San Quentin Exodus
Tags: general-fiction,
San Quentin Exodus opens with Allison Anderson surveying the walls of one of California’s most infamous prisons, wondering if her escape plan will work. Allison is a private school teacher who volunteers in the evenings as a math and writing instructor at San Quentin. While she’s free to walk out of the facility anytime she wants, her escape plan is for one of the inmates with whom she has connected.
James Fields has been an inmate of the California prison system for thirty years. A close examination of his life and character reveals that he is not what the media likes to call a “hardened criminal.” When the book backs up to show us James’s early life and the events that led to his incarceration, we see a gentle, soft-spoken, almost nerdy boy struggling against difficult circumstances.
When his family moves from Sacramento to Oakland, he’s not prepared for the mean streets, the bullies, the gangs, or the poor quality inner-city school that teaches at a level below his capabilities. Though he tries to make good, he doesn’t get the support he needs. Even the school’s college counselor, ignoring James’s intellect, curiosity, and hard work ethic, encourages him to aim low. He steers his gifted student toward Hayward State, insisting that Stanford will “eat him alive.”
When one of James’s classmates is admitted to UCLA, he wonders why no one encouraged him to apply there. He feels vaguely angry, though he doesn’t know towards whom or for what reason. This tone pervades the book and the reader’s psyche. You are angry at seeing this world in which no one is looking out for each other. But who should you be angry with when poverty and injustice thwart people at every turn? For certain people, poverty and injustice are the substance of the universe they inhabit. How do you transcend the substance of the universe itself?
Sometimes, it seems hopeless. Sometimes, you simply can absorb no more. When James finally snaps, we get it. Who wouldn’t, under the circumstances he’s faced with? To simply absorb it all without ever trying to stand up for yourself would be inhuman.
Allison, we discover, is a Midwestern girl from a traditional Indiana family. She is intelligent, resourceful, and determined. Growing up, she has her own struggles. She realizes in her early teens that she is attracted to girls. She feels confused and ashamed. In her high school and college years, she is closeted and lonely. In the isolation of her suffering, she develops a deep sense of compassion for others who feel lonely and judged, those for whom society offers no pre-set path, no welcoming place.
Both characters undergo a long and somewhat painful process of growth, though James’s road through the prison system is the harder of the two. Allison comes into herself through the love and help of others. James finds his path to growth through an agonizing inner journey. When they meet in one of Allison’s evening classes at San Quentin, they recognize each other as fellow travelers.
The power of this book lies in the author’s deep compassion for both characters. The characters are so strong, this would be an excellent read even if the book had no plot. Smoot creates complex portraits of emotionally rich lives in short, clear sentences reminiscent of Hemingway. To be able to convey such richness with such simple prose requires instinct and skill. The writing style makes the book easy to read, while the story and characters make it hard to put down.
I won’t give away what happens, but I’ll say that the deeply compelling characters will stick with you. The most outstanding element of the book is the author’s compassion, and his ability to convey James’s and Allison’s lives in a way that evokes deep compassion in the reader as well. The world needs more writing like this.