Book info

• Title Orange is the New Black
• Author Piper Kerman
• Year 2010
• Genre Memoir

With her career, live-in boyfriend and loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the rebellious young woman who got mixed up with drug runners and delivered a suitcase of drug money to Europe over a decade ago. But when she least expects it, her reckless past catches up with her; convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at an infamous women's prison in Connecticut, Piper becomes inmate #11187-424. From her first strip search to her final release, she learns to navigate this strange world with its arbitrary rules and codes, its unpredictable, even dangerous relationships. She meets women from all walks of life, who surprise her with tokens of generosity, hard truths and simple acts of acceptance. An original comedy-drama series from Netflix, Piper's story is a fascinating, heartbreaking and often hilarious insight into life on the inside.

Thoughts

It was interesting to read this, having watched four series of the television show that it inspired. You can recognise some of the characters and a few of the events depicted within, but for the most part this stands alone as a really good memoir of time inside the prison system.

What I was surprised by, is the levels of different prison and how a person can grow used to each. Piper initially finds it difficult being in her minimum security prison, but by the end has spent some time in a very different facility - if she had been dumped in that final place at the beginning, would it have been a very different story?

It certainly highlights some flaws in the system and raises awareness - the line about money being poured into the prison system rather than in preventative areas such as libraries and community centres was particularly insightful - and I’m glad that the TV show and the book can do something to help in this area.

Rating: 4 / 5