Review - The Prisoner's Wife by Asha Bandele

From Booklist

When one hears of a woman marrying a man in prison, especially a man she met while he was already in prison, it is hard not to question her motives or sanity. Poet asha bandele writes of her relationship with Rashid, a man serving 20-to-life for murder. She tells of how she met this man while she was visiting the prison to read her poetry; of how she visited him as a friend/lover, waiting five years before she married him; of waiting the long months after the marriage before they were granted a conjugal visit; of love letters, long collect phone calls, and the horror and indignity of their prison situation. Yet she found in Rashid the strength to remember and confront her past as a victim of sexual abuse. She found, too, the love that most women long for, but in a place that imposes limitations that are a nightmare. Her writing soars with emotion. And the reader's emotions soar as well, not because of a shared experience but because her highly polished and skillful writing makes one feel her pain and joy. This is a romantic but realistic story, told with a directness and honesty that make us know that however impossible the problems asha and Rashid face, we can question neither her motives nor her sanity.


My Review

I read this as part of my Book Bloggers Recommendation Challenge. After reading the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls I knew I wanted to start reading more memoirs.

This is a good feeling of the writing and how I felt about the book. A teaser directly from it.....
This is a love story, threadbare and used up, yet sometimes fat, weighty, stretched out of shape. Its polyester, this story, man-made, trying to be pretty, not quite making it. This is a story desperate to hold itself together. This is a story with patches in the knees.

For me there were parts I loved, didn't enjoy, had a touch boredom from and I also felt like I was judging her at times which made me sad.

I wanted more background of her childhood, parents, friends and even her poetry.

The writing was great you will have to decide if it is a story you are interested in. One thing about love, it truly is in the eyes of the beholder. I just didn't understand this love.

I give it a 3, More Sugar Please.

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