By now, most people have heard of the hit Netflix original series Orange is the New Black. What a lot of people don't know is the story behind the very real people who are fictionalized in this show. While Piper Kerman (Champan in the show) had the chance to tell her story, many of the other characters did not. Her memoir paved the way for the very real Cleary Wolters (Alex Vause for those who watched the show) to tell her side of the story.
Cleary's memoir, Out of Orange, is poignant, funny, and emotional. She opens with her reaction to realizing that her life was going to become a TV show, expressing both her rage and excitement as she binged most of the first season the day it was released. The fictionalized version of her life has similarities to what really happened all those years ago, with some key differences. Cleary did serve a sentence at a women's prison for both carrying drugs and enlisting others to carry drugs across borders. But the show's writers took many liberties while creating a fictionalized character and the real "Alex Vause" shines through in this memoir.
Honest and sometimes heartbreaking, Cleary recounts the years of her life spent as a drug mule, trying to get her life back on track, and the years she spent in prison. She talks of how scared she was each time she carried drugs and of the covert blackmailing that led her to continue her life of crime. However, she does not try to pretend like some of her experiences weren't fun. Although she does not glamorize the criminal world, when an African drug lord is footing the bill, a several week stay at a resort is going to be a raucous good time. Whether you're a fan of the show or looking for an intriguing memoir, Out of Orange will make you laugh, bring you to tears, and have you wanting more.
Copy courtesy of Ohioana Library
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