On the Yard

A great work. Do yourself a favor---save Lethem's introduction for an epilogue. He gives details of the plot that, in my opinion, would have changed the way this great prison novel reads.

This is a wonderful book, very well written, with a great cast of characters. I recommend it highly!

on the back of my copy there is a blurb from kurt vonnegut jr that says this is "surely the great american prison novel." well, i haven't read a whole lot of prison literature, but i would love to find another book of this kind and calibur. "on the yard" soars with a strong narrative drive and a large cast of interesting & fully developed characters. in my life's reading, edward bunker's memoir "education of a felon" is the only comparable peer that this book has in american crime writing. great stuff. i now very much look forward to reading mr braly's memoir "false starts."

The NYRB lost classics series strikes gold again-- a rich, masterful, deeply authentic journey through prison life in the 1960s. With arresting imagery, and captivating characterization, Braly, himself a long-time con, leads us on a labyrinthine tour of the world behind the walls. His powers of empathy render every character as a tormeted, struggling, human soul.

Today, in America, we take it for granted if you do something wrong and get caught your going to the big house. So much so that no matter where you live or what you make you probably know someone who knows someone in a prison. This book is about the tension between the hardened career criminal and the 'crime of passion' criminal, and since this conflict takes place behind bars there will be no real winners even if the crime of passion man achieves some sort of moral victory. If you can imagine what it's like to to shed 40 years of skin around some of the craziest loons never to read a book then you can imagine why we need more novels about prison life. I consider this the confederacy of the dunces of prison novels.Read it and bolster boy, enjoy them and be good.