The Mars Room

by Rachel Kushner

[clementine]

This is a really difficult one for me. There were some passages that I found incredibly moving, and the writing was strong generally. It's obvious that Kushner has done a lot of research about the California penal system, and I think this was a strong critique of the prison industrial complex and the way it dehumanizes people who are frequently victims of social inequality. The characters were rich and sympathetic, and I think the novel successfully portrayed how criminality is not inborn but generally caused by structural socioeconomic problems. Women who resort to criminality due to lack of options or because they are in abusive situations are continually retraumatized by the penal system and exploited for capitalist gains. This is a difficult, complex topic treated - from my vantage point, at least - delicately and accurately, though I'd certainly welcome information to the contrary. It's a quick, absorbing read but still thought-provoking. However, there were some elements that I found extraneous (Doc in the men's prison, the use of Ted Kaczynski's manifesto). Romy was a fascinating, well-developed character, but the focus on the ultimately sympathetic educated white protagonist will always read as a little tone-deaf. Granted, Romy was a lower-class sex worker and drug user and victim of a sexist justice system, which makes her a more interesting narrator than Orange is the New Black's Piper, who is an upper-middle-class white woman and certainly not a victim in the same way. That said, Romy does have access to various privileges which many of her fellow inmates lack, and she is consistently differentiated by her level of education. That's not to say that the other characters aren't sympathetic - in fact, they're portrayed as extremely intelligent and cunning if not book-smart - but it's always worth interrogating whose stories are told and why. Romy is not more of a victim because she's white and literate, and I hope readers are able to think critically and not automatically lapse into thinking of her more sympathetically because of the privilege she has access to. There are many woman in similar situations to Romy who are not perceived as victims, because sex workers and drug users are seen as deserving whatever happens to them, particularly if they are racialized and lack the signs of formal education. That's not to say that this story is not important - I just think it's important for us to always think about why some perspectives are privileged over others.