The Animal Factory

Animal Factory tells what prison is really like for inmates. It should be read by everybody who has a family member or friend in prison.

So it aint Solzhenitsyn, and there should probably be a law against making the comparison - which I'd be all for: can you imagine that first day inside?"What you in for?""Comparing Eddie Bunker to Alexander Solzhenitsyn."(Con whistles in admiration.) Eddie Bunker was a rotten crook who pulled a bank job and got caught. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was locked up in a gulag under a despotic regime that didn't allow freedom of speech. (I'm generalising here, but stick with me, okay?) Bunker got his just desserts (some might say). Solzhenitsyn (again I'm generalising but) was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You might also think that you have to buy into what is quickly developing into a culture of admiration for nasty ne'er-do-wells. People (and by people I mean: publishing executives, film moguls, idiots) like to romanticise the villain. Just watch "McVicar" or "The Krays" or even "Chopper" (which, credit where credit's due, is a great movie). Read any of the chancy memoirs written by the gallery of supposedly lovable rogues (your Mad Frankie Frasers), who would like to give the impression that they only ever dispatched those who "deserved" it. Watch "Lock Stock & Two Mightily Over-rated Barrels." Read anything by Jake Arnott or James Hawes. You don't, though. You don't have to buy into all that to like Eddie. (Although you'll have to get over the psychological obstacle of it: the publishers want you to think that Eddie is part and parcel of that whole thing. They include stupid quotes from stupid lad mags on the cover. They print the title in a font that aims to resemble the kind of print left by an ink-stained stamp. "The Animal Factory" has a grainy prison shot. Other Bunker novels have splashes of blood on them. You wonder why they didn't just go the whole hog. Write EDWARD BUNKER IS TOUGH or HE'S BEEN THERE, BABY, AND HE'S HERE TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT!)All of which does Edward Bunker a grave disservice. He's a great writer. Regardless of anything else - regardless of the fact of his having a past - he is a great writer. The Solzhenitsyn thing is apposite. There are, in fact, many similarities between this book and "...Ivan Denisovich". Bunker has a tremendous eye for details. It would be the easiest thing in the world to write an Elmore Leonard-lite prison novel revolving around authentic prison dialogue (authentic, yes, because Bunker has been there, I know). He doesn't do that, though. It would be easy to write and easier to sell. What I think is this. In "Waiting for Godot", Vladimir says "What do we do now?" and Estragon replies "Wait." I would imagine that that question - What do we do now? - gets asked a lot in prison. You've got time on your hands. You don't even have Godot to pretend to look forward to. Seems to me that Bunker read. His writing is informed with other books. "The Animal Factory" is as self-referentially canonical as T.S. Eliot would have any book be. I don't know the in's and out's of Bunker's life (and I'm quite happy

Edward Bunker's "The Animal Factory" is not just a great novel about prison life, but a powerful critique of America's penal system. While the book is over 20 years old, it is more timely than ever, with the United States now holding more people in prison than any other country on the planet, both in terms of percentage of population and total numbers."Factory" chronicles how an intelligent, thoughtful, non-violent drug offender becomes a cold-blooded killer in little over a year. The San Quentin of Bunker's novel is an arena where anyone can die at any time, many times just hours before being released/paroled. It is a world where any slight to your character must be responded to with force (and oftentimes murder), or you are seen as weak and instant prey for prison rapists. Bunker's novel demonstrates that U.S. prisons are "factories" for super-predators, turning out far more dangerous criminals than those who enter. While many of the book's arguments are not neccessarily original or ground-breaking, "Factory" condenses these themes brilliantly in a lean and intensely written narrative that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go."Factory" should be required reading by just about everyone, but especially those people who believe that the solution to crime is to pass more laws and build more prisons.Also highly recommended: "You Are Going to Prison" by Jim Hogshire; "The Hot House" by Pete Earley.

A classic prison narrative. San Quentin, race riots in prison, the whole 60's to 70's violence and despair between races. When I read this book, I felt I could trust everything the author was bringing me, even though the insider view of prison life is cloaked in a tale of fiction. This book should be back in print.

An extremely realistic book about the life in San Quentin prison written by an ex prisoner who transfers his first hand experiences to the reader. Characters,prison environment and incidents are very well crafted and shaped. This book is strong enough to put the fear of God into even literally the most hardened reader.You will not even think of emptying your car's ashtray to the streets after reading this.