The Diva Review:
In my not very humble opinion, Wally Lamb is one of the best writers of our time. When I heard that he was teaching writing workshops for women at York Correctional Institution in Connecticut and had edited a work of collected stories by the inmates, I had to read it. As it turns out, Lamb is as talented at teaching writing as he is at doing the writing.
The stories in this collection are written by the incarcerated women. They are heart wrenching, gut wrenching, and eye opening. The women are painfully honest about their lives and the circumstances that brought them to where they are now. Most of those circumstances are tragic. The culture of abuse runs though almost every woman's life and in some cases, it's easy to see how they ended up in prison. Many are mothers – which breaks my heart. It's incredibly humbling to read about women who have had to endure very, very difficult lives and are in a place where they can finally face their demons. All of a sudden, the minutiae of my daily life didn't seem worthy of any complaint.
Although the stories are sometimes unbearably sad, it's so inspiring that they were given this amazing opportunity and made the most of it. I can imagine how proud these women and their families must be of this amazing accomplishment. I was proud of them!
At the end of the day, this is a beautiful, inspiring, read and I love Wally Lamb even more after reading it.
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