Orange is the New Black, Piper Kerman

  

What I’ve come to call “Eat, Pray Love goes to Prison,” it is my humble opinion that this book has not received its due recognition. I’m sure at one point in your life you’ve done something completely out of character. Something daring and impulsive. Hopefully you did anyway… At the time you were probably steeled from the false sense of confidence that comes from being young and reckless. But I also bet you got away with it. I find that most people have either done one thing or experienced a short phase of risky behaviour in their life, but it’s usually characterized as just that: a phase or one time thing. Indulge me for just a moment if you will and imagine how your life would have changed if you were caught for that risky little stunt you pulled. What if you were caught years after the fact?   

Enter the story of Piper Kerman, a woman convicted of a crime almost 10 years after she committed it. The crime: international drug trafficking. Kerman’s upper-middle class background didn’t quell her urge to rebel at the age of 24 when she became mixed up in a crowd of international drug dealers. For about a year Kerman lived the high life – no pun intended – but gave up turning her life around completely. After years of living like a normal, working member of society, her past catches up to her and Kerman is sentenced to 15 months in a woman’s federal prison.

Kerman craftily recounts the events leading up to her incarceration and her experiences on the inside. Kerman’s insights about her time in prison and the surprising other women she meets are sharp and hilarious. Kerman’s writing is as remarkable as the situation she finds herself.