Couldn't Keep it to Myself: Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution by wally lamb

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Really nice book.
I finished this in awe the these women who have has such obstacles to overcome. The US penal system a hard system and i hope humans come to understand that it doesn't help to be hard on people with a hard life but either way they survive. I'd love to know them via email.

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St_Wine

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Once in a blue moon a book comes along and knocks you on your ass.
You'd defend your feelings towards it to the bitter end (and you'd kind of like to shake sense into anyone who doesn't feel the same).

I had ordered this book, received it in the mail, and had every intention of putting it on my bookshelf (or mantle or desk or nightstand or anywhere I could fit it in the mess of books that have accumulated in my house). I flipped it open just to read a line or two. And then I stood in the middle of my kitchen for the next twenty minutes, unable to put it down. And it took up the next hour. And the next. And then another. I couldn't stop reading it. And I couldn't stop talking about it (with both tears in my eyes and rage in my voice) to my husband.

This book (other than the introduction) was not actually written by Wally Lamb. This book contains twelve non-fiction, short stories written by 10 inmates and one teacher/writer at York (Correctional Institution). Their stories - their childhoods and "adulthoods" - are often plagued with an abundance of violence, rape, molestation, and neglect. These are women who life had not been fair to, and women who have not necessarily made the best choices. These are stories that made me feel angry, sad, sympathetic, and grateful for all I've had in my life. These women are mothers, daughters, sister, wives, friends.

Some may say the writing is not perfect, but I thought it was pretty damn amazing. I don't need them to write like Steinbeck. I'd rather they be honest.

To Wally Lamb for giving these women a voice and for teaching workshops every other week - you were one of my favorite authors prior to knowing this. I can't even describe what I think of you now. My emotions are running so high after reading this book that I can't write a proper review much less a proper "thank you."

5 Non-Negotiable Stars

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NoahKujo

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I got this book as a prize for getting an A in an Art Appreciation course. What a great incentive. My professor is collaborated to make the cover art. But whatever. The book is awesome. These are some of the stories of women who were or are currently incarcerated in a CT prison. Some of them are heartbreaking, some make you laugh, but they will all make you appreciative of what you have in life. I think it should be required reading for psychology students and social workers who have clients coming out incarceration. There are some very powerful and hurt voices. The common theme of early age sexual abuse makes you want to really think about how we can change the way our society educates youth about sex.

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Mury0kush0

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Gives a voice to criminals who experienced the terrible things written about in books like “The Bluest Eye,” but did not have the power nor resources to write about it. Almost every woman who wrote a memoir in this book had been raped in her childhood years. Had grown up in an inconsistent, unbalanced family setting. As the writing teacher, Dale Griffith wrote, “to look beneath the surface of her conviction, to the complexities that shaped her for prison,” was, to me at least, to understand their predisposition for crime. Makes you think. Makes you angry!

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nomegritezz

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

This is such a great book. Teacher and author Wally Lamb agreed to do a 2 hour workshop for interested inmates at York Correctional Institution for Women (the book was published in 2003). Years later he was still there and an idea came to be of compiling the inmates’ stories into a collection of stories that make up this book (the cover is even a prison art project from those same women). The writing exercises were meant as a means of release, or a sort of healing. These women’s stories are more about their struggles growing up than their crimes that put them in prison. I would argue that these struggles are a big part of what led to the crimes. It’s human nature to think of inmates (especially in a maximum security prison such as this) as ‘bad’. This book does a good job of reminding us that (and these are two of my favorite quotes from the book): *’these women may have done some bad things, but they are not bad people’ *’these women are people first, and inmates second’. We, I think, are often a little too quick to judge; after reading what these women went through, I think a little kindness and forgiveness is more in line as to what should be given, rather than a harsh judgement.

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Hattori_Hanzo

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I thought what I loved about Wally Lamb was his writing, but he didn't write this one and he accomplishes the same straight to the gut honesty and simple reality that I love so much. Every one of these stories had me looking back at the picture into the eyes of the author, amazed how much she relayed in so few pages and how much she'd lived through. I've been thinking so much about these stories, these amazing women who had so much shit happen to them, and whose voices were squashed flat until this writing class. It's actually making me thing completely differently about advocacy work. Women's hard luck or tragedy stories are one of my top genres, and this is near the top. (if anybody reads this who has other faves in that genre, I'd love some new reads).

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yoana1712

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I only read half the book. I'm not a fan of short stories and they all started to sound the same. All these women came from broken homes where there was abuse or addiction which led them to a path of crime and eventually, prison.

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mizsdora

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

This book makes me hate prisons and lose a little faith in humanity. So many women who end up in prison battle mental health and addiction issues primarily due to having been victims of abuse and violence and neglect in early childhood. The cycle is so ugly. These tales they tell of their lives make me weep. Such a vivid, moving book.

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Couldn't Keep it to Myself: Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution

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