Jenni MerrittRezensionen

Writer Jenni Merritt's thoughtful Sci-Fi novel Prison Nation is a stark look at what could happen when a society values conformity over individuality.

Millie is a teenage girl who was born in a prison due to her parent's incarceration for criminal activity. What used to be Spokane, WA is now a vast penitentiary where "jail babies" are educated to blindly follow the rules of the Nation. Millie lives with her parents in a small cell that provides the only safety from the guards and the other inmates, most of whom place little value on human life. After turning eighteen, Millie is released and thrust into a world she doesn't know and could hardly understand. Her experiences outside the walls of the prison test her character and her will to survive.

I love the concept of the story. Though similar to George Orwell's 1984, it stands on its own by providing a believable setting and realistic characters whose motivations are genuine.

Merritt's true strength is the voice that she provides for Millie, the story's narrator. Through this girl's eyes, we see two worlds that are not so different. The lawlessness of the Nation stands in true contrast to the dogma Millie was taught growing up behind bars. The second half of the book lacks the emotional impact of the first half, but that is only because of the sheer intensity of the beginning of the story.

I recommend this book for all Sci-Fi fans and anyone else who enjoys a well-written story about the ills of conformism. Hollywood should take a close look at this novel for, in the right hands, it would make a terrific motion picture.

Jenni Merritt’s Prison Nation tells the story of a girl born into an American prison of the future. Taught to value the Nation’s highest principals, she’s about to graduate into the real world outside. But why were her parents prisoners? Why is the prison so huge? And why does she feel so uneasy about her release?

The novel starts with an Orwellian sense of displacement, as readers slowly recognize where Millie is and how she comes to be there. It’s hard not to guess what she’s going to learn, but it’s easy to believe in the teen protagonist’s naiveté. After all, she’s never known a world beyond these prison walls. The past is revealed through a student’s eyes, and there’s a convincing sense of preparation for a new-world equivalent of the dreaded citizenship test.

The second half of this novel feels more simplistic, introducing what readers must already have guessed, a world with a dark and dismal heart. “In Prison Nation, the truth can’t set you free.” But freedom might be found, at a cruel price.

Spokane, Portland, and the Northwest coast are convincingly recreated, transformed by the isolation of a nation grown so proud it needs no other to intervene. The author creates a scary image of our future, taking a not-too-unlikely premise to fearful extremes, and leading her characters into extreme need. The resolution is nicely set-up and fast-paced when it arrives, but there’s an eager sense of something more outside. The story’s complete, but it really does beg for a sequel.

Disclosure: I’m reviewing the version of Prison Nation included in the collection What Tomorrow May Bring.

This book was really good, however, I didn't like the ending. But I could so see this happening one day!

Great character piece about growing into freedom but seemed to fall a bit flat. The ending was a bit anticlimactic, which is a shame as it had great potential. One would hope there's a sequel.

Millie 942B was born and raised in prison. Jail Babies are not allowed their freedom until they turn 18, and then only if they pass a test to prove they are an asset to The Nation.

This story grows on you. It is really not very difficult to picture this as our future world.

BookNook — Young Adult book reviews

I really wanted to enjoy this book because I love the idea of it, but I just kept waiting for that moment when it would get good, and it never came. It wasn't really horrible, but it never got interesting; it never piqued my interest; and I never felt invested in the story or characters.

In some ways, I feel like nothing really happened in Prison Nation. The plot is exactly as you would expect it to be with no surprises, no twists, no turns, and no exciting climax. Prison Nation was missing that extra element that would have made it an interesting and engaging book. The whole time while reading, I was struggling to figure out the story. In some ways, I had no idea where it was headed, just because it was only ever following the route I expected it to take. I kept waiting for that moment where I would be surprised and excited and engaged, but it never came. So I was constantly just sitting there a little puzzled and confused by the book.

None of the characters in Prison Nation stood out to me. Millie was… a little dull. I suppose that's always a problem when the main character is raised to be a brainwashed cookie cutter who never questions the Nation. She does have her redeeming moment at the end, but I think it was just too little too late. For 95% of the book, Millie read a bit like an emotionless robot. She lived her life, she went through the motions, she never questioned the Nation (until the very end), and it just made reading a little dull.

And the love interest was really forced; it was definitely a case of insta-love. Millie knows Reed for two weeks, they go on one date (which wasn't even supposed to be a date—I'm being generous by calling it that), and we read like two of their conversations, and then Reed is saying things like this:

"I need you, Millie. I am falling in love with you, and I can't lose you now."
—Prison Nation, Page 227

"If I had to live without you, Millie. If for some reason you were gone… I would never have to think twice. I would miss you with every fiber of who I am."
—Prison Nation, Page 236

The only character who really interested me was Orrin, and he only has a few lines in the whole book (all of which were notes written on paper). He was a sweet, caring, wise father figure—the kind that dishes out excellent advice that makes you think. Given the limitations of Orrin's dialogue in the book, it's quite impressive that he's the most interesting character in the book. It's just a shame that the rest of the characters didn't have that same level of depth.

Overall, I didn't despise Prison Nation, it just never interested me. There were also a few unanswered questions that really annoyed me. Millie constantly refers to some sort of "fog" taking over her mind and making her glaze over. It almost sounds like some sort of Novocain, but it's never ever explained. Two other characters refer to this "fog", but we never actually find out what the heck it is. There isn't even a promise that it will be addressed in book two, so it just left me a bit frustrated and confused.

There certainly is an interesting story here in Prison Nation, but I don't think it was executed very well. It's missing that extra layer of depth and excitement that will really rope you in as a reader.

This piece of dystopian fiction was actually quite cute. I couldn't help but love the main character - Millie, a jail baby about to reach her 18th birthday and freedom. Basically, the United States has been turned into a nation of imprisonment where every small infraction is compounded and leads to years of incarceration. Four large cities at each corner of the country have been turned into massive prisons to hold the vast majority of the population. Secrets are slowly revealed as the book moves forward and poor Millie has to rethink the way she was brought up to understand the world. After she is freed from prison life she meets up with Eddie and Reed who both make her feel loved in a strange world. I have to admit though that the ending left me wanting more...*sigh*...why can't books ever solidly end anymore??