Elyse (catching up since giving birth in Jan!)'s Reviews > The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing

Having just finished a very harrowing, graphic fictional account of a man who was sex trafficked and abused (among other things) as a teenager, I was expecting this book to be a lot harsher than it was. It's basically Orange Is the New Black. It's been a minute since I read OITNB but white woman incarcerated, do we really need another one? I'd rather hear from women of color who have it a hell of a lot harder than a "model" mom turned drug addict who got caught but then learned from it and turned her life around (eventually). I had the same comments about OITNB, where I was expecting a grittier story and was kind of disappointed. Oops. Sorry fellow white woman. DJ was an idiot and utter trash and you were an idiot to keep going back to him and thinking he would save you (or his mommy). The whole thing was his fault and yet you kept falling for his tricks. I'm glad she turned herself around but being/turning into this white woman savior to incarcerated women of color was just blech.

I received a paperback and e-book ARC from Simon & Schuster and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.