A review by choirqueer
Angels with Dirty Faces: Three Stories of Crime, Prison, and Redemption by Walidah Imarisha

5.0

Walidah Imarisha is an incredible storyteller and her interweaving of these stories is magnificent. Each manages to be deeply personal while offering a world of insight as to how the stories of these three individuals came to be so interconnected and how their stories tell a larger story of the system of institutionalized violence and power abuse plays out in the USA. At the same time, the author uses these stories to compel readers to deeply consider alternatives to incarceration and how those might be implemented in communities, a call to action I believe we cannot afford to ignore. Highly recommended.

content warning: graphic descriptions of violence including prison abuse, sexual assault, and one chapter in particular with gruesome descriptions of murder and body disposal (which I basically just skimmed)