Prisoners

by Jerome Gold

Prisoners is a collection of short narratives told in different voices, about what holds us captive: war, violence, trauma, history, belief, the fear of death. The narratives are thematically linked. The dominant themes of this compact but insightful book are violence and its effects: the ways in which these effects persist, their replication from generation to generation. Much of this book is told through the voices of gang youth, other parts by veterans of a number of wars. Stylistically indebted to such poets as Louis Simpson, Larry Levis, and Ai, in Prisoners Mr. Gold nevertheless establishes his own territory in terms of both content and tone. The dominant theme - violence - becomes a virus, conveyed down through the generations, or between friends, siblings, or lovers... A whiff of dark humor dances around the macabre and disquieting 'How It Can Happen.' a list of ways people have been known to die... Another acridly funny [piece] is 'Who's Going to Kill Me'... On the whole, Prisoners is intense, evocative, insightful... It is not for sissies-Tacoma News Tribune

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Robert King · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a stark set of essays on the less-fortunate, who find themselves on the wrong side of life; either as victim or perpetrator. Very potent.