Olivia’s Comments (group member since Mar 23, 2017)

Olivia’s comments from the OITNB group.

A theme i noticed that corresponded to Kerman's story telling is her family/friends. Throughout the novel they have all been unconditionally loving and supportive of her. Whether this be before her trial, during, after and before incarceration, and even during her sentence. Not only does her family visit her every week as well as her fiancé Larry, but her other friends come as well and all the way from New York and other states as well. Clearly the sentence does not affect how they feel about Piper and she feels their love as she continuously comes back to the fact that her visits were one of the only things that got her through her sentencing (61). Further support from them is shown when her friend sets up a website that gave information about when visiting hours were and other important things about her sentencing. Also, the fact that her friends and family continuously send her books every day connects back to the theme and her story telling because these books also helped her cope with her sentence and get by in prison. Sometimes because of the amount of books she had other prisoners would become intrigued by her and often request to borrow books. Again and again in Pipers story telling she comes back to her friends and family and how they impacted her sentence and process throughout the justice system.

I agree with Erica that Piper's use of pathos really stands out even so from the beginning of the book. I found that a strong example of pathos on page 36 when Piper describes her clothes being sent to Larry "like the personal effects of a dead soldier." This sentence shocked me just because of the strong comparison and made me do a double take because of how blunt almost it was. I also felt however that it symbolized how her identity in society would basically be dead for the next 15 months while in prison. This sentence really made me realize how tough prison could be on someone, but also drew me into the story more.

I've only seen a few episodes of OITNB but from what I can tell the book does have some similarities plot wise but it is very different. I think the book is gonna open me up to a new genre of books because I usually don't read first person narratives about such real and serious issues, or with that amount of vulgar language. I've only seen the first two or three episodes but I think that the book isn't gonna have as much nudity as the show and that it's going to go into more detail of the crimes Piper committed and from what I have read it does go into more detail about the drug ring. I also think that it's going to solely be about Piper's story and won't go into much detail about the other prisoners and their lives and back stories. I think that the setting of the prison will influence Piper's writing because she most likely picked up on prison slang and she most likely will use it throughout the book. I agree with Anna and Val that reading this book will have me hoping I don't make poor choices and get arrested.