Customer Reviews

Internal Chaos

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This a semi-fictional, meaning semi-autobiographical, work about the life of Miquel Morris. This is a sequel to the first book, where Morris chronicles his success in school, and in sports. A star in track, he lands a college scholarship, but his life begins a downward spiral due to drugs. In this sequel, Morris continues the story from the point of his arrest for bank robbery, and his subsequent incarceration. While attempting to analyze his life, he realizes the trouble drugs have caused. However, he also has yet to come to terms with his sexuality, and blames part of his problem on that. It is interesting because his sexuality was not the problem, but his sexual behavior was the problem. In addition to his experiences, he tells of the adventures of his former lover, and current friend, Lazlo, and of his mother, who is fighting breast cancer. He provides these parts in third person, whereas his experiences are given in first person. Moreover, he gives background on many of the inmates that he meets in prison, providing brief biographies of these characters. Furthermore, he begins keeping a journal, and more autobiographical and biographical information are given in italics, which mark the journal entries. This particular approach to the story is interesting. The reader needs to pay attention to details in order to keep the list of characters clear, matching their nicknames with real names. It is impossible to know where the fiction begins and ends, but the story is one, which can be of inspiration to others with similar problems. The work is fast paced. One will want to read the third segment of this story after having read the first two parts.

When we were first introduced to Miguel in For What I Hate I Do, he was a rising college track star and Olympic hopeful. He went on to marry and become a successful businessman, although he battled with his sexual identity. Near the book's end, he was a lowly crackhead hustling his body for his next high. As INTERNAL CHAOS opens, Miguel Morris is arrested for a string of bank robberies. With the amount of evidence against him, Miguel plea bargains to receive a lighter sentence.

Miguel still has his mother and best friend and former lover, Lazlo, looking out for him while he's incarcerated. He quickly learns the inner workings of life behind bars. He also realizes his struggles as a bisexual, HIV positive inmate. As he trudges through trying to find out whom he can trust and whom he can love, he learns more harsh lessons.

The point of view from which Moore wrote was confusing to me and it did not flow well. He wrote from the first person point of view, but with his character being incarcerated, detailing what was occurring at his mother's house, as though he was there, did not work well. I also wanted to see more growth in Miguel's character; he still made premature decisions that weren't well thought out, as though he was not learning from past mistakes. The details Moore provided about life behind bars was an eye-opener. With this being the second book in a trilogy, I may get to see the character's growth in the next installment.

Reviewed by Paula Henderson
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

Of course there have been many memoirs of prison life, but this one represents a smaller subgroup which concentrates on the sexual side of things. The protagonist is torn between his powerful animal lusts and his cultural background which is heavily influenced by the teachings of evangelical Christianity.As a detailed snapshot of the Texas prison system at a certain point of time, this autobiography is unparalleled in my experience. It provides an excellent exposition of the feelings of an individual in a situation of great conflict. He is torn between the demands of the criminal justice system. family considerations, his own emotions, and the norms of the prison culture of which he is an unwilling part. Although I do not agree with everything in the book, I was very impressed with it and I would strongly recommend it to anyone with a significant interest in the subject matter.

This story is very intense and deals with a very taboo topic but the writing is somewhat confusing and rushed at moments and time seems to be of no essential meaning because the authors jump around a lot.

I am currently on chapter 30 of the 33 chapters Moe has written for his second book Internal Chaos. I got hip to the game when I was in search of new literature to read and came across For What I Hate I Do, as I myself were battling the same struggles he faced. This book is powerful and I love the way the Bible is used throughout book one and two. I am not here to tell you what the book is about, you need to buy and read both books for yourself, but I am anxiously awaiting the release of the last book to the trilogy. Please read the books and take heed to the message he is trying to tell you.

JMA

Great work M.W. I bought both of your books in DC and they are both great reads. Its very bold and I am sure very therapeutic to share a "fictional" piece with very real and parallel events to your personal life. I fell in love with your first book and Internal Chaos is no different. Thank you for your honesty.

INTERNAL CHAOS is, at best, a misnomer. Yes, he's institutionalized, but I never got a sense there was any chaos inside the prison or in his head. But, that's beside the point. As a follow up to FOR I HATE WHAT I DO (where the last third of that book is extraordinary), this current autobiographical novel isn't nearly as riveting or interesting as its predecessor. It's a long, episodic excursion of some of his time in jail. I say "some" because you never get a sense of the passage of time in this book. It's not a stretch to think that many scenes were created from several different scenes that happened during his time in prison, but I had a difficult time accepting them at face value. Now, I admit I've never been in prison, but I find it hard to believe you can have a sexual relationship with another inmate and no one knows about it? Even beyond the sex issue, his daily life seemed blasé. And maybe that's the point: that prison is fairly boring and monotonous; and men and women are wasting away.

There were the usual problems with editing: shifts in point of view, misspelled words, sentences that weren't really sentences, etc., etc. That said, though, the editing was better in this book than in the first one.

If this is, indeed, a trilogy, Mr. Moore could have probably summed up his jail experience in the first quarter of a second book and used the remaining three-quarters to share his life after prison (which is what I'm waiting for). INTERNAL CHAOS is really a tease to get to the third book. If you've read the first book, I don't think you need to read this one.