akaybarlow's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
janey's review
4.0
Is this really fiction? It doesn't feel like it. I think it is fiction in the sense that when a story is committed to paper, it stops being true and living, and devolves into just a story, told for a purpose and so leaving out parts, with some things imagined or extrapolated, and always from the writer's point of view.
It has a lot to say and to show, about privilege, about justice, about families, about institionalized vengeance. It ain't pretty. But even if fiction, it is true.
It has a lot to say and to show, about privilege, about justice, about families, about institionalized vengeance. It ain't pretty. But even if fiction, it is true.
zachkuhn's review
5.0
Lazar has done something memoir writers should notice: written a novel about himself that doesn't need the "truth" as a crutch for a lack of craft. utterly mesmerizing and, with The Mars Room by Kushner, a necessity if one wants to understand the American prison industrial complex. masterful.
shannonrose's review
5.0
A tale so true and raw, that you'll swear that it is non-fiction.....rich in detail, elegant in its telling, the story that unfolds will have you reminding yourself "This is fiction" on repeat. One of the most daring and important true-to-life tale to be imagined.
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