I read this memoir in about 24 hours and really enjoyed it-initially. Two young serial entrepreneurs decide to start a book club for inmates at Collins Bay medium-security prison near Kingston and this is the author’s documentation of what happened as a result.
There is a paucity of evidence that getting convicted criminals to read and discuss a lot of books alters their behaviour and reduces recidivism, but the idea seems intuitive. My wife pointed out to me one paper she found addressing this- a pathetic 2015 Ph.D. thesis paper of a student in Toledo that doesn’t stand up to critical analysis and to me seems to be just pseudo-science. It seems that most of the literature on this issue concerns juvenile offenders, not adults, and certainly not female offenders, and is full of social science gobbledegook. Obviously a lot depends on the choice of books and the skills of the leaders of the endeavour. I doubt that there has ever been a better need for and opportunity to do a scientifically rigorous double-blind controlled trial in social sciences than one to assess this effect.
I had not read some of the books that the prisoners discussed, but I knew the themes of most of them. I once read a how-to essay on how to impress others and appear to be intelligent and well-read by referencing and discussing books that you have not read. With online reviews perhaps including mine herein, that has become very easy.
The book provides an interesting insight into the culture of prisons and shatters the stereotype of prisoners as a homogeneously incorrigible lot of bad actors, with no morals or conscience. This may be its major virtue.
It is not clear to me whether the inmates or the two upper middle class women leaders benefitted the most from the experience, either psychologically or financially. One of the instigators wrote a book about the experience, and the other, as a result of this undertaking became the CEO of what has become a large charity, no doubt drawing a good salary.
The author’s flaunting her wide knowledge of English literature becomes a bit annoying, frequently citing books that are not on the book club agenda, and she seems to hold the view, common to many literati, that knowing a lot of literature will automatically make one a better person, which is a bit of a non-sequester. Is it better to be a philosopher or a pig? The problem with that question is that only the philosopher can answer it.
It is clear that from the start that at least part of the author’s motivation for getting involved was to eventually write a book about it and presumably to make money doing so. It is telling therefore that she ceased to be involved as soon as she had enough material for the book.
Still, a very enjoyable read, not to be taken too seriously.
The Passionate Reader 