Daniel Genis is the once-wayward son of middle-class American Jewish parents of Russian heritage. He worked in a literary agency, but succumbed to the vortex pull of heroin, eventually turning to crime to finance his habit. He was sorry for his actions, and the idea of the ‘Apologetic Bandit’ – as he was named – is charmingly quaint … provided you weren’t on the pointy end of the knife he wielded. His life was a discordant mix of books and drugs. A stint in jail was inevitable.

The narrative is Sentence ranges from the pitiful and pathetic through to the despicable and disgusting. Prisoners’ mental health is hugely problematic and ‘the possibility of death is around every corner’. If you are interested in the US prison system or, heaven forbid, find yourself within it, this source material – at times insightful and at others egocentric – will be a good place to start.

Chapters are arranged thematically, rather than chronologically, although the first few chapters do tell of his initial foray into jail on Rikers Island, near New York. From there, Genis is moved to Green Haven – literally being ‘sent up the river’. Inside prison is in many ways the opposite of outside: white prisoners are in the distinct minority and being Jewish is an advantage, as it guarantees the prisoner better food choices.

As for his reading: he prefers classics (reading Dostoyevsky in Russian and Victor Hugo in French) over mass-market novels. He is erudite … which makes the penultimate chapter heading inexcusably anachronistic. ‘The Old Ball and Chain’ refers to his wife. This loyal woman, who was newly married and who waited 10 years while Genis completed his sentence, deserved better. So did the reader.

Reviewed by Bob Moore

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