The Mars Room

THE MARS ROOM
by Rachel Kushner

 Nominations: Booker Finalist 2018, Carnegie Longlist 2019, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2018

 Date Read: December 9, 2018

 I picked up this book after hearing an interview with Kushner on NPR. I was drawn to it because it was set in San Francisco, particularly in the Sunset, which is where I live. I was also fascinated how she conducted extensive research on what being a female prisoner was like. In the end, however, I enjoyed the novel but wasn't blown away by it.

 Romy Hall has had a series of misfortunes in life, living continually on the brink and making poor decision after poor decision. The novel opens with her on a bus to a women's correctional facility to serve out two life sentences for murder. She leaves behind her youth in San Francisco, a dead-end job as a stripper and her young son, Jackson. Kushner successfully shines a light on a part of society few of us ever experience, thank goodness!

 The Mars Room is unique in that Kushner is able to tap into the ambiguities in life, emphasizing through narrative that not everything is black and white. She further explores how some come into this life with limited choices and do their best to navigate a system that is rigged against them from the get-go. While this may not have been my favorite novel ever, I believe it still has merit and I'm looking forward to Telex From Cuba and The Flamethrowers.

 Looking Forward: The Flamethrowers, Telex From Cuba

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