3 "subjective, sympathetic, a bit amateurish" star !!

Thanks to Netgalley, Simon and Schuster Canada and the author/participants. This was released July 2021. I am providing an honest review.

Ms. Greenwood spent a number of years following and interviewing couples where one or both members are incarcerated and follows their relationship ups and downs. This is not deep investigative journalism nor a social science book but rather sometimes compelling narrative non-fiction.

The author comes across as honest, sympathetic but also gullible and biased as she moves from couple to couple and explores not just their relationship but their backstories. I found her own processing of her emotions, concerns and judgements as equally fascinating as the stories of her subject participants. She is not a observer participant as she becomes quite involved in some of their lives and her biases and overinvolvement often blur what might me a more objective story.
She is somewhat aware of this but I do not feel fully.

Weaknesses include the paucity of info provided by her experts and her very poor attempts at psychological and sociological analyses. The other issue I had was that the stories were mostly about subjects that craved the limelight which I feel skews understandings. Despite these flaws I certainly admired her tenacity and pushing forward ideas of reform for both prisoners and their loved ones.

Interesting but with some further work and pushing of the self and material could have been a work of substance rather than some well meaning narrative nonfiction.

The writing is clear, descriptive and ripe for a documentary or docudrama adaptation.

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed.

LOVE LOCKDOWN's title may be a bit confusing for potential readers. This book has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE COVID19 PANDEMIC. Instead, it discusses what it is like to fall in love and to carry on a relationship while one of the members of the couple is incarcerated. Prison is what the "Lockdown" in the title refers to.

I found this book utterly engrossing and thoroughly interesting. Author Elizabeth Greenwood spent half a decade following the lives of several couples who met while one of them was incarcerated.

I appreciated the author's honesty and candor while delving into details most of us have never even thought to consider. One of the most surprising things I learned while reading this book is that there seems to be a wide range of rules for those who are incarcerated. It depends on what state the prison is located and on the political whims of the public and politicians. For example, some states allow conjugal visits while others have completely banned the practice.

If you have ever wondered what it is like to "date" an incarcerated person, or exactly who are the people who engage in these type of relationships, this book is for you. It has everything you never knew you wanted to know.

I have to rate this book as 5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and I applaud the author's dedication to her research. Five years is a very long time.

*** Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book. ***

Love is love is love.....and that couldn't be more true in Elizabeth Greeenwood's Love Lockdown. An unbiased look at couples who have found love whilst one of their partners is in the American prison system. I appreciated the debunking of some prison-love tropes that have trickled into film/tv/books.

3.5 stars. This is a hard one for me to rate as it’s not in my usual genre, but I did find it an interesting view into love in prison. The reporter follows the lives of five different couples over the course of multiple years, all who have connected while one of them was incarcerated. The reporter covers multiple view points, and sometimes asks her subjects hard questions. She also questions several aspects of the US prison system. There were some characters I really felt for.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.