to be honest and say that I didn’t finish this one. I was having nightmares about being arrested or raped or stuck behind bars and unable to call the husband – being trapped anyplace is terrifying to me and being in prison in America is 100% a trap that hardly anyone escapes from. And I just couldn’t read about it any more.
Another book I’ve read this year that really strikes home the horror of our US prison system was An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, and in that book you’re also given a taste of how the justice and prison systems are particularly unfair to PoC as well. Both books were extremely troubling to me, but I would say that The Mars Room was somehow darker and more revealing.
If you don’t know anything about how tangled a mess our prison system is you need to go read both of these books. It will make you furious and sad and scared all at the same time.
Also I do want to take this moment and remind you that if you have an initiative on your state’s ballot that gives felons the right to vote, please be sure to vote yes on that shit. Do it now. They deserve to have a say in the world in which they live, and that world should not be a prison that just happens to them. They did their time. We live in a democracy and everyone that shares a community with us should have a vote. I plan to vote to restore the voting rights for felons here in Florida this fall, and if you live in Florida you should too.
This book was very good, so good that I had to put it down because of my own fears. You should give it a try. It is well written and very revealing. Rachel Kushner definitely did her homework. Go get you some.
Angry Angel Books 
I haven’t read this book nor AN American Marriage, but I say, at least once a week, that I feel like I am one second away from prison. Not because I’m not a law abiding citizen, but because EVERY THING seems to be a jail worthy offense! How is that even possible?
Did you see the video of the woman who called the police and started crying because they didn’t incarcerate the people she called in about? It was like a fineable offense, not something people should go to jail about! How are we not more concerned that we think every thing is punishable with jail time and regular citizens live in actual fear of mistakenly going to jail?!
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Yes. I am a painfully by the books person, but I am always terrified of driving too fast or having a taillight out or having someone say I did something when I didn’t…things out of my control basically. It’s really scary.
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