Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters [Hardcover]

Wally Lamb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 28, 2003

A collection of heart-wrenching tales of abuse and violence from a writing class of women prisoners, edited by world-renowned no.1 New York Times bestselling author Wally Lamb. Wally Lamb's writing has been lauded around the world for its humanity and sensitivity to the plight of the outsider, the misunderstood figure who seeks hope and redemption. For the past several years, Lamb has devoted himself passionately to working with a group of incarcerated women at the York Correctional Institution. While at first the women distrusted Lamb, each other, and themselves, many of them began to slowly embrace the opportunity to join Lamb's writing class. Over time, they began to express themselves, and this book is the product of that journey into expression. Many of these women were imprisoned by their circumstances even before they came to York. Some women recount harrowing tales of chronic abuse and rejection by their families, their peers, and their societies. Brenda Medina joins a gang to fit in and to impress her volatile boyfriend, and violence soon ensues. Nancy Birkla is arrested for drug trafficking just when she has begun the painful ascent toward sobriety and toward facing her demons. Other tales give glimpses into life in jail. Robin Cullen writes about the difficulty of celebrating Christmas in a maximum-security prison where no care packages are allowed. Bonnie Foreshaw tells of how much she misses the music and joy of family gatherings. She still has much more time to serve of her forty-five year sentence for an accidental killing. The reader learns why some women turned to brutal violence, how others were caught in no-win situations, and how many of the women embrace hope even in the depths of their despair and loneliness. Wally Lamb's powerful introduction describes the incredible process by which these women found their true voices, and how they challenged him as a teacher and as a fellow writer: "I have come to know my current students not merely as the substance abusers, gang members, thieves, and killers they have been, but also as the complex and creative works in progress they are." Couldn't Keep It to Myself is a book about the hope and heartache of that process of finding onself and striving for a better day.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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

From Publishers Weekly

Bestselling author and Oprah Winfrey favorite Lamb (She's Come Undone; I Know This Much Is True) takes a cue from Winfrey herself in collecting and editing this book of writings gleaned from a workshop he conducted for the female inmates of Connecticut's York Correctional Institution. The result is an intriguing and powerful collection of unlikely literary debuts. Although the 11 selections cover the range one might expect from writings plucked from a women's prison-tales of broken homes, poverty, violence, teenage pregnancy, race and gender bias, and, of course, crime and punishment-Lamb succeeds in giving the collection an intense, recognizable emotional core reminiscent of his blockbuster debut novel, She's Come Undone. Indeed, each selection bears the marks of Lamb's heavy involvement-the clipped yet elegant prose and the delicate, occasionally humorous manner in which difficult emotional situations are rendered. Standout selections include Nancy Whiteley's opening remembrance of her troubled adolescence and Diane Bartholomew's artfully rendered, heart-wrenching "Snapshots of My Early Life." As a sad footnote, Bartholomew, whom Lamb credits with inspiring the success of the workshop, will never see her opus in print. Sent to prison in 1990 for murdering her abusive husband, Bartholomew was stricken with cancer while serving her sentence and died in November 2001. In his introduction, Lamb calls the workshop "a journey rich with laughter, tears, [and] heart-stopping leaps of faith." To the credit of Lamb and his authors, this book, the end product of the workshop, is as well.-- heart-stopping leaps of faith." To the credit of Lamb and his authors, this book, the end product of the workshop, is as well.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harper (January 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006053429X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060534295
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 121 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Will be Totally Caught Up in these Incredible Stories, January 26, 2003

By 

Merry J Kimberley (Pinellas Park, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters (Hardcover)

As a reader interested in women's issues I expected to like this book, but I did not expect to be completely captivated and overcome by it, which is what actually happened. It is presented in such a compelling way you become absorbed by each inmate's story and exeriences. It is at the same time heart wrenching and informative. Some common threads run through the individual stories yet each is so unique you feel the pain of each individual story. Photographs of each writer, both past and present, help to make you feel a connection. I gained insight into cultures and lifestyles I knew nothing about and saw a part of life so realistically described that I felt I had been there myself. Wally Lamb did an extraordinary job putting this project together and the result is a book that I feel will benefit everyone and should be read by all.

104 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inmates are people first, prisoners second, February 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters (Hardcover)

This book has already caused a stir for all the wrong reasons. Various victims' rights groups have taken issue with this book for the following reasons: (a) that Wally Lamb would devote his time to, of all things, a group of criminals; and (b) that the stories in this book humanize their writers rather than focuses on the victims of their crimes. It is undisputed that the women who wrote these memoirs did a variety of illegal, immoral and awful things. However, if you read these stories, you will begin to wonder who the victims really are.

The women's stories are uniformly heartbreaking; nearly all the authors were victims of sexual abuse. Nearly all grew up poor. Nearly all had minimal or questionable parental support. And about half wrote about abusive romantic relationships. Several of the authors are in prison for killing their abusive spouse and/or significant other. While it was wrong for them to take their husband's lives, it is also understandable once you read their harrowing tales.

I was especially moved by Bonnie Foreshaw's "Faith, Power and Pants" and Diane Bartholomew's "Snapshots of my former life." Both went from unbearable childhoods to atrocious marriages. Both are clearly angry with a system that has failed them. Yet both write of finding hope despite all the indignities life has thrown at them. As a final indignity, Bartholomew developed cancer while writing her memoir. Only then was she paroled for the murder of her abusive husband. It is clear that she was only paroled because the State of Connecticutt did not want to pay her chemotherapy bills.

This book can be harrowing to read but it left me with a sense of hope. Beautiful women exist underneath the prison fatigues, who have survived despite the brutal conditions of the penitentiary system. Each story in this collection moved me in a different way. I can say that about very few books.

70 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wally Lamb is brilliant as an editor too, January 28, 2003

By 

Marge B. (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Couldn't Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters (Hardcover)

I bought this book so I could read what a woman from my own community wrote. I expected to get through only her story the night I brought the book home with me. I'd already read other writings of hers, so I figured this woman's story would be a good read, which it was. After reading that one story, however, I read Mr. Lamb's intro - then I just couldn't stop reading. I read the entire book in one sitting!
In the past, especially being a social worker, I've read many stories about every possible life situation, but I have never read anything like this book. By the end of each story I felt a real sense of kinship and sisterhood with that story's author. I find it impossible to choose which is the most thought-provoking or well-written.
If this book is typical of Wally Lamb's ability to teach and to give of his heart, then I believe he is not only brilliant but the kind of mentor other incarcerated people need working with them. Thank goodness they couldn't keep it to themselves!