RaveBOMBEven though the novel has a nominal plot that follows the shifting fortunes of Romy and her cohort, what makes it so enthralling is its unpredictable succession of interiorities, of the quotidian protocols and observations that define incarcerated life (banal to those within, striking to those without), and of the recollections that these characters lean back on for a sense of full identity. For while much \'happens\' in the novel, Kushner’s greatest accomplishment is in showing the reader how one adapts to prison’s chronic eventlessness ... Romy doubts that even a confession...will yield understanding—that such doubt makes sense in the context of her character, as someone who hasn’t been the recipient of generous understanding, only redounds to the novel’s excellence.
