Shakespeare Saved My Life

by Laura Bates

Just as Larry Newton, one of the most notorious inmates at Indiana Federal Prison, was trying to break out of jail, Dr. Laura Bates was trying to break in. She had created the world’s first Shakespeare class in supermax – the solitary confinement unit.

Many people told Laura that maximum-security prisoners are “beyond rehabilitation." But Laura wanted to find out for herself. She started with the prison's most notorious inmate: Larry Newton. When he was 17 years old, Larry was indicted for murder and sentenced to life with no possibility of parole. When he met Laura, he had been in isolation for 10 years.

Larry had never heard of Shakespeare. But in the characters he read, he recognized himself.

In this profound illustration of the enduring lessons of Shakespeare through the ten-year relationship of Bates and Newton, an amazing testament to the power of literature emerges. But it's not just the prisoners who are transformed. It is a starkly engaging tale, one that will be embraced by anyone who has ever been changed by a book.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Shakespeare, Biography, Book Club, Biography Memoir, Books About Books

304 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2013

Reviews

[James R · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a memoir Laura Bates' Shakespeare Saved My Life is to my mind mediocre to annoying. As a biography of Larry Newton and his remarkable capacity to both understand Shakespeare's plays in fresh and insightful ways and discover how to relate to them so completely that they provided a means for him to transform his self-identity and his life's value and purpose, the book was completely engaging. The trouble is the former purpose kept getting in the way of the latter. I gave the book the overall higher rating, but be warned there are times you will have to slog through some pretty dull and heavy handed self-congratulatory commentary. That not with standing I found the places where Larry is given the spotlight and we read his analysis of the Bard's plays and how they bring understanding and meaning to his life to often be riveting. The book also can't help but highlight the ongoing national debate about the purpose of prisons and give stark testimony to the harsh realities of prison life. Here I credit Bates for her objective reporting of what she saw, and experienced and was told about life in a modern day penal institution. By not moralizing, the harsh realities that both inmate and corrections officers face, become quite clear and compelling. Larry's ability and willingness to be honest and transparent about his behavior and its motivations as well as his reactions to his circumstances and to the actions of others is another compelling aspect of this narrative. Bates' book has more positive than negative attributes and I think it would be hard not to be affected
by it.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book written by an English professor, this was surprisingly dry. Don't get me wrong: Larry Newton is a fascinating character, and I really enjoyed his part of the story. But Bates doesn't "dig in" to the larger picture very well. For one thing, the book is somewhat disorganized, more a series of conversations she had with Newton than a narrative of her Shakespeare program; I found it hard to keep track of when they were having which conversation about Shakespeare. For another, Bates misses some good opportunities for analysis: Why does Shakespeare, as opposed to any other classical writer, transform the prisoners? In what ways do the prisoners come to terms with their guilt? How does Bates reconcile the astonishingly sympathetic character she portrays of the prisoners with the real-life crimes they've been convicted of? The last was perhaps the most troubling for me. Most of the men Bates meets are guilty of murder - one, of the murder of his parents, but in Bates's description, they come off as intelligent, kind people, even gentle. I get that people in prison are still people, multi-sided and capable of love, but the fact that Bates consistently describes them in a way that minimizes what they did does not seem to do justice to the complex topic sufficiently. Orange is the New Black had deeper reflections on the problems with criminal behavior than this book did.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy. Crap. This book is amazing!

I saw this as a featured book on OverDrive's Big Library Read (I think that's what it was) and thought it sounded interesting and that I'd give it a shot - maybe I'd finish it, maybe I wouldn't. But man, I blew through this like it was nothing - but that is the very opposite of what it is. This story is so compelling and so intriguing and unlike anything I was expecting.

As a librarian, I've worked in our local county jail library. I had very limited interaction with prisoners, but the interactions I did have were interesting and enlightening. It's a vastly different experience to pretty much anything I've ever done. I also volunteered through my church to work with teenage girls in a drug rehab program and it was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done! So, going into this book, I knew a little bit of what Dr. Bates was talking about - though not near the depth or severity of the kinds of prisoners she worked with.

Larry Newton intrigued me from the start of this book. I've read so many books over the course of my life - some impacted me more than others - but I don't think any one author or book has had the kind of impact that Shakespeare did for Larry. It's so cool to see his transformation and how it mirrors Dr. Bates' personal experiences in some instances. I love his drive and his determination to be better and help others, even though he is going to be in prison for the rest of his life. I was impressed by him - that he has found a way to be a completely different person from the guy who committed murder at age 17 and it's all due to a woman coming to the prison to teach Shakespeare. But it's not just that - he could have just done the classes as a way to pass the time and not really internalize anything, but it became so much more to him than that. I don't know what exactly I'm trying to say about Larry, other than his story is amazing and I'm impressed to no end with his redemption (yes, I'm calling it redemption).

I love this book to pieces and I'm even happier that it's based on true events. Because if there's hope for a guy like Larry, there's hope for all of us.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and thoughtful account of one inmate's astonishing success in a Shakespeare-in-prison program. Larry Newton is/was a gifted student and Laura Bates gives him center stage here. Bates doesn't do a lot of editorializing or offer much sociological data - but the cumulative effect is a powerful commentary on prisoners' human rights and the great need for college-in-prison programs (which the state of Indiana has ended). It also, through Larry Newton's transformation, explores some reasons for violent crime itself and the disordered mindset of a person committing a violent or criminal act, with the suggestion that learning to think differently can help transform and rehabilitate the offender.

I thought this was much better than Mikita Brottman's recent Maximum Security Book Club. Laura Bates comes across as a more sensitive person and teacher (and her reason for working with prisoners was not ego-motivated). For more general background and a broader picture of college-in-prison programs in the US today I liked Ellen Condliffe Lagemann's Liberating Minds.

[Gina Enk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd really give this four-and-a-half stars. I enjoyed this book. Both the Shakespeare angle and the human interest angle are things that kept me entertained. Bates does an excellent job of weaving her own story through the stories of the inmates (particularly Larry Newton). After reading this, I found Bates's TED talk and read some articles about her experiences as well. Enlightening and highly readable, this book is a worthwhile way to spend a few hours and certainly raises questions about the state of the American prison system.

[Noreen Hurley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a special book. I was tremendously moved by both the potential impact of Shakespeare and learning on human beings and the story of this one man. I admit to being a bleeding heart liberal by nature, and others may view some of the story differently, but I do not know how you can not be moved by this story of personal redemption is the face of enormous odds. It is also a timely contribution to the discussion around the value of a liberal arts education. Learning is so much more than just a tool to earn money. Our inner lives, how we contribute to society, how we as a society treat each other...all these things are informed by education, thought and Shakespeare. The dedication of the author is also inspiring. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

[deilann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog, SpecFic Junkie.

Memoirs should be allowed to be a bit self-absorbed, but in this case, it feels kind of inappropriate. Especially considering it feels like Laura Bates didn't actualize a lot of what she was seeing. However, it's impossible to say that she didn't have a very good impact on some folks.

Overdrive is having a global eBook book club thing. So for a month, everyone can check out a copy of Shakespeare Saved My Life and there are unlimited copies. I needed to read a memoir anyway, so I figured this was a good way to go about it. Especially as I grew up with a Shakespeare scholar. It looked kind of interesting.

And it was. There was a lot of good that can be gleaned from this book. One of my favorite quotes, frex:

I quickly learned, however, that a university education is not a prerequisite to reading Shakespeare. After all, his original audience was not college-educated. Neither was he.

Sometimes, I'm kind of annoyed about the mysticism of Shakespeare being the end-all-be-all of literature. However, there's something to be said about the universality of the Bard, especially with the themes he works with.

Laura Bates started off her supermax students with Richard the Third, wanting to see how they could relate to his own imprisonment. It quickly became a whirlwind through Macbeth and Hamlet and she began reaching out to youth. And it's clear she did a lot of good.

But at the same time, I kept getting this weird sinking feeling as I read it. You'd hear her recount the horrors of what a prison was like, but then it was like she'd accepted this. She seemed to feel like the prisoners needed to earn being treated humanely by behaving -- behaving being a skill they seemed to pick up when learning Shakespeare.

She even states that she's not a prison reformist, but then goes on to talk about the dangers of supermax and solitary confinement. She'll explain why it's so important that prisoners have education available to them, but then couch it in terms of reducing the number of victims once they've left.

In some ways, I think her politics and mine just clash a bit, and it kept getting under my skin. But what frustrated me the most, I think, was her continual whining about her attempts to get tenure. She kept trying to make it relate to the story, but it never did for me. (We also never find out if she actually gets tenure.) And while I know that it's hard to be working in academia with that 6 year threshold sitting over your head as an assistant professor, especially when you're working a renowned program that's actually changing lives, it simply came across as whiny. There were bigger things going on.

I also felt frustrated by the fact that the story covered more about her one major success case, rather than talk about the program in general. And I can kind of understand her wanting to tell his story. Shakespeare literally saved his life and turned it around. She seems to have built a stronger connection with this student more than any other.

On the other hand, considering the number of folks she's worked with, it felt like putting the best pony up for the show.

It's not that I'm reading in bad faith. I honestly think Laura Bates is doing good, and doing good in good faith. But at the same time, I can't imagine coming out of the experiences she's gone through and coming to the conclusions she seems to have come to. I think Shakespeare is wonderful for convicts.

But I don't think it's the end-all be all answer to the inhumanity of the United States' prison system.

There's also a lot of tossing about of the word crazy and a lot of stigma thrown at the criminally insane. Actually, it goes beyond stigma. It does that lovely thing where it seems to imply that the mental illness is the cause of the criminal behavior, rather than exacerbating it. Because you have to be crazy to kill someone, yanno?

I might have read a bit too far into it, but it's hard because "crazy" is used so often in the book. (As is "retarded.") And that's how society deals with this. That's what we're taught. Over and over.

So while there's definitely some good stuff in here, overall I was kind of unenthused. It's an easy read, which I appreciate. She's not over-writing for the sake of sounding more academic. At the same time, she doesn't dumb down her story, simply to make it more accessible.

[Alison Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing testament to the power of literature and education. This book was very inspiring to me.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have been oh-so-much-better if it had only been about 50-75 pages shorter. I felt like it kept cycling through the same information over and over again in order to drag out the storyline. I liked the concept of the novel, and I admire Bates' courage and tenacity in teaching Shakespeare in high-security prisons (I don't think I could do it), but I felt like the book was overly preachy in areas, and I felt strangely detached from the story line. I only struggled through the last 100 pages or so because I felt like I had already invested so much in getting that far in the book. Do I recommend? Eh, not necessarily. Only if you are passionately interested in Shakespeare, prisons, or both.

[Connie Donnelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have never picked this book to read if it had not been a book club selection. Of course that is one of the reasons for a good bookclub, it challenges you to explore other genreas.
Laura Bates begins teaching Shakespeare to prisoners in solitary confinement where she meets Larry. How their lives are changed by this experience will stay with me. Larry's take on Shakespeare's works are unique and revealing and will promote discussion among scholars and students for years to come.

[Adelle Eslinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to my sister, I chose to read this book. I am deeply moved by this book for two reasons. The first is that there are many days when I question my own value as I pursue my profession-a sophisticated art form. Through the works of Shakespeare, the author transforms lives and nurtures a deeper understanding of human nature in the supermax prison environment. These transformations are both seen and unseen, and I must trust that my own humble offerings to art may inspire also. The second gift in this book is the reminder that we are so much more than our actions - and that we should strive to see beyond the surface and the appearance of others.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a non fiction story about a professor who teaches Shakespeare to a class of supermax prisoners ( ones in solitary confinement) with her focus on Newton , a prisoner serving a life sentence without parole who has been in prison since age 17 and spent ten years in the SHU (solitary housing unit) shortly thereafter… and that’s where he is when learning about Shakespeare… for the first time.
Unbelievably interesting is the only way I can explain it.

The inmates have deep philosophical discussions delivered from perspectives of prisoners, gang members, killers. They are often from minorities, or have very limited education. BUT their perspectives are fascinating, their ideas are well thought out and meaningful. It’s delightfully unexpected. The author is surprised, to say the least .

No one really knows what Shakespeare meant with his words. There is no right or wrong. Everything is open to interpretation, so this exercise is very confidence-building for these guys.

“Prison is being entrapped by those destructive ways of thinking.” P 191

The female author, although learned in Shakespeare, she has a PhD, and having spent many years with grad and post grad students, gains an entirely new perspective of Shakespeare, learning as much from her students as they learn from her. Their deep philosophical discussions are as fascinating as they are brilliant. They relate the passages to everyday life, which they only fantasize about, having not experienced “everyday life” in years. And yet they relay incredible insight into the gang wars of Romeo and Juliet, the killing of innocent people in Macbeth, life in prison for Richard III. All of these are perspectives that most students could never provide.

The author usually sits in the hallway outside the cells of the inmates locked in solitary confinement, conversing through the small opening in the doors where food usually passes on a tray.

An extraordinary exercise in education that seemed to provide unintended or unexpected valuable lessons in perhaps rehabilitation or change in thought process or confidence building.

A highly recommended read!

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was chosen by one of my fellow members of my Bookclub and stretched my reading experience and my opened my eyes to prison conditions and education's role there.

Dr. Laura Bates offers a lifeline to prisoners through the therapy of studying Shakespeare. The story focuses mostly on one prisoner, Larry Newton. The book is not particularly well written. It’s a bit long and monotonous, much like what I imagine life in prison would be. But there was also an air of naivety or enamour on the part of Dr. Bates, that didn’t quite sit well with me. What was interesting was Larry Newton’s honest, profound, and original interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays. If you love the bard, you will be intrigued by this book.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This true story was fascinating. I've always told my students that reading Shakespeare can make a person, not just smarter, but also better. Larry Newton, the main focus of the book, proves that to be true. I wish that the book could end with something happier (no spoiler here, we are told from the beginning that Larry will never be paroled), but this is real life, and sometimes there just aren't twist endings complete with deus ex machinas. The book does, however, satisfy in that it makes readers question their own assumptions about criminals, inmates, and their capabilities, and I think that rich conversations could be had by reading the book.

I do have a few small criticisms about the writing itself: 1) Each chapter is only about two pages long, and I'm not sure what the intention is behind that choice. 2) There are many parenthetical comments and some personal stories that really had no place in the book and were a distraction from the main story. 3) You'd think that a Shakespeare professor would have a bit more finesse with phrasing. I realize that part of Dr. Bates's point in using such a spare and utilitarian prose was to avoid sugar coating anything contained in the book, but I prefer a bit more poetry in my prose. Still, it's certainly worth a read, and I'm considering purchasing a class set for my high school students as a companion piece to whatever Shakespeare play we happen to be reading.

[Chris Aylott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had everything it needed to be terrible -- a dedicated teacher, grizzled cons, and the uplifting power of Shakespeare -- and I'm sure a sufficiently motivated hack could still ruin the story with a proper Hollywood version. But Professor Bates succeeds at keeping it real and therefore readable.

She does this mostly by getting out of the way. Her own experiences are important and she includes them when necessary, but the heart of the book lies in the conversations she recorded with the supermax convicts she enticed into studying Shakespeare. She lets them talk instead of doing a lot of talking herself, and their perspectives on their lives and Shakespeare's words are well worth reading. (Bates seems to be an excellent teacher, one who draws students out and helps them to think on their own rather than posing as the authoritative source of knowledge.)

The heartbreaking part of the story is how it brings home the horrifying condition that is solitary confinement. Bates doesn't romanticize her students -- they're killers who have hurt many people before and after entering prison -- and it's clear that some convicts do have to be segregated for their own or others' protection. But the lack of communication and stimulation that is supermax does nothing but inflict needless suffering, and it is a national shame that we allow it to happen.

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book at approximately 8:00 PM last night. Three and a half hours later, I reluctantly shut my Kindle cover, not wanting to let go of Larry Newton. What has happened to him since the ending of the program? How can anyone whose life has been awakened to the power of living an honorable life continue to exist meaningfully in the prison system with no way out, ever? Other reviewers have commented negatively upon Dr. Bates' ruminations throughout the book regarding her own intellectual and emotional growth as she developed and engaged in this program. They argue that it was really Larry's story; but I don't agree with those individuals at all. Without her story, there would be no 'Larry Newton, Shakespeare Saved My Life story'--it's as simple as that. His backstory is horrifying and barely believable; but I recognized so many of his 'life on the run' details, having worked for years with disadvantaged and delinquent students and adolescents who don't really live, but simply try to exist in their dysfunctional or nonexistent families from day to day in the best way their underdeveloped executive functioning skills know how. But I suppose that's my own book to write someday. This book was so worth reading...if only to open our society's eyes to the worth of rehabilitation and not simply punishment--beginning with delinquent eight year olds.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never cared for Shakespeare in high school or college, and only chose to read this book because it was the one chosen for the first "Big Library Read," a worldwide ebook club where members are challenged to read the same book at the same time. The author tells of her experience teaching Shakespeare to inmates in an Indiana prison; that alone was nearly enough for me to return it after the first few chapters. I'm so glad I didn't! This is a fascinating true account of how studying Shakespeare changed the lives of many prisoners, and one in particular, a convicted murderer, who went on to write a workbook and study guide for each of Shakespeare's plays. I'm even considering reading some Shakespeare now myself.
This book gives a disheartening insight into the life's of prisoners, especially those in maximum security systems, and may change your attitude about our prison system in the United States, like it did mine.

[Sheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most extraordinary books I've ever read. Can the most dangerous prisoners learn important, life changing lessons from 400 year-old texts? Lessons and interpretations that fine scholars often overlook? Can Shakespeare break you out of prison and can he save your life? There is so much to love about the book -- a memoir of an interesting human, a prison drama, an analysis of my favorite plays, significant human growth. I highly recommend this book -- which is a free download until the end of the month.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is nonfiction about how a professor who teaches Shakespeare, goes into a prison and teaches the inmates, who are in solitary confinement. I enjoyed listening to the audio. Most of these inmates didn't graduate from high school, but were willing to read Shakespeare, do homework, and study it. They grasped the concepts as they related it to themselves and their experiences.

This is about one woman who pushed for something that ended up making a significant difference in many lives as these new students were able to transform their lives.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing, inspirational story. It would be so good for our society if prisoners were educated and given resources to improve instead of being warehoused.

[LAPL Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard is a book that warms my cold librarian’s heart. Laura Bates is an English Professor who volunteers to teach English to prisoners in maximum security, and in solitary confinement. She teaches them Shakespeare. After all, she’s already teaching her college freshmen Shakespeare. Of course, college freshmen are allowed to use pencils, so there are some differences between the two groups of students.

What is amazing about Dr. Bates’ book is how the students from Wabash Valley Correctional Facility take Shakespeare’s plays and make them their own. She offers us a chance to witness their group discussions and read their responses to the plays. They could be any class of passionate Shakespeare scholars; reading, performing, and arguing over the plays. But their experiences lead to startling original interpretations. In Romeo and Juliet, for example, the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt are treated as foolish mistakes, motivated by struggles for respect and identity in a violent society. Romance doesn’t really enter into it.

Dr. Bates tells us the story of one of her prize pupils, Larry Newton. Mr. Newton is a 5th grade drop out. He is in prison for murder. He made a violent escape attempt while in prison and has been, at the start of the book, in solitary for 10 years. But Larry has interest and insight, and he reads Shakespeare. This gives him the opportunity to experience new perspectives and to share those perspectives with others. The right story can be an escape, a comfort, a new experience, and even a new identity. Or as Larry tells Dr. Bates simply “Shakespeare saved my life.” By the end of the book Newton is a Shakespeare scholar. He has written workbooks to be used when teaching this subject to other prisoners. He and the other students have written and recorded a version of Romeo and Juliet for at risk teens. He is finally allowed to leave solitary and join the prison’s general population.

Shakespeare's plays aren’t just meant for the college classrooms or the theater. They belong to all of us. The stories they tell belong to all of us. The meaning we take from them helps us live together in the world. Shakespeare saved Larry Newton’s life and tomorrow someone will come in to the library and check out a copy of Hamlet or Julius Caesar and start that journey all over again. This melts my cold, cold librarian heart.

Reviewed by Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Science, Technology & Patents Department

[Kenia Sedler · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS. This memoir is a testament to the power of literature and to its "usefulness" to the world. This is why a liberal education is so valuable. This is why they call liberal education courses the "Humanities": when studied seriously, they imbue your very soul with what it means to be a human being, helping you discover life's meaning and to become a better, more dignified person in the process.

To see what a drastic influence the works of Shakespeare can have on convicted killers...well, you'll have to read the story to understand. ;-)

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My inspiration to read this book was Margaret Atwood’s fiction Hag-Seed (and secondarily The Heart Goes Last), as well as a memoir by former prisoner, Stephen Reid (A Crowbar in the Buddhist Garden). Additionally, I had just finished If We Were Villains, in which Shakespearean plays may have played a role in sending the main character to prison, the very opposite of this memoir.

Now, I am predisposed to enjoy a memoir of the redemptive value of literature, particularly Shakespeare, for whom I have an abiding love. Add to that the fact that I have considered doing literacy work with prisoners (although I have not yet taken the plunge) and I appreciated Laura Bates’ description of the perils and the pluses of doing such work.

This is real-life, not fiction, so I didn’t get exactly the story that I hoped for. There is no ending, really, because Larry Newton will never get out of prison. All projects must come to an end eventually, and the author is no longer teaching Shakespeare to prisoners. Still, it was very readable and inspirational. If nothing else, I am encouraged to study the works of the Bard more closely myself.

[LukasmummyReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm kind of lucky that most of the really good books I find to read start as recommendations on Goodreads, comments on Facebook from friends or just enjoying the author and being willing to try something else they have written. This was a new experience for me, a promotional email from Overdrive talking about their Big Library Read and the first book was Shakespeare Saved My Life. Honestly if I had seen the book in a library or on Amazon I might have skipped over it, but I was intrigued enough to dig out one of the kids library cards to borrow it (I have one of my own somewhere but since I read almost exclusively on my phone or listen to audiobooks I haven't used it for a long time and have no idea where I have put it). I'll be honest and say I started reading it while relaxing in the bath and I stopped reading it when I realised I was shivering and my phone battery was almost flat lol. We all covered Shakespeare at school and most of us remember it as a boring term or two of sharing books, hoping you were not going to be the one called on to read aloud and trying really hard to follow exactly what was happening in the story in a busy and noisy classroom. Seeing Shakespeare's works through the main characters eyes, and reading his interpretations bought the stories alive for me in a way I never thought was possible. This book is so much more than a teacher talking about her pet project of introducing Shakespeare to prisoners. I don't want to spoil it for anyone so I will just say give it a try you will be glad that you did.

[Julie Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book and would have been a great book if the author could've been more focused. Toward the end she says that she wrote the book about Larry Newton, her star pupil, who is a thoughtful, insightful scholar once the Bard is put on his radar. Unfortunately that focus leads to a lot of chapters about Larry's life and upbringing which I didn't particularly care about. Based on the title and description, I was interested in the Shakespearean angle and in a deeper look from more people than simply Larry. Laura Bate also writes about the prison system, juvenile delinquency, her own life and career, other Shakespearean programs she develops, media attention, and ... well, you get the idea. It's a bit scattershot.

It is worth reading, especially for the take on Shakespeare from the prisoners' points of view. It is entertaining enough, just a bit frustrating to read.

What I'd really like to see is the Prisoners' Guide to Shakespeare that Bates was compiling from Newton's workbooks. That's something that I felt would give real insight into Shakespeare, the prisoner mindset, and our own lives.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are two authors here: a great one and a very mediocre one. The great one wrote 400 years ago or so. Dull. At least in the third or so that I read, not so much about Shakespeare as about prisoners of supermax facilities. As an English professor, Laura Bates is no sociologist or criminologist or even insightful writer, and is unable to bring the perspective that is needed to this story. I'm not overly impressed with the insights she or the prisoners had into Macbeth. "That's just how a killer would do it." (I paraphrase or misquote like Bates must have done, unless she was recording these long discussions with the inmates.) Does this mean that Shakespeare had extra-special insight into what murderers are like? I don't think so. The genius of Shakespeare is that he had insight into what all humans are like, hence his universality.

[Perri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to laugh at this line “Don’t make them read Shakespeare; they’re already in prison!” That would be how I feel about Shakespeare. So it's all the more impressive that the author manages to make connections to these prisoners and expand their world through the Bard. What Bates doesn't do is make excuses for her students, and they seem to rise to her expectations. A star off for the the quality and choppiness of the writing, but still a very moving book I'm glad for people like Bates.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard to read the memoir without the mediocrity of the writing getting in the way of a powerful and compelling story of how the bard saved a life.
Newton's tale is a testament to the power
of Shakespeare to transcend the life of a prisoner.

[Pattie Nauheimer Ekman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give it a solid "meh". Nothing spectacular at all. Very repetitive with little depth of investigation. This story would have made a great long-form article. I'm glad it was an easy read with obvious places to skim over.

[Cynthia Egbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is not often that I finish two five star rated books in a week so this was a red-letter week for me! This book is far and away the best book I have read this year and perhaps over a few years. Of course part of this has to do with the Shakespeare element, but it opened my eyes to so many things concerning the way our penal system works (or doesn't work). Literature truly can change and, yes, save lives, even the lives of those we view as most hopeless. It was a fascinating story, well written and profound and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

A few quotes:

"I had come to prison teach prisoners about Shakespeare, but I would learn from them at least as much I would teach them."

"But that is the beauty of Shakespeare: there often is more than one way of looking at the text."

"I quickly learned, however, that a university education is not a prerequisite to reading Shakespeare. After all, his original audience was not college-educated. Neither was he."

"I was never a good criminal by myself," Newton once told me. "I don't think anybody is."

"You can catch Shakespeare like a bad bug," one prisoner told me, "and you just can't shake it."

"I felt like I could relate to Macbeth," said Newton, "and I never exonerated him because of the influence of the witches. I mean, we all have influences. But Julius Caesar has my favorite freakin' quotes," he continued, quoting from memory: 'So every bondman in his own hand bears the power to cancel his captivity,' To me, that's empowering, that we can free ourselves at any time - psychologically, I mean."

"Shakespeare is telling our story! He is telling the story of complex, conflicted people who are facing real issues, who have real problems, who know what it's like to lose, who know what it's like to cling to the edge, and who know what it feels like to be lost. But unlike many who attempt to use our circumstances and offers you the tools to shape the life that you truly desire." -Larry Newton

"The secret, the magic is YOU! Shakespeare has created an environment that allows for genuine development. The Shakespearean efforts are not to replace your pre-existing ideas with the ideas of some facilitator. The efforts are not to see you become the cookie-cutter copy of what some other persons things you 'should' be. Shakespeare is simply an environment that allows us to evolve without the influence of everyone else telling us what we should evolve into. Shakespeare offers a freedom from those prisons! Your mind will begin shaking the residue of other people's ideas and begin developing understandings that are genuinely yours! That is the goal of these Shakespearean efforts. You have nothing to lose but the parts of you that do not belong anyhow." -Larry Newton