You Got Nothing Coming

This book is nothing short of amazing! I found it completely by accident. I was unemployed back in 02 and was spending a lot of time at the library to pass the idle time. I was reading mostly biographies and history at the time, but this book caught my eye for some reason and i'm glad it did. Jimmy Lerner has a way with words and dry wit that kept me laughing continually. Even though prison life is no laughing matter, he has a way of making it quite humorous. This book is not for the faint of heart, but what prison story is? If you dig'm dark and funny, this book is for you. There are some classic one liners as well.

Having worked in a prison for almost two decades, Jimmy was dead on with his description of characters one would meet in correction institutions. Jimmy has a wry, sharp, and dark wit. His narratives (which I believe were really written by him and not a ghost writer) had the timing and delivery of a true comic. Sadly, I feel he wrote that one book each of us has inside ourselves because this memoir was born of tragedy and Jimmy had to reach deep inside himself to find the humor or go crazy. That being said, I found this the funniest memoir I've ever read and found myself reaching for it again and again when I needed a little dark humor to pull me through frustrating times. I lent this book to several colleagues who teach in public schools that have the same wiff of craziness as Jimmy's institution and they, too, bought their own copies. Which makes me think we all have a little Jimmy Lerner in us: finding the lighter side of crazy situations to survive. Kudos, Jimmy, but I don't think you've really stopped being an alcoholic. The best line in the book...And Jesus wept.

I thought this book was great. The prison world is one full of hopelessness and despair, yet here's a man who did his time holding onto his sense of humor and himself. There is a great deal of emphasis on the prison lingo that was used while he was on the inside. This had me in stitches. Is it all true? The disclaimer at the beginning of the book says it is not. This did not make it any less worthwhile to read.