Our Class by Chris Hedges tackles one of the most concerning problems of our time: mass incarceration. Hedges is a writer and college professor teaching inmates in New Jersey prisons. While the book gives readers an inside view of America's prisons and its flawed and racist criminal justice system, it doesn't tell enough about them or about the men Hedges taught. There were many passages from plays and novels, but they felt like they made up the bulk of the book.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

“Our Class” is a thought-provoking work that explores both the complexities of human nature and the resilience of the human spirit. This true account of a diverse group of students at East Jersey State Prison and how they worked with their teacher to bring to life both the suffering that led them to the place they all found themselves, and the hope they tried to hold on to for their futures.
The author Chris Hedges ability to bring the men’s stories to life on the page is truly remarkable. He makes them both relatable and inspiring. We may not all know the same struggles and strife, but we can sympathize with lives that are both heartbreaking and still rife with potential.

I'm not sure about this book. It handles an important topic for sure, but the way the stories are told, they come across as a little repetitive and pedantic. The first half was written more in the fashion of an academic paper rather than a work of literature. Other people might find it interesting, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

This was a case of wrong book at the time. Every time I’d pick it up, it felt too long for what my brain could handle. I’ve eventually given up on it. The writing is fine and I was interested in learning about the students and how this class would help them after leaving prison, but the stories felt like they could be edited down a lot.

As an educator, I didn't really need another novel to tell me how horrible our education system was but I do greatly appreciate this new look at education within prisons and attempting to educate the youth within corrections.

An important topic- one our societal system continues to fail on every level. I'm not sure author Chris Hedges had a clear message other than to get his experiences and this topic out in front of readers to open up a dialogue. I found the writing a little dry, scattered and repetitive. Prison reform and the way we handle, prosecute and punish prisoners all need to be addressed and fixed once and for all. I just wish Hedges had presented his attempts to have an impact and give voice to the forgotten in a more engaging and inspiring way.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I thought I was going to be reading a whole book about the author’s experience teaching a class of prisoners. Instead, the entire first half seemed more like a dissertation, with little included about the prisoners themselves. I almost stopped reading several times, but stuck with it, though, because I read another review that said about halfway through, he started actually writing about the prisoners. Sure enough, that’s what happened. That’s also when the book got interesting. Reading about what these men went through as children and young men before and after their convictions was fascinating and heartbreaking.
The very end of the book became about the author again, as he lectured some more, which was a disappointment. This book would have been much better served with more of the men and a lot less of the writer.
Thanks to #netgalley and #simonschuster for this ARC of #ourclass in exchange for an honest review.

The author details his experience teaching in a prison. Through his eyes and the stories, plays and dialogue of the students/prisoners we learn of their lives and incarceration. A humanizing look at prisons and the systems that keep people down. Chris Hedges’ ability to engage with and develop trust .the inmates in his classes and his experience learning about prison culture was interesting and relevant. I wanted to like this book more than I did, the stories that the students tell are indeed powerful but the writing was lacking in places for me.

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book,

This was a well written, yet somewhat repetitive feeling book. While I enjoyed the various stories the author had to share, it seemed as if it was 200 pages of the same thing.

Chris Hedges, an acclaimed journalist, went into a New Jersey prison to teach drama and English Literature through a Rutgers University program. He did not know he would walk out with a play written by his students. This book details one class in which the prisoners write a play in reflection of their lived experiences, and it eventually ends up on the stage in New Jersey.

As with any social justice book this one was incredibly eye-opening. I have read from several prisoner perspectives and heard their stories but not all are the same. Not all have the same outcome. And in this book we got to see prisoners feel important, heard, understood, and taught. It was a side of prison most don't get to see.

Reading this book felt like I was attending the class. Hedges had many excerpts and asked questions through out the book provoking thoughts for his students but also for the reader. My only complaint was that it was too many excerpts, especially in the beginning, it was hard to connect with this classes story when we kept getting into the plays subject matter.

However what I truly loved about this book was hearing from the students and how they used real life experiences to create scenes in their play. It was beautiful, heart wrenching, and very vulnerable.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It always amazing me when I see other countries and their devotion to rehabilitation of prisoners to help offenders not become repeat visitors. However, on the flip side, it saddens me greatly when I see the frequency at which we have repeat offenders in the US who learn nothing in prison, receive no help or support and have not clue how to properly reintegrate. What I enjoyed about Our Class is one mans journey to better those in the system. To treat prisoners as people just like himself. I found some parts a little dense to get through but over all a well written and well executed novel.

Important read for all of us to get a glimpse inside the prison system in our country. The author had a class of students who applied and were selected from the enormous number within the prison. A lot of books were mentioned and taught in the class - books that I admire. Throughout the book, the author adds quotes and it threw me off a hit in the flow of the book. I’m glad I read it and am grateful to Simon and Schuster for the gifted copy.

While a heavy topic and, for me, not a fast read, it tells a powerful message. The evolution of policing from back in the time of slavery to how it is still being practiced today. I enjoyed getting to know some of the prisoners and their circumstances and the prejudices and biases both inside the prison and out. This book makes one think.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author, for an advanced copy.

Chris Hedges has been teaching in prisons in New Jersey since 2013. This book is mostly about a drama class where he gets his students to write a play about their experience in the prison system. It’s not an easy book to read, the dehumanisation and degradations that these men suffer is appalling. Prison conditions, the individual stories of his various students, the plays they study and discuss, made this an emotional read for me (yes, I cried quite a few times). Hedges is always worth reading.

I debated between 3 and 4 star because the story is important and the writing is clear and fast-paced, but there are quite a few places where the author repeats content.
I did enjoy getting to know the prisoners. Through their stories, I learned that even innocent prisoners suffered trauma as youth. Yet, we have reduced prisons to warehouses where prisoners are marginalized, endangered and labeled for the rest of their lives. Prisons are basically 21st-century plantations. This is unacceptable.
In this book, the author tells how prisoners in one of his classes drew together and wrote a play that tells the story of the streets and prison. The play is moving and heartbreaking.
I’m walking away from this book with a better understanding of the prison system and a greater compassion for prisoners. And I remain committed to working to reform the system and love prisoners and their families well.

3.5 Stars - ARC Copy received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is unique look into our (USA) criminal justice system. As someone who works with those on parole or coming out of prison I was extremely interested in this book. It was hard at times to read due to the heavy subject matter. There were moments of joy and perseverance also, but there was a lot of heartbreak in and throughout this book, both with the inmates stories and Hedges detailed descriptions of prison cells and life. This book should make anyone who reads it think twice about judging those in prison and see them for who they are, people.

I will admit that the large amount of quoted text was disinteresting at times but I do understand why the author did so.

In this book, author Chris Hedges writes about teaching a literature class at the East Jersey State Prison. He begins with an explanations of his personal background in religion studies and his writing experience. The text is heavy with his own personal opinion.. The book seemed more like an extended essay about his view of the prison students. There’s some rambling about topics related to the prison. Midway through the book, Hedges’ essay takes a turn toward the class assignment for the prisoners. They are asked to write a dramatic dialogue to ultimately create their own play or drama. At this point, it was more interesting to me because of my background as a teacher. This book was provided by Net Galley as an advanced reading copy.

I wrote a 1200-word review for this work that I will be pitching to a variety of magazines...here is the introduction:

While reading Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison, written by Chris Hedges, I kept on thinking of a Roger Ebert movie review for the 1990 classic, Glory. Most of the review is positive and at the end of the piece, Ebert writes that Glory is a “strong and valuable film” about the Black soldiers’ experiences during the Civil War; however, he was deeply concerned by the film’s skewed and misguided point of view. Ebert writes: “I didn’t understand why it was told so often from the point of view of the 54th’s white commanding officer. Why did we see the black troops through his eyes—instead of seeing him through theirs? To put it another way, why does the top billing in this movie go to a white actor?” Although Ebert’s review is about a film, I had the same sentiment while reading Our Class, a work about the convicts’ experience at East Jersey State Prison in Rahway, New Jersey, while taking a creative writing class with Hedges as the teacher. Although Hedges provides many, many musings and monologues and writings from the prisoners throughout the book, and his intentions are presumably good, most of the work is devoted to Hedges’ commentary about how proud he was that these convicts were able to use their powerful writing skills (in the form of a play) as an outlet to express their emotional states of mind as well as their past experiences with poverty, drug dealing, abuse, broken families, and various forms of criminal behavior. Ultimately, the work, although meant for readers to recognize how problematic the United States’ justice system is, becomes more of a stereotypical illustration of the teacher/reluctant student of color relationship, very much presented to audiences in books and films like Freedom Writers, Dangerous Minds, and The Principal.

Hedges details his experience teaching literature and writing in the prison system, advocating for prisoners and their just treatment.

This book is a heavy and important read. I was distracted by how often it quoted other authors or bodies of work - for large sections, pages even. It did not hang together in a way that made it easy for me as a reader to follow.

It did make me care about the men in his class and see them in another dimension.