Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison Paperback – March 8, 2011

I had in the last month subscribed to Netflix, and in doing so, I had heard a lot of the hype about the new original series called Orange is the New Black. I watched the 13 episodes in a matter of a couple of days. I have to say I absolutely loved the show. I looked forward to sitting with my new Kindle and watching each new episode. It was really sad to have it come to an end so quickly because I really had enjoyed it so much. I happened to be listening to NPR one day and heard the show Fresh Air with Terri Gross. Her guest that day happened to be Piper Kerman. She is the woman who wrote this memoir of her year in a Women's Prison. I became even more intrigued with the differences that she was telling Terri about from the book to the show on Netflix. I then decided that I really wanted to hear the real story and see what it was like. I didn't hesitate to go right to Amazon.com and pick up a copy of the new paperback book Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman. I am very happy that I decided to get the book written by the person who actually lived the story. I will say that Netflix did an excellent job in creating a very good show that really did a super job in mixing in enough things that were for the entertainment factor of the show. It really didn't go overboard too much but just had the right mix in adding things that made the show seem like the story was really in line with Hollywood and at the same time maintaining enough parts of the truth to the real story that the book tells by the author. I am still reading it, but am going to be finishing it within the next two days and I am loving it as much as I loved watching each new show that came out. I really am hoping that Netflix will pick up the series for a second season just because it is a really different and fun show to watch. I would absolutely recommend this book as well as the Netflix original series to anyone. Piper is a very likable character in the show, and person in true life as she tells her story no holds barred. It is very interesting reading about all the wonderful women that she crossed paths with in of all places a prison. There is a lot of flat out honesty that she just tells her story with. It makes you really like her and most of the women that she became close friends with while she was in the Danbury Women's Prison of all places. It isn't like she had a great time being in prison but the way that she tells her story is very much like what I would think it would feel like if it was me who was in her place. All of the new experiences that she confronts and all the kind women who really helped her in the first few weeks of actually getting used to being in prison and the rules that she has to learn and the way that the "old timers" really did a great job in helping her in those first most terrifying early days when she got there really is very touching and extremely entertaining. I can imagine that she must have stayed in touch with some of the women who were going to be there long after she did her year, so that when it was time for mail every day, some of those incredibly kind and important women that Piper did get to know well are rewarded in getting letters from her I have to believe from time to time. Like I mentioned earlier, I would recommend this book to really anyone who enjoys reading about true life and just likes to read a good book every now and then. It really has been great to pick up at any time and plowing through a couple of chapters in one sitting. I am approaching the end of the book so I will miss it, but I have to say it is very touching and honest and entertaining. And not in the way that you would get any kind of pleasure out of someone else's unfortunate story. It is extremely hard to put down and every time I pick it up, I imagine finishing it. But I honestly like to delay the ending because it is such a great book. I think that it would be a very difficult book not to like for just about anyone. I say go ahead and grab it for the few $$ that it costs as you get your money back in the honest true story that must have been very hard for Piper to write and remember that year she spent in Danbury when she actually sat down to write the book.I have a younger sister who held the job of a Prison Guard, and I don't understand why she became entwined with that work because I have a hard time picturing the sister that I grew up with doing that kind of unpleasant work. She has since gone into the ARMY for a 5 year stay and has been out for about 8 years now and she is working as a cop in a large city. Something that wasn't expected of anyone in our family where members would pass down the badge of courage, because we didn't come from that type of a family who enjoys doing that, passing the baton on to the next member. It was just something that she ended up in as a line of work. I think mostly because of the power that she must feel when she puts on her uniform and gets into her cruiser everyday for work. She has turned into someone who I haven't known as an adult since she came back from Afghanistan and it has been hard to come to terms with the type of person that she has turned into. To know how she has become a very different person than the girl that I grew up with is extremely hard to deal with because I had never pictured her becoming the type of person that she has truly become. I think that it bothers me because I try to figure out what it was that turned her in the direction that she took because we had the same upper middle class life growing up with two parents who truly loved us and that she could come from such a "normal" family and choose to mix with the dark side of prison, then being in the ARMY, and now being a cop. But that is a whole other story itself. I just want to say that I am truly enjoying this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for something that is a fast and easy book to read! Happy reading if you decide to get it. I hope that this review will help you lean towards buying it! Enjoy!

Piper Kerman was no criminal. She was not a dangerous woman. She was just a young adult who made some really, really bad decisions. Did she deserved to be punished for her actions? Absolutely. Did she deserve to be sentenced to a year in women’s prison for a crime committed 10 years ago? Not at all. But that is exactly what happened and what happens to many women everyday in the US.I’ve always been anti drugs and anti legalization of drugs including marijuana. And I still hold those beliefs. But whereas before I believed that drug addicts deserved to be confined to prison, I’m not so sure I believe that anymore. Piper Kerman’s Orange is the New Black definitely helped me to reevaluate my beliefs.Prison is a place that no one ever wants to be. You are completely blocked from the outside world. That seems to be the biggest punishment. You are alone with fellow inmates and your thoughts. Yes, you can have visitors — but they must be approved, your time will be short, and you can’t so much as give them a hug most of the time. This seems to be the harshest punishment in prison. Not that prison is a walk in the park.Living in prison is hard. It’s supposed to be. The food is terrible (unless you’re lucky and there’s extra vegetables at the salad bar that day…then it’s almost manageable), you’re expected to do odd jobs you’re not qualified for (Piper was an electrician…), and you’re treated like a completely worthless, inhuman…thing. Not even a person.I think that there are people out there in the world that deserve this kind of punishment. Child molesters (although I honestly don’t think prison is enough punishment for them…the death penalty sounds best to me), rapist, murders, etc. These are true criminals who do not belong in society.The women detailed in Piper Kerman’s Orange is the New Black are not murderers. They are not rapists. They are not child molestors.Honestly, they are not that much different from you and I. They just made poor decisions.Piper was a drug smuggler. She bought in illegal drugs to and from the US for a VERY short time. Actually all she did was handle money. She was convicted 10 years after committing the crime. She was living a completely different life at the time, free of drugs and any other crime. She worked very hard and was in a faithful relationship with a man who really loved and took care of her.Piper’s inmates were drug addicts mainly, who were serving very long sentences for possession or violation of probation. They needed help for their addictions. Rehab, therapy, inpatient, outpatient, something that could actually help them. Prison confined them and made it difficult (though not always impossible) for them to obtain drugs…but it didn’t correct the problem. Many of them ended up back in prison right after being released, mainly because while they were treated like criminals (which they weren’t, they were just people who made poor decisions…) they never actually received the help they so desperately needed.Then there’s other inmates with even more mild crimes. Piper talks of one who was serving a very long sentence (I believe it was 5 or 7 years) for Internet auction fraud. E-bay. Have you ever been ripped off of a deal? I think we all have at some point. Did the person who ripped you off go to jail for it? Probably not. They were forgiven and allowed to move on with their life. Why was this girl any different? She made poor decisions…bad mistakes. She deserved to be punished. But by punishment I mean returning the money she stole and being fined and banned from the website(s). Jail? That’s a bit harsh, unnecessary, and ineffective.What I liked the most about Piper Kerman’s Orange is the New Black is that it allows you to sympathize and relate to people you’d never imagine you could sympathize and relate to. What do I have in common with a prison inmate? Actually quite a few things. I’ve made poor decisions, I’ve made mistakes. I am human. I have feelings.America’s prisons need to be reformed. It’s no secret that they are overcrowded. I now realize why they are over-crowded. It’s not because there’s such a high rate of crime and not enough prisons to fit everyone in. It’s because most of the people in prison really don’t need to be there.Here’s what I propose:Release a majority of prisoners unless they are TRUE criminals (example — murderers, rapists, child molesters, terrorists, etc.)Instead of sending drug addicts to prison, GET THEM HELP. Make them go to intense rehab/treatment facilities, counseling, etc.Drug smugglers, those convicted for fraud and similar minor offenses should be fined. If we start fining more people and limiting the number of people we send to prison we’ll cut down the costs of operating prisons, add more money to the economy, and lower America’s overall debt and help to solve the problem with prisons being overcrowded.I learned a lot from reading Piper Kerman’s Orange is the New Black. This book completely changed how I view prisons and inmates. I highly recommend this book — it will definitely change how you think. It made me really want to see prison reform and it made me sympathize with inmates and want to help them as an alley. These are issues I never previously cared about and never thought I would want to take action against. I always thought “you do the crime, you do the time”. Now I’m not so sure how much I support that.Have any of you guys read this book? If so feel free to leave a comment about your thoughts!