The Prison Book Club
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A daring journalist goes behind bars to explore the redemptive power of books with bikers, bank robbers, and gunmen.
An attack in London left Ann Walmsley unable to walk alone down the street, and shook her belief in the fundamental goodness of people. A few years later, when a friend asked her to participate in a bold new venture in a men's medium security prison, Ann had to weigh her curiosity and desire to be of service against her anxiety and fear.
But she signed on, and for eighteen months went to a remote building at Collins Bay, meeting a group of heavily tattooed book club members without the presence of guards or security cameras. There was no wine and cheese, no plush furnishings. But a book club on the inside proved to be a place to share ideas and regain a sense of humanity.
From The Grapes of Wrath to The Cellist of Sarajevo, Outliers to Infidel, the book discussions became a springboard for frank conversations about loss, anger, redemption, and loneliness. The books changed the men and the men changed Walmsley.
Written with compassion and humour, The Prison Book Club is an eye-opening look at inmates and the penal system, and the possibilities of redemption.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 2011 and 2012, journalist Walmsley spent time in two Ontario prisons facilitating book clubs for inmates. This book is based on her experiences in the book clubs and the journals she asked several of the prisoners to keep about their reading, but it is also about Walmsley facing her own fears. She begins the book by recounting how she was traumatized by a violent mugging in London eight years before her friend Carol Finlay, who created and championed the book club program, asked her to be a part of it. It sets up an interesting tension within her account, but the split focus isn't entirely successful. Her initial descriptions of the men are based primarily on their crimes and personal appearance; their conversations help change her views. However, the overly dense text, which includes lengthy synopses of each book, is not as personal as a traditional memoir, and the tone is unclear at times. Sectioned book by book, Walmsley's recounting of the discussions needs to be more condensed and focused with more from the book club members and less of her own subjective paraphrasing and interpretations. Those factors make it a cumbersome read, but the story of the book clubs is nevertheless inspiring.
