Letters from Prison - Voices of Women Murderers

Rating:
Summary: Mixed Reaction
Review: Having read the previous reviews, I decided I had to put in my opinions on the book. I have had significant contact with women in prison while doing prison reform work and I am also working with an inmate on her case. Therefore, I think I have a pretty good idea of what Ms. Furio went through to get the information for this book and how difficult it was for her to communicate with these women. Although female inmates are easier to get through to than men, they still are extremely cautious with writers and reporters, even with member of their legal team...and with good reason. It takes quite a bit of time to gain the trust needed, and then you only get the basics. Very few inmates of either sex are going to open up for ANY reason, as it might hurt appeals, etc. I think Ms. Furio did an admirable job of getting these women to allow us into their private forms of hell...their thoughts and feelings about the crimes of which they have been convicted. And, for many inmates, living with their thought is a private hell. The woman I am working with is profiled in the book, and I know how hard it was for her to decide to allow Ms. Furio to use her information and very private thoughts. She asked me for my opinion several times and I had to tell her it was her choice; no one could make it for her. The writing is somewhat simple, but this is not a PhD thesis and these women are, for the most part, not well educated, so you have to bring your writing down to their level. That said, I think the book is very worthwhile as it allows us a view of women prisoners rarely seen or heard, and removes the sensationalism from the crimes. Maybe that is why some of the other reviewers are so down on the book...they wanted the "gory details" and were denied them. Finally, I think the book allows a rare glimpse of the strange and bizarre rules and regulations of prison life. (As an aside, 1,000 copies of the book were printed by mistake before the proof reading was completed...the reason for the typos. It has since been corrected)

Rating:
Summary: student, read book for sociology class
Review: How ironic; we had to read the book for extra credit in my sociology class (Chico State). I guess because I'm a "sophomoric thinker," I had to respond to the last review. Too bad this can't be a chat line. First, I'm glad to know there's another book out there by Furio. I thought her perceptions of the entire issue of women in prison, prison, the judicial process regarding women...it had to be stated. The women's voices are certainly allowed, and we learn alot, but it helped to be...guided. I doubt without her references and slight bio's leading to the letters, I'd of gained the same type of window into their personalities. I hope to become a criminologist. I sometimes think such poor reviews come from frustrated people who could never have the courage for such endeavors -- think about it, which I did, as I turned EVERY page: she actually got close to these women, found some common ground where trust developed and stories could be told. Isn't that what this should be about, if we're to learn anything? If we just listen to a professors' perspective on issues he or she has never been anything but figuratively close to, we gain far less. So too bad it felt choppy -- I didn't know inmates were to be educated, PhD's...and what was Furio to do? Respond as if she were their superior? Oh that would've really ignited a desire to bond...S. Morgan, Chico, Ca

Rating:
Summary: Troubled Minds, Interesting Times
Review: I have read Jennifer Furio's first book, The Serial Killer Letters. It was fascinating, but I had wondered WHO she was, that these people opened to her in a way I hadn't read in other books -- even profilers had different relationships, more analytical and dry; her style and almost vulnerability yet straightforwardness is what I'd guessed (after seeing her on tv interviews) had allowed these men to talk...but WOW!!! This second work is INCREDIBLE!!! I have learned something about the kind of humanity necessary to forge ahead, to learn something about the darkness that surrounds ALL of us, effecting SOME of us to such degrees, MANY of us find it unspeakable, and un-understandable, until now. This is a revelation and a real turning point for persons interested in knowing what kind of SOUL is necessary to educated ourselves, to tolerate so we don't continue to make the same mistakes...I'm in love. With the book, and maybe just slightly with its author. Great work.

Rating:
Summary: I know the person.
Review: I personally know Kristine Bunch and she should be out not in prison. Krissy is the most wonderful person I know. She has suffered a great deal because of the crime she was convicted of. She did not do it and she is paying an unfair price. People need to know that she has suffered and lost 6 years of her son's life. She needs to be home not in some prison.

Rating:
Summary: I know the person.
Review: I personally know Kristine Bunch and she should be out not in prison. Krissy is the most wonderful person I know. She has suffered a great deal because of the crime she was convicted of. She did not do it and she is paying an unfair price. People need to know that she has suffered and lost 6 years of her son's life. She needs to be home not in some prison.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed Reaction
Review: I picked this up because I am studying forensic psychology and it looked good from the outside. I am disappointed however, in the lack of confirmation of the "facts" in the book. I can spot one bad mistake in the book- in the Hope Rippey/Toni Lawrence letters bio, she names Mary Tackett as the instigator, when the actual instigator was Melinda Loveless. There are numerous books on this murder case, and it is a well known fact Loveless was the instigator. With a grandiose mistake like this, it leaves one to wonder how many other mistakes Ms. Furio makes? Since she leaves her letters to the women out of the book (as she does in her other book about male serial killers) one has to wonder just what she says to the killers and in the case of the male book, whether or not she's leading them on. I wasn't satisfied after I finished reading it, but it was interesting to at least hear a different side and hear from the killers themselves. -J

Rating:
Summary: AWFUL
Review: I was in an audience in Seattle when Jennifer Furio was interviewed. Behind the camera, a sister of one of the women in her books was there. This woman practices what she preaches. The gal got ballistic with her approach, which based on her writing is about empathy or at least, trying to understand. The woman even tried to get physical. I've never seen anyone so cool under pressure. She's about 5/10 and thin -- real thin...so it was interesting -- put her money where her mouth was or ... but she did. She deflected this woman's confusion and grief and actually seemed to break through some more rage, getting to something deeper -- and she controlled the situation, as if in the end they might as well have had tea. So I had to buy the book -- it's more than understanding murder, thought that's the basis, it's about rage, unresolved issues. As a counselor, I thought it would be interesting to hear her speak. I had no idea I'd get a show -- the commentator or interviewer freaked, but this woman, well, amazing. The book is a societal service...but there were a couple of typo's...so four instead of five