I'll Fly Away: Further Testimonies from the Women of York Prison

I loved this book. When I purchased it I thought that I would likely read portions of the writings of the women of York Prison but not all. I did not expect it to be a compulsive read from cover to cover and yet I could not put it down. I finished it in a day. The short stories collected in this book seem more like a novel when read together and it is an exciting read.
Wally Lamb is a hero for devoting his time and energy to this project and has made a difference in the lives of many women prisoners. As he says in his introduction:
"Writing began to make them wings with which to hover above the confounding maze of their lives, the better to see the patterns , the dead ends and a way out."

While I love the Wally Lamb novels I've read, this book is in a whole different ballpark. It is a collection of writings of women incarcerated or facilitating in a Connecticut prison.

Of course, some of the stories are better written than others. Some are very touching, and I feel for the people. Do I believe everything? Well, I can't say that I definitely believe all of it. Felons are not known for complete truthfulness, so while I took most stories at face value, there were some that caused me to raise my eyebrows. And memory is a fragile thing. What someone remembers, what someone may believe is true, might have been warped by time or perspective. I was quite impressed by the women's willingness to write so openly about their show more lives,

What happened to some of these women is tragic. Their lack of help with rehabilitation is sometimes also tragic, although that rehabilitation, as one prisoner recognized, has to come from within.

Some are truly trying to make their lives better within their limited means. Some, surprisingly few, still have “victim” mentality, blaming too much on their circumstances. What causes some people to survive or escape horrible situations while others in the same circumstances can rise above? Not an easy question to answer.

One thing that did bother me is that there was (again, surprisingly) little compassion, empathy, or sympathy, actually very little thought at all, expressed for the victims of the crimes. Some were non-violent crimes, but many of the women had killed someone. Is it was because memories were too painful to bring to the surface, or because the victims were just considered collateral damage, or perhaps attorneys had told them not to write of the victims? I really don't know. Just as we really don't know what to do with criminals. Whether we fall on the punishment side of the fence or the rehabilitation side or somewhere in the middle, we have much to learn about incarceration. show less

These are works written by some of the prisoners at York Correctional Institution, Connecticut's only prison for women. Some of these stories had me sleepless, just some of the things that these women had been through. Kudos to them for sharing their stories with us.

What wonderful testimonies in the written word by the women of York Correctional Institute. Their stories and their lives, while often startling, are rich in dialogue and description. Very good reading, giving a look into the lives of women who became imprisoned.

Essays compiled by author Wally Lamb. Shows personal situations of many women who find them selves in prison. Relationship between abuse, lack of education, mental illness and prison confinement clearly visible.

This book was so interesting! It was even better than Couldn't Keep It To Myself, in my opinion. It's interesting to hear about what happened to these prisoners that could have contributed to the reason that they eventually made poor decisions and ended up in prison.

From Amazon.com
In 2003 Wally Lamb—the author of two of the most beloved novels of our time, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True—published Couldn't Keep It to Myself, a collection of essays by the students in his writing workshop at the maximum-security York Correctional Institution, Connecticut's only prison for women. Writing, Lamb discovered, was a way for these women to confront painful memories, face their fears and their failures, and begin to imagine better lives. The New York Times described the book as "Gut-tearing tales . . . the unvarnished truth." The Los Angeles Times said of it, "Lying next to and rising out of despair, hope permeates this book." Now Lamb returns with I'll Fly Away, a new volume of intimate, show more searching pieces from the York workshop. Here, twenty women—eighteen inmates and two of Lamb's cofacilitators—share the experiences that shaped them from childhood and that haunt and inspire them to this day. These portraits, vignettes, and stories depict with soul-baring honesty how and why women land in prison—and what happens once they get there. The stories are as varied as the individuals who wrote them, but each testifies to the same core truth: the universal value of knowing oneself and changing one's life through the power of the written word. show less