The Funhouse Mirror: Reflections on Prison
by Robert Ellis Gordon

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Book Reviews of The Funhouse Mirror: Reflections on Prison

Book Review: Love Made Visible
Summary: 5 Stars

This is a slim book, but also a riveting, searing, big-hearted book, full of the grim realities and refusal, sometimes, to give in that characterize our American gulag. The American public desperately needs to know those realities. We need them not to absolve people for their crimes, but to put a human face on an often breathtakingly inhuman prison culture, to shine a light on our collective heart of darkness. That heart is shared as much by the rest of us as by the prisoners, guards, and administrators in Gordon's book.

One of the many strengths of this volume is that Gordon wrestles repeatedly with the value-laden question of whether it is appropriate to be appalled when inmates who have themselves committed, at least once in their lives, some horrific crime, are in turn subjected to endless years of horrific taxpayer-mandated treatment at the hands of fellow inmates, sadistic guards and administrators, and a fickle but generally vengeful justice system. The fact that Gordon acknowledges these all-too-human conflicts lends that much greater a moral resonance to his book.

It helps both his pupils and his readers that Gordon is an exceptionally fine and evocative writer. Too often, in books with political themes, the writing is lousy, leavened only by the value of the information buried in dreadful prose. Not so in the Funhouse Mirror. Gordon uses the beauty of language to expose ugly, invisible truths. If this book were widely read, we'd be a better society for it.

Summary of The Funhouse Mirror: Reflections on Prison

As a writing teacher, Gordon had the unique experience of gaining access to the darkest realms of Washington prisons while still being free to walk away from penitentiary confines at the end of the day. His account is aided by essays and stories contributed by six extraordinary prison students - works that give this book an unforgettable edge. Together, Gordon and his students provide revealing glimpses of this vast secret-laden subculture of incarcerated individuals, which nationwide comprises more than two million U.S. citizens.

Here is a gallery of portraits of prison life, from the female guard who tantalizes male inmates with her sexuality to the terrified young fish trying to stave off other prisoners. These stories are jarring, harsh, compelling. The Funhouse Mirror provides an inside look at the prison system we often ignore, yet only at society's peril. This uncommon book is a significant addition to the literature on American penitentiaries. It is destined to help alter the terms of the debate about one of the great national problems of our time.

"In this memoir about teaching writing in prisons, we get a strong whiff of the fear, degradation, and violence that characterize daily life inside these institutions. What sneaks up on us is the character of Robert Gordon. The author's sustained act of charity, his years' long act of hope, is as striking as the honesty and bravery behind his report." --Barry Lopez, National Book Award Winner

Criminals Books

• Subjects > Biographies & Memoirs > Specific Groups > Criminals
• Literature & Fiction > United States > History & Criticism
• Crime & Criminals  > Penology
• Politics