Lois 's Reviews > Abolitionist Intimacies

This audiobook was made available to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This audiobook narrator was perfect for this nonfiction text. Her voice was full of compassion and richly lyrical. This is a heavy read, with heavy themes. I personally find nonfiction books with serious themes like this best consumed via audiobook over other formats. I love the feel of a heavy tome in my hands, but I never lose myself in nonfiction text the same. A narrative in which I'm given the opportunity to experience firsthand accounts of prisoners' experiences, in their own words, is greatly enhanced in audiobook format. I felt like the narrator was a perfect guide for this journey. 

My political view is abolition, so this fits nicely into my views. What I love about this, though, is that the text doesn't assume the reader is a well-versed abolitionist. The book cleverly utilized multiple formats to enhance the reader's understanding of these crucial issues. There's direct quotes from incarcerated individuals, research done by the author, and essays on the topic all mixed in with the author's stunning original poetry. A full media experience, especially on audiobook.

Another highlight of this book is the focus on Canadian prison reform. Often, when prison reform is brought up, even in Canada, the focus is on US style prisons. I was not very familiar with Canadian prisons before this book. I'm a Statie, as I was called in Ontario, married to a Canadian. I lived in Ontario for almost 14 years. A member of my husband's family trained to be a prison counselor and assured me that Canadian prison was focused on reform and nothing like the US system. 🙃

I'm planning to send that cousin an Audible copy of this book. To my horror, I discovered that Canadian prisons aren't focused on reform and don't offer prisoners dignity. In fact, the only thing about Canadian prisons that is an improvement over US prisons is that Canada incarcerates significantly less of their population than the US does. That's about where their superiority ends. 

Canadian prisons, of course, extend the oppression of marginalized groups in Canadian society, and race deeply impacts this experience, as does poverty. 

The author makes the case that prison functions in a way that is harmful for prisoners, prison guards, and society at large. This is an intersectional look at oppression in Canadian society at large and its root causes: colonization, racism, policing amongst others. It's enlightening if somewhat harrowing and extremely sad. Honestly, I cried hearing some of what's included in this book. I was deeply touched by this narrative and want to thank the author for their research, their choice to have the prisoners tell their own stories using first person narratives, and the poetry that elucidated my understanding of the issues addressed in this narrative.  I will be thinking about this for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read/listen to and review this book. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.