Orange Is the New Black

Subtitle: Piper Kerman unpacks her backpack of privilege.

Oh hmm I think honestly reading this just made me more impressed with how good the show is, how much more complex it is. On the other hand I understand that Piper maybe doesn't really have the right to tell the stories of other inmates, and I know on the show they're fictionalized, but still... I'm overall more interested in most of the other inmates than Piper.

On the other hand I think I'm probably not the target audience for this book and I think there are probably a lot of people who need Piper Kerman to tell them “Hey! Prison inmates are also human beings!” Which is basically the opposite of what a lot of American media tells us, so... that's cool.

I can't stop thinking about that article I read, maybe on Racialicious? about how Orange is the New Black is reminiscent of how slave narratives always needed an introduction by an educated white person to authenticate them. And that's kind of... kind of it, honestly.

But still, she's a good writer and I enjoyed the memoir overall. It would be GR8 if this led to more women of color getting publishing deals for their prison memoirs too!! FINGERS CROSSED.