The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • TIME’S #1 FICTION TITLE OF THE YEAR • NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION'S NOTABLE BOOK LIST 2019

FINALIST for the MAN BOOKER PRIZE and the NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

LONGLISTED for the ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL

If I could review this book in two words it would be "Holy S***!"  This book is an intense ride that will lull you into thinking the worst is over, then hit you over the head again.

The book is the story of Romy Hall and what she believes to have led to her being incarcerated at Stanville Women's Correctional Facility with two life sentences hanging over her head, as well as being taken out of the life of her young son Jackson.  Romy talks about her upbringing and how she got into dancing at a strip club that led to her meeting the man that would become the reason for her downfall.  

Interspersed throughout the story of Romy is a glimpse into the lives of other prisoners with life sentences.  Part of what is striking about this book is that you get to see the individual, not just their crime.  It can be easy to believe that the people who are in jail are 'bad' in an effort to separate them from 'the rest of us;' that this could never happen to us.  But Kushner's novel tells differently.  Yes, there are characters that have a history of crime.  But Romy, with the exception of a few stolen items, has not led a life of crime and does her best to earn money and raise her son.  

**SPOILER ALERT**  
Romy's incarceration is due to a man she met at the strip club who becomes obsessed with her.  He calls her, follows her home and even when she moves out of town, he gets her new address and waits for her on her porch.  She takes drastic action that winds her up in jail with two life sentences for murder.  But was this really a fair punishment?  

This novel serves as a commentary on America's justice system and the lives of the individuals that end up in them.  Sometimes those that end up in prison are criminalized to the point of them fulfilling what everyone already believes - that because they are in prison, they are bad.  But it's a cyclical problem - that because they are believed to be bad people, they are not given a chance for reform.  

Verdict: A well-crafted, emotional novel of someone who fell between the cracks of society and ended up in prison for life.  A moderately-paced novel told in first-person that jumps back and forth in time and is split up into small sections that make it a quick read.    

Things I ate while reading this: Leftover Spaghetti, broccoli, corn