Sentence

Ten Years and a Thousand Books in Prison

De: Daniel Genis

Narrado por: Daniel Genis

A memoir of a decade in prison by a well-educated young addict known as the "Apologetic Bandit"

In 2003 Daniel Genis, the son of a famous Soviet émigré writer, broadcaster, and culture critic, was fresh out of NYU when he faced a serious heroin addiction that led him into debt and ultimately crime. After he was arrested for robbing people at knifepoint, he was nicknamed the “Apologetic Bandit” in the press, given his habit of expressing regret to his victims as he took their cash. He was sentenced to twelve years—ten with good behavior, a decade he survived by reading 1,046 books, taking up weightlifting, having philosophical discussions with his fellow inmates, working at a series of prison jobs, and in general observing an existence for which nothing in his life had prepared him.

Genis describes in unsparing and vivid detail the realities of daily life in the New York penal system. In his journey from Rikers Island and through a series of upstate institutions, he encounters violence on an almost daily basis, while learning about the social strata of gangs, the “court” system that sets geographic boundaries in prison yards, how sex was obtained, the workings of the black market in drugs and more practical goods, the inventiveness required for everyday tasks such as cooking, and how debilitating solitary confinement actually is—all while trying to preserve his relationship with his wife, whom he recently married.

Written with empathy and wit, Sentence is a strikingly powerful memoir of the brutalities of prison and how one man survived them, leaving its walls with this book inside him, “one made of pain and fear and laughter and lots of other books.”

Great but slow

Great book to listen to, but speed it up to 1.4 for a better experience

Top notch prison narrative

Thoroughly engaging story of an intellectuals decade in the New York state prison system.

Disappointed by conclusion

I enjoyed all of his observations on the reality of prison life. However, the last 10 minutes of the book disappointed me greatly. To make a grand global declaration that modern people can’t possibly believe in the “ opiate of the masses”, religion in other words was highly offensive to me. Apparently in his world, religion, both inside and out of prison, is at best a harmless sop and at worst a delusional cop out. No wonder he finds Proust’s nihilism so appealing. Talk about a cop out…

Needs a better reader

This was a fascinating look inside the New York penal system, but my pleasure was diminished considerably by the reader. it sounded like a Woody Allen wannabe was reading.

Great description of prison life

I found the description of life behind bars very interesting. Would have liked a little more specific integration with the substance of the books he read. The author's performance was great and added authenticity.