SAN QUENTIN EXODUS

In Smoot’s novel, the life of a man sentenced to prison for murder becomes intertwined with that of a woman leading a creative writing workshop at San Quentin.

James is a Black man who grows up in the 1980s in Northern California; Allison is a white woman who comes of age over a decade later in Indiana. After the drug-related death of his father, James and his mother move to a rough part of Oakland where the sound of gunfire keeps them up at night. James is a stellar student who rescues and adopts a former dog-fighting pit bull named Spike. No good deed goes unpunished, however; a former school bully (who had been bitten by Spike earlier) finds James and Spike and shoots the dog at point-blank range. James manages to disarm and kill his assailant; the cops find his fingerprints on the weapon, and he’s sentenced to prison. Allison, meanwhile, after coming to terms with her sexuality, earning a degree, and becoming a teacher, meets a woman and moves to Berkeley, where she becomes a volunteer writing tutor at the San Quentin prison. There, she meets James and reads his memoir-writing exercises, becoming more invested in him and his potential upcoming freedom as a parole hearing looms. Smoot’s novel insightfully explores problems within the justice system and follows two very likable protagonists. The choice to interrupt James’ narrative with Allison’s, however—especially in the early chapters—does not serve the novel well. James’ story—navigating the rough streets of Oakland, surviving prison, reliving the trauma of becoming a killer—is far more gripping. Allison’s rocket club adventures and sexual explorations, by contrast, are tonally jarring and impede the narrative momentum. Smoot’s book, as it moves across large spans of time (an entire adolescence, an entire prison sentence), can read more like a summary than a novel, and it occasionally trades in cliches: “Poetry is the beauty of water, earth, and fire.” Still, James’ story is compelling and affecting; it’s easy to see why Allison becomes so attached to him.

A compelling critique of the prison system with a few pacing and style issues.