cover image H-Unit: A Story of Writing and Redemption Behind the Walls of San Quentin

H-Unit: A Story of Writing and Redemption Behind the Walls of San Quentin

Keith and Kent Zimmerman. Turner (www.turnerpublishing.com), $24.95 trade paper (260p) ISBN 978-1-59652-855-0

The latest offering from the Zimmerman brothers (Operation Family Secrets) is an earnest account of their experience teaching a Friday night writing course for inmates of San Quentin State Prison. The authors have written more than a dozen books together, many on hard-boiled subjects such as the Hell's Angels and Johnny Rotten; this book, however, is less about the prison system and its charges than it is about the Zimmermans. To their credit, the brothers are forthright about their partly self-serving intentions, such as getting access to gritty stories and acquiring some teaching experience on the side, but their deepening interest in and commitment to their students is evident throughout. But the book gets bogged down in self-reflection and surface-level analysis of the prison system. The best passages, however, describe the inmates themselves and the Zimmermans' interactions with them. The brothers take care not to sensationalize (at least not too much), emphasizing instead the humanness of the inmates and their guards. Unfortunately, their compelling subject is hampered by flat, repetitive language and insufficient depth of field. (Aug.)