Average Customer Rating: (33 votes)

Any book that can give voice to the voiceless should be celebrated. No one feels this more strongly than Wally Lamb, editor of Couldn t Keep It to Myself, a collection of stories by 11 women imprisoned in the York Correctional Institution in Connecticut. Teacher and novelist Lamb was invited to head a writing workshop at York Correctional Institution in 1999. His somewhat reluctant acceptance soon turned into steadfast advocacy once the women in his charge began to tell their stories. Lamb maintains that there are things we need to know about prison and prisoners: There are misconceptions to be abandoned, biases to be dropped. However, as heartfelt as his appeal is, nothing speaks more convincingly in this book than the stories themselves.Those collected here are disturbing and horrific. They reveal, often in graphic detail, the worst kind of abuse: incest, drug addiction, spousal violence, parental neglect, or incompetence. They re also testimony to what social workers and health care professionals have confirmed for years--that those who populate our prisons are often victims first themselves. Thus, the telling of these stories serves as a form of therapy. They are also sad accounts of the brutalities many suffer, yet few discuss: One day I figured out a dying little girl lived inside of me, so I threw her a lifeline in the form of paper and pen. Considering the degradation the contributors have experienced both in and outside prison, the courage, candor, and honesty with which they speak truly make these stories, as difficult as they are to read, victories against voicelessness--miracles in print. --Silvana Tropea

#A Look Inside... (2008-07-23) This is a fantastic book. For women who are not authors by trade, they did a great job getting their stories across. And what stories they have to tell. This book makes you see beyond the bars. These women are people first, victims themselves second, and criminals third. There is humanity in correctional institutions, not just monsters as we would all like to believe.

#Leg of Lamb (2004-10-21) Wally Lamb s book, COULDN T KEEP IT TO MYSELF, is just one leg of the journey in his never-ending cascade of colorful and probing books. His workshop at York Correctional Facility for Women inspired eleven inmates to commit their memories of childhood to paper. Journeys of trauma are nothing new (think of the memoir SICKENED or the fiction/memoir BARK OF THE DOGWOOD) but what Lamb has achieved here is a healing process for these women, and at the same time given us a remarkable gift. The collection rings true and it reads both on an entertainment level, and on a level of human enlightenment, both for us and the women who were involved. Very original and brave. Also would recommend ",A Child Called It", and ",The Bark of the Dogwood. ",

#close to home-literally (2004-05-08) I live about fifteen minutes from York and work at a halfway house for drug addicted women trying to get their lives back on track and many of our clients come from this prison. . . point being I obviously could not wait to read this book. I was not disappointed-it is uplifting and heartwrenching- it teaches compassion and shows these are women are HUMAN BEINGS not just criminals. I am glad Mr. Lamb started this writing program at the prison and that despite the efforts of some to shut it down it continues to thrive. For those who didn t like the book I can only say that you must have a very closed heart to not find any connection with any of these women. . . should we feel sorry for them, forgive their crimes? No-but should we be able to show some some compassion for those that may have had less than ",wonderful", lives? Yes! Not everyone can have as horrible a life as some of these women and then simply pull themselves up by there bootstraps and live a ",normal",, happy, problem free life! Another reviewer said that it was like reading essays written by kids in grade school or some such nonesense. . . one must remember when reading this book most-although certainly not all-of the women who were contributers did not complete school and have not had much in the way of formal education-compassion for others is a beautiful quality-may this book help us all to cultivate that trait a bit more in our daily existence.

#Interesting but.. (2004-01-17) The book held my attention for the most part and I had it finished in 2 days. I have mixed emotions, however. My curiosity about the reality of prison life is what made me buy this book. This book portrayed prison life as a lot LESS harsh than I had imagined. In this book the prison seemed like a social club for wayward women. Being in prison seemed to actually improve the lives of some of them who had been used to harsh street life, abuse and a daily battle with society but now have three warm meals a day, shelter, clothing, social time, schooling and no responsibilities. Nothing surprised me concerning the lives of these women. What happened to them was pretty typical in stories you hear of women in the system. . child abuse both sexually and physically, neglect, lack of security, no financial stability, etc, etc. I found some of the stories to be monotonous because of this and got tired of how nearly every story went from their childhood to adulthood, childhood to adulthood. . back and forth, back and forth. . each one so similar. The stories. . in my opinion. . . were very predictable and it doesn t help that you don t know why, specifically, some of these woman are in prison. You hear what drove them there socially and psychologically, but not the exact crime they committed. . understandably hidden in some cases because of laws that have to be kept concerning writing about crimes, but these type of stories needed more of that information so you weren t left hanging. It doesn t tie together and flow. . you are suddenly jerked to a stop at the end of each story wondering what on earth this person had done to land in jail. A brief excerpt at the end of each woman s story stated matter-of-factly why they were there but the story itself doesn t lead up to each crime. . you don t understand what s going on. I kept reading partly because I thought it would pick up my interest the further I delved but that didn t happen. Sure, it has a few touching stories but I wasn t that impressed as a whole. One thing that really bothered me is how nearly every woman was sexually abused as a child but it was almost spoken of lightly. . the abuser wasn t turned in. . . nothing was done. . almost like it s an accepted fact and a part of life. I found it deplorable that it was spoken of so generally and almost in an acceptable manner. All in all to sum it up in one sentence: it was a background on a bunch of women who had hard lives, like millions of us, but they went over the edge.

#Couldn t Keep It To Myself (2003-12-01) Love Wally lamb. . . Hated this book! The intro was good (because it was written by Lamb) but the rest of the book read like a junior high school writting class project. I know Lamb wanted to dispel any rumors that prison is a fun place to spend a relaxing 10-12 but I believe he accomplished that in the intro without dragging us through chapter after chapter of abuse. (ours and theirs)Sorry, I wouldn t recommend this to anyone.