The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

This book has all of the elements that make up an engaging read for me: prison life, innocence versus guilt, people living on the edge of darkness all while trying to make sense of a life and circumstances that seem bigger than they are.

The Mars Room focuses primarily on Romy, a former stripper, now a prisoner serving back-to-back life sentences. A single mother-turned-inmate, her main concern is for her young son, Jackson, and his fate now that hers is sealed. It's tearing her up that she can't ensure his safety now that her rights to him have been involuntarily surrendered.

There is a great cast of characters within these pages, but somehow it all feels a bit too familiar - I just couldn't help mentally substituting the cast of Orange is the New Black the entire time for the characters of The Mars Room. They're all there - the corrupt and skeezy guards, the inmates - some just quietly biding their time, others hardened and staking their claim to anything and anyone they can, the transgender inmate who needs to be kept safe, the older eccentric, the hateful skinheads, the tough butch lesbians, the mentally ill delusional, the newbie prison teacher who's trying not to be swayed by the cunning females who have nothing to lose. The unique self-declared hierarchy of incarceration, the prison hooch, smuggling and commissary product innovation, the cliques, the racism - it all runs throughout the novel. Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility could easily be replaced with Litchfield Penitentiary and if you've watched the series, you might, like me, evoke the images of many of the televised inmates for the ones in this book.

Much of the novel is centered around the day-to-day disruption and frustration of life behind bars and those who make up the system. Life on the outside is generally portrayed via memories and flashbacks. It's a very character-based story and while I found the first half a little slow going, almost to the point of lagging, as the characters' back stories are gradually revealed, they gain added dimension and sympathy (or apathy), depending on their circumstances. The very end is where it all starts to gain speed, so I would recommend sticking with it, as the pace doubles up and soars you into the final remaining pages.