Rating: 
Summary: Truely Touching
Review: A wonderful book that really doesn't have much to do with Wally Lamb. These are stories written by female inmates of York C.I. in CT. These stories will touch you and give you a real look inside the minds of these incarcerated women. This book will also give you a first hand look at what abuse and molestation does to young girls.
Rating:
Summary: You Will be Totally Caught Up in these Incredible Stories
Review: As a reader interested in women's issues I expected to like this book, but I did not expect to be completely captivated and overcome by it, which is what actually happened. It is presented in such a compelling way you become absorbed by each inmate's story and exeriences. It is at the same time heart wrenching and informative. Some common threads run through the individual stories yet each is so unique you feel the pain of each individual story. Photographs of each writer, both past and present, help to make you feel a connection. I gained insight into cultures and lifestyles I knew nothing about and saw a part of life so realistically described that I felt I had been there myself. Wally Lamb did an extraordinary job putting this project together and the result is a book that I feel will benefit everyone and should be read by all.
Rating: 
Summary: Hope, Freedom and Peace through Journaling
Review: Author Wally Lamb's workshop at York Correctional Facility for Women inspired eleven inmates to commit their memoires of childhood and early adulthood to paper. This process has proven beneficial to the wounded "children" locked inside their hearts, as well as to those who seek to understand how they wound up in prison. Once the hurdle of not trusting anyone behind bars was cleared, these eleven women unleashed the floodgates of repressed or anguished memories--relating their personal journeys of trauma and degradation with stark realism. Yes, it is not easy for those of us with protected childhoods to digest these bitter accounts, yet it is critical to instill compassion. Learning to trust, to accept responsibility for their own
actions, and realizing that many childhood traumas were Not their fault are major steps in personal catharsis--in coming to terms decades later with how they were wronged. Gradually these
brave women have been proactive in releasing the shackles of guilt and shame which they forged on the outside. Author Lamb shares his writing and editing gifts with these women, so that the first-person texts flow with continuity and intention. This collection of memoires rings true, for many themes prove hauntingly familiar. This book, with its cover of a broken Mona Lisa composite, should be required reading for all Sociology majors and Social Service workers. Don't read it for mere entertainment, but rather for human enlightenment. Dare to join the sisterhood!
Rating:
Summary: lessons for the reader
Review: Consider me a reader who was curious about the "public outcry" against publication of this book. I'm not sure what book was read prior to various comments and judgements being made public, through the press, but I don't think I read the same book.
What I read was a collection of powerful stories written about life experiences prior to criminal behavior forming, of lessons learned, responsibility taken, sadness, remorse, and plans for living differently in the future. I read stories of hope, despite tragic past errors.
Reading this book caused me to think about things I don't often think about. I now realize that anyone who has ever driven under the influence of alcohol, used a drug to numb emotional pain, or been involved in an abusive relationship should not judge because they might easily end up with some of the same problems, actions, and consequences; this would include many of my friends and myself as well.
It took a great deal of willingness, courage and hard work to delve so deeply into painful issues, then to expose the most intimate details of their explorations to each other and also to the reading public. Perhaps some non-incarcerated individuals will read this book and think about working up the same courage and willingness to take action concerning their own situations before it becomes to late for them too.
One writer states: "Hope is a miracle that can become contageous." This woman has been out of prison for over a decade now and has fully turned her life around; she has walked away from an abusive marriage, graduated from college, and now works in the field of human services. She also is a tutor of college English for disadvantaged individuals. Kudos to Mr. Lamb for caring enough to help her, and apparantly he did so PRIOR to beginning his current workshop at YORK.
Shouldn't that be one of the relative points of a prisoner's experience, to learn lessons and to change so when a sentence is over, neither they or those around them will continue being wronged or hurt in the future?
Perhaps instead of criticizing Wally Lamb, we in society need to take a closer look at his theory concerning therapeutic writing and his teaching style. Other prisons and ultimately the world outside of prisons might greatly benifit by following his lead.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for Any Political Persuasion
Review: Even I had moments of doubt when I picked this book up - what if it was just a series of stories from women passing the buck on their crimes, whining about the injustice of it all and trying to beg a little more sympathy for their perpetual victimhood? However, I do know, at this very moment, two adult women (mothers, both of them, and one a grandmother) who are in prison - two women that no one would ever have thought would go to prison. So I read the book. I cried. A lot. These are brave stories and they are unsparing in their honesty about where the women have come from, what they have done and the hardness of prison life (yes, even with access to televisions.) Several of the women also talk about their experiences in prison as social attitudes have shifted from rehabilitation to punishment - this is not blatant social or political commentary except in the sense that all politics are personal. Anyone who has an opinion about crime and punishment in this country, whatever end of the spectrum they fall on, MUST read this book. As one of the women said about her life in prison - my eyes are open, and I don't like what I see. Kudos to Wally Lamb and the women for their work on this.
Rating:
Summary: Wally Lamb is brilliant as an editor too
Review: I bought this book so I could read what a woman from my own community wrote. I expected to get through only her story the night I brought the book home with me. I'd already read other writings of hers, so I figured this woman's story would be a good read, which it was. After reading that one story, however, I read Mr. Lamb's intro - then I just couldn't stop reading. I read the entire book in one sitting!
In the past, especially being a social worker, I've read many stories about every possible life situation, but I have never read anything like this book. By the end of each story I felt a real sense of kinship and sisterhood with that story's author. I find it impossible to choose which is the most thought-provoking or well-written.
If this book is typical of Wally Lamb's ability to teach and to give of his heart, then I believe he is not only brilliant but the kind of mentor other incarcerated people need working with them. Thank goodness they couldn't keep it to themselves!
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: I couldn't put the book down. Each woman has a compelling story to tell. I wish each one was an actual novel - I was saddened when each story ended. This is a really really good book. I'm loaning it out to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening Read
Review: I found this book to be insightful and enlightening with regard to the women at York women's correctional facility. When my daughter, a senior in college studying criminal justice suggested I read it with her I thought it would be a collection of excuses and whinnings. I was surprised at the honesty and straight forward tone of the book. I loved it. It has made me more understanding of the women who end up in prison. It is no wonder to me now, considering the horrific childhoods that many of these women endured that these women ended up in prison.( It behoves me that they survived childhood) I understand more since reading these essays about the circumstances that got them there.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok read
Review: I had to read the book for class and I thought that is was good but I wouldnt read it for anything other than class.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Keep It To Myself
Review: I have never been so engrossed and involved in a book until read Couldn't Keep It To Myself. I found myself trying to sneak in a few pages, a few paragraphs even, as I sat at the red lights to and from work. This journal of sorts, this exploration in a world so painful, took me beyond my surroundings and into these women's worlds. Each story is insightful and engrossing, each different and alike. All should read!
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