Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
40th out of 156 books
—
85 voters
Fish: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man's Prison
by
T.J. Parsell
When seventeen-year-old T.J. Parsell held up the local Photo Mat with a toy gun, he was sentenced to four and a half to fifteen years in prison. The first night of his term, four older inmates drugged Parsell and took turns raping him. When they were through, they flipped a coin to decide who would "own" him. Forced to remain silent about his rape by a convict code among i...more
Hardcover, 336 pages
Published
October 11th 2006
by Da Capo Press
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,127)
While I tend not to like books that dwell on the prurient interests surrounding the rapes of young guys in prison, this book held some appeal because it dealt with the prisons in my home state of Michigan.
I had an uncle that made a few mistakes and did a stretch at the state penitentiary in Jackson Michigan. My grandmother often visited my uncle there and usually got my dad to take her. One time my mom and dad decided to drop my grandma off with us kids in the car. The high walls and the machin...more
I had an uncle that made a few mistakes and did a stretch at the state penitentiary in Jackson Michigan. My grandmother often visited my uncle there and usually got my dad to take her. One time my mom and dad decided to drop my grandma off with us kids in the car. The high walls and the machin...more
This book simply has to be read to be appreciated. It is written by a man who was a boy (17) when he was sent to a man's prison for robbing a Fotomat with a plastic toy gun.
In the beginning I was engaged in this boy's story. In that dark world people do whatever it takes to survive, and apparently almost constant sex is what it takes! However, out of 336 pages, probably 300 were just that-s-e-x. I realize the point of the story is getting across how young men who never should have entered an ad...more
In the beginning I was engaged in this boy's story. In that dark world people do whatever it takes to survive, and apparently almost constant sex is what it takes! However, out of 336 pages, probably 300 were just that-s-e-x. I realize the point of the story is getting across how young men who never should have entered an ad...more
Definitely a page turner. You cringe with what might come next. Yet, it is more the sick side of human nature that I found that I was curious about what comes next. You want something awful to happen so you can recoil and the difficulty as to which this man survived the experience. As a true tale, you feel awful for the guy and can't imagine what he went through. It was a really sad read but good. However, I felt like a voyeur - or a serf in medievil times willing going to the Town Square to wat...more
Sep 08, 2007
Sarah
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anybody wanting a glimpse into the grim reality of prison life.
This is the true story of a 17-year old boy sent to prison for holding up a photo-mat with a toy gun. Yes, it was a practical joke that put him behind bars for four years. In addition to experiencing prison rape, power politics and the label attached to being inside a maximum-security prison by guards, family and society, he had to go through a painful struggle to accept his sexuality. Not many people can say they came out, were raped in prison and then achieve a stable enough life to feel comfo...more
Who isn’t fascinated by prison life? I’ve watched a slew of movies and documentaries, but they always left me hungry for more detail. When I heard an interview with the author on BBC radio some years back, the concept of a gay man being behind bars intrigued me. Would he find it easier to cope with the sexual aspect of playing a boy to a man that protected him? I finally got around to reading this book recently, and boy was it a much needed eye opener!
I’m not much of a nonfiction guy, but Tim’s...more
I’m not much of a nonfiction guy, but Tim’s...more
3 likes · like · see review
Very graphic and at times difficult to read memoir of the author's incarceration, beginning when he was 17. Tim came from a dysfunctional family where the expectation was not that you'd graduate from high school but rather, you'd go to jail. In that respect, Tim didn't disappoint. Convicted of armed robbery for holding up a PhotoMat with a toy gun (the author says he did it to impress the girl working in the booth) he is sent to a high security, closed custody prison. His first day there, drugge...more
I read this because I've done a lot of research on the prison system and its facets during the second half of this year. I was disappointed with this book. The writer graphically details the almost inevitable fact that prison rape occurs. At times he describes the assaults on him as very painful (obviously) yet graphically describes his enjoyment during some of the times he was assaulted. He discovers and embraces the fact that he's gay while behind bars. I thought the book would deal a lot more...more
this is a pretty disturbing book about a 17-year-old boy who holds up a photo mat with a toy gun. because he's working-class and has a shitty court-appointed attorney, he gets four years in prison.
since he's skinny & pretty & can't defend himself, he is pretty much fair game. this contains a lot of REALLY graphic rape scenes that will be triggering if you have trauma around that sort of thing (or even if you don't.) the book takes us through his first year in prison, where he is raped r...more
since he's skinny & pretty & can't defend himself, he is pretty much fair game. this contains a lot of REALLY graphic rape scenes that will be triggering if you have trauma around that sort of thing (or even if you don't.) the book takes us through his first year in prison, where he is raped r...more
Sexual violence and prison - two of my greatest fears. Prison hyper-masculinity, power, and rape. In an institutionalized community where violence is one of the few commodities, the author shares his story of sexual abuse and his struggle to come to terms (and self acceptance)with his own sexuality and identity.
This terrible, horrific tale of a survivor's story kept me up two nights in a row. I couldn't relax enough to fall asleep because as soon as I did I knew the night terrors would chase me...more
This terrible, horrific tale of a survivor's story kept me up two nights in a row. I couldn't relax enough to fall asleep because as soon as I did I knew the night terrors would chase me...more
I like the falling down and the getting up and the whole sentiment of hitting the bottom so hard that whatever opportunities God puts in front of you after, you do the work because you're never, ever going back to that place again. I like the failure and the anger and the years of drug abuse and alcoholism and self destruction that come after the precipice. I like the eventual success, and its total lack of poetry, of story narrative rules.
Also, I like the love story here. I don't know whether...more
Also, I like the love story here. I don't know whether...more
Definitely a cautionary tale. The book is shocking and very graphic in its descriptions of what happens to young or weak men in prison. The author was a skinny 17 year old kid from a working class background who due to bad decisions and worse representation by a public defender was sentenced to 4 years in a maximum security prison in Michigan. Parsell relates what happened and what he had to do to survive. There are some spelling and grammar mistakes. Also, in the beginning of the book he says h...more
This is the prison version of Brokeback Mountain. I'm not prejudice and rape is awful, but on several accounts our author romanticizes about being raped by particular inmates. A pretty naive fellow to boot. This book should have been titled, 'What Not to Say and How Not to Act in Jail." I could only read 90 pages before it hit the airport trash receptacle.
1 like · like · see review
Definitely a page turner from the very beginning. It was a gripping read, I felt as though I was part of Parsell's story witnessing all of what he goes through in the unscrupulous world that is prison. I could feel his pain and helplessness. Although I've never been in jail, I could tremendously relate to his persona in both its weaknesses and strenghts.
It goes without saying that Parsell's a wonderful writer. The prose and the way of depicting what happens to him makes his journey in jail as re...more
It goes without saying that Parsell's a wonderful writer. The prose and the way of depicting what happens to him makes his journey in jail as re...more
Definitely one of the more disturbing coming of age stories, Fish is the memoir of a 17 yr old from Michigan who hits Michigan prison system in the 1970’s. His struggle to understand his identity as a gay male is painfully confused by rape, manipulation and self-deception as the older convicts conduct themselves in a way consistent with the most nefarious villains from the HBO series Oz. Painfully honest and graphic, I loved this story for its unique and uncommon perspective, of course, and my c...more
Mar 03, 2012
Rhockman
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Todos los que nunca tuvieron ningún tipo de interés en las prisiones
El constante ida y vuelta que hay entre la crudeza y el sentimentalismo (que a veces roza el porno) hacen que la lectura del libro se volviera bastante incómoda; el relato no es ficción, todo lo que cuenta el narrador ocurrió y el horror está en el subtexto todo el tiempo.
Una cosa que me sorprendió es la falta de denuncia que había dentro del relato; como lector uno es expuesto a un montón de injusticias que son solo descritas. Pero al final todo se redime en lo que le sigue al relato, en los ca...more
Una cosa que me sorprendió es la falta de denuncia que había dentro del relato; como lector uno es expuesto a un montón de injusticias que son solo descritas. Pero al final todo se redime en lo que le sigue al relato, en los ca...more
1 like · like · see review
Fish is a quickly-read memoir about a 17-year-old boy sentenced in a man's prison in the USA in the late 70s and early 80s. Parsell talks about every graphic detail of his experiences when he was in the prison and sometimes it really feels like hard to breath while reading what he had been through there. Shame, self-esteem, figuring out who one is, sexuality.. Parsell writes honestly and openly about the stuff he experiences during his time there. I only wish he could have written more about his...more
This is a story about a boy who just so happen to make a wrong choice in life that would forever change the way he would live his life. I found this book by accident in my library and has forever changed my understanding of how jails and prisons operate. In the general public it is always joked about what would happen to a young boy or teenager if they ever went to jail and what would happen to them if they did. Before reading this book, I did not believe in such a joke and after reading this pe...more
This was... less than okay IMO. But it didn't "suck" so I can't give it one star either. I was able to tell early on that I didn't like this guy. I find him disgusting to be honest. In fact, I'm not sure how he can hold his head up after admitting some of the stuff he admitted here.
Some of the reviews I read were seemed shocked that this guy got this sentence for his "joke". Well, I don't think his "joke" was much of a joke. I think it was much more along the lines of a "crime". How dare he say...more
Some of the reviews I read were seemed shocked that this guy got this sentence for his "joke". Well, I don't think his "joke" was much of a joke. I think it was much more along the lines of a "crime". How dare he say...more
I found this book as a suggestion on amazon. I'm not into reading gay/lesbian literature, but this was a good book. It is extremely sexually graphic. It gives an account of a young man sent to prison for a relatively minor crime. He is then raped and treated like a piece of property his entire stay in prison. He explains what it's like to be controlled by other prisoners and how there is really no help for men that can't protect themselves. As he did, you just have to give in and put your time i...more
This book is beautifully written, despite the raw and brutal scenes it depicts. Its' well-organized structure reads like a novel and there is an abundance of dialogue, which, of course, must be based on the author's memory of the events which occurred more than twenty-five years ago.
Most poignant in the memoir, in my reading, was the depiction of the true first love that the author, who comes to realize he is gay, experiences with a boy of his own age, while still in prison. This rang true to m...more
Most poignant in the memoir, in my reading, was the depiction of the true first love that the author, who comes to realize he is gay, experiences with a boy of his own age, while still in prison. This rang true to m...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is a memoir based on Parsell's prison life. He went to prison at age 17 to an adult prison rather than a juvenile. As he was growing up and prior to his sentence, he was questioning his own sexuality - he felt he was gay. When he went into prison, there's many horror instances of gang rapes, and forced rapes for favours/power. This is not an easy book to read and not for everyone.
This is a very clear expose not only about the mistreatment of prisoners in the USA (it is NOT like this in every country) but also the antagonism towards young men that pervades the culture there. A fascinating, graphic, disturbing and oddly charming book. Grammatical errors and typos made it feel amateurish but the quality of the expression was professional and tight.
This book was difficult to read, not because of the writing, but because of the subject matter. On one level, it's a simple story of a rape victim. But it does a good job at humanizing the so-called "punks" that are at the bottom of the hierarchy in prison. By being unflinchingly honest about the ugly things that happened to him as a teenager in prison, Parsell puts the shame where it belongs --- on the abusers. I hope people who live and work in the U.S. corrections system read this book. Priso...more
This was a really shocking read, I've never read anything in this genre before so it was eye opening. I would recommend this to a friend.
However, I have to mention that the amount of typos, spelling and grammatical mistakes was ridiculous, it was distracting and I've never read a book with so many errors. From simple spelling mistakes, to repeated or missing words. It is in desperate need for editing.
However, I have to mention that the amount of typos, spelling and grammatical mistakes was ridiculous, it was distracting and I've never read a book with so many errors. From simple spelling mistakes, to repeated or missing words. It is in desperate need for editing.
I loved this book. Going into it I had no idea he was gay but very quickly I figured out he was. Excellent book very emotional. I could not imagine the things he went through in being raped multiple times over and surviving in such a harsh environment at such a young age and coming into your self in not only being gay but just as a teenager.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Very disturbing read about life in prison, probably more than I ever wanted to know. But, I kept reading because it was important for me to see that the author turned out okay in the end. I shed some tears for this young man and the many others who have become entangled in the almost never-ending cycle.
Oct 12, 2009
Ron
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
started-not-sure-if-ill-finish
I read half of this book while staying at a friend's house, it was on their bookshelf and I was in need of material. It was fine but like a long magazine article. Curious that (spoiler!) the guy ends up realizing he is gay so at that point, the book turns a little tawdry and sort of porn-lite.
Uh. Wow. I enjoy memoirs, and have read many different types. This one, however, sent my mind spinning. You hear about things in prisons, but a lot of the time we don't give it a second thought. This book brings prison rape to light. It's something that I wish wouldn't happen, but it does. I have to say, this is the first time a book of memoirs gave me nightmares.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
What if the person being held up thought it was rea...more
Nov 06, 2011 04:47pm