Post #10 book 3 review

When you have a jail filled with people of all races that come from all different backgrounds and you add a white suburban newly engaged lady named Piper, you get a pretty hilarious outcome. Orange is the New Black about a woman name Piper Kerman who is sent to jail after smuggling heroin across borders. She must leave the life she has now being a producer in New York City to live in a jail called Danbury for 11 months. 

The book was published in 2010 and became an instant hit. The book was then made into a Netflix TV series which is out right now. The base of the book is about Piper who has to leave her husband Larry and her family, you see the journey she takes and the people she meets and how maybe jail isn’t so bad after all. “Do you have to find the evil in yourself in order to truly recognize it in the world?” pg 242. This quote  is later on in the book towards the end and I think that it shows how far she has come and how her thoughts at the beginning of the book were very weak but now she is showing that she is strong and maybe that there is so good in bad things.

At the beginning of the book you see Piper struggle with jail and the people she meets. The plot itself is very interesting and it makes you keep reading more and more.  Nothing is going her way and she is a newbie and is harassed by the other inmates. Piper is special to Danbury because as said in the book, you don’t see a lot of white suburban lady’s in the jail. Piper is called hot and is picked on while trying to shower, sleep and eat in the cafeteria. Piper told Pop who is the head chef that her food wasn’t too good and Piper got reprimanded. Even though you see Piper go through hard stuff you get to see her thoughts written down and you know that inside she is really strong and she can battle anything. “I knew that I would have to be brave. Not foolhardy, not in love with risk and danger, not making ridiculous exhibitions of myself to prove that I wasn't terrified--really genuinely brave. Brave enough to be quiet when quiet was called for, brave enough to observe before flinging myself into something, brave enough to not abandon my true self when someone else wanted to seduce or force me in a direction I didn't want to go, brave enough to stand my ground quietly.” Pg35. I like this quote because at the beginning of the book Piper like I said before is really weak minded and this was a really bold statement for her at the time because around this time in the book she is still considered a newbie in the jail world.

There are a lot of characters in the book but there are a few that Pipers actually becomes good friends with. Something great about this book is how the women in jail do not judge what each of them has done to get there. They are overall really accepting and are willing to do anything for their other jail mates. One thing Piper does is that she gives out books and magazines to people who want to read them. She also bakes a cheesecake and brings it to the parties whenever and inmate is leaving. Overall the inmates get along and they have each other’s back no matter what race they are and no matter where they have come from. It shows that you can be friends with anyone if you just give them a chance and it shows that everyone had a background and history but if you look past all of the bad there may eventually be good in everyone.

The style of writing is very detailed in a bad way. You have to understand how preppy and proper Piper is and then you will understand the things she says because she mentions things that are more upper class. When Piper is talking about her emotions she is just normal English grammar but when she describes the people around her or something unusual at the jail she uses slang as if she were African American or Latino. I think the slang in the book helps because sometimes the book can be a little boring and too detailed so whenever Piper comes in contact with another character it is funny to see the way they behave and act.

Being that the book is about a lady going through jail and the 11 months she spends there, the book isn’t all too entertaining. Yeah, the characters and the plot idea are good but overall it got really boring and it just wasn’t anything exciting happening for me to really be wowed by it. I probably wouldn’t recommend the book especially if you have watched the Netflix series.  Some life lessons of themes are that you get to see a women not only accomplishing something unique but also meeting some very loyal friends no matter where they come from and that was a good life lesson that many people could gain from Piper. I would give this book 3 out of 5 it is mostly aimed towards female readers. For females it should be empowering and maybe even a motivational push towards the idea that “you can overcome any obstacle”.  “In my travels I had encountered all kinds of people whose dignity seemed to have a price -- widely variable -- and I thought that next time I had better set my price higher than anyone would pay.”  This quote does describe the personality of Piper very well and she would want women who would read this book to get something out of her book and that hopefully her struggle can be uplifting to others.

This is a picture of Piper Kerman the author on the right and the actress who portays Piper in the netflix series on the left.