The context of psychology and motivation would seem to take on a different connotation in the perspective of an incarcerated inmate, especially one with something to say. “The Graybar Hotel” [Curtis Dawkins/Scribner/223pgs] is a lyrical and yet pensive rumination of the lives inside and what got them there but also the existential traction of how these inmates see their lives or path within the choices they make. Dawkins interweaves different stories or approximations of people inside he might have interacted with and what makes them who they are. Many of the stories are indicative of the wrong place at the wrong time but balanced with the inevitable process of human nature, bathed in passion, anger, hate and love to varying degrees. Dawkins finds the comedy and heart in many of his subjects but also the irony in himself. One specific anecdote stands out in the essence of an inmate that tells stories that are too fantastic to be true but the repercussions of his response, as subtle as they are, show the thoughts that are always pushing through.

The focus on details like the Michigan snow or the back stories from “The Beverly Hillbillies” are just those pangs of normalcy in a cage of a world that many would not find normal. But as Dawkins alludes to, sometimes this is the only true world that some of the inmates know. An early story bathes with so much irony as an inmate with seizures turns out to be much different than one would think. The context of the dread of protests of non-violence that provoke reaction and especially the retribution and decisions (whether they actually happened or not) are riveting. The breakdown of the softball game season and how it works blends aspects of “The Longest Yard” with “Shawshank Redemption” but also shows how circumstances can change inside in a blink of an eye. Dawkins talks about people leaving never to be seen again via transfer to keep the peace a kettle that only takes a little bit to boil. Dawkins also has sometime to live for on the outside which he admits with his conviction for life is likely something he will never see. It is that focus and presence of mind in the writing that really gives the reader a sense of the people Dawkins encounters as well as himself, without judging, without needing to understand, but just to accept with a sense of brevity and some heart. B+

By Tim Wassberg

intersting mixture of short stories, some that i really enjoyed, other i didn't find as good but overall gives a nice view into prison life.

Very insightful and interesting book. The characters profiles were interesting although was surprised none seemed too remorseful. Maybe I just didn't pick up on that.

This is a well-crafted book about life in prison and how inmates are crafting their own stories even when they have nowhere specific to go.

All of the stories in this debut short story collection deal with incarceration. While there is violence to be expected what is more interesting is how prisoners countdown their days some trying to find a better path, barely surviving and others afraid to be back outside. What made this somewhat difficult to read is knowing the author is in prison serving a life sentence with no chance for parole for murder. This certainly adds authenticity but makes you think about how his voice is heard but what about his victim’s story?

I went into reading The Graybar Hotel without much knowledge of the book. I read the pitch and thought it sounded interesting and requested the ARC without much else going in. I am not a huge fan of short story collections, but this is definitely the best I have read. The stories were interesting and the writing was great. The details about what life in prison is like had me captivated and interested. I found myself thinking about them weeks after finishing the story. One in particular, about a man who would spend his days randomly calling phone numbers until someone answered, really resonated with me.

After finishing the book and reading more about Curtis Dawkins, I love this book even more. I gave The Graybar Hotel four stars, but only because the pacing in some of the stories was a bit slow for my taste. I definitely would recommend this book.

This was a series of authentic feeling stories of prison life interspersed with really poignant shorter stories.

Not a big fan of hearing what inmates have to say. (2-star review on Amazon)

Published by Scribner on July 4, 2017

The Graybar Hotel is a collection of stories about men in jail or prison. Most are told in the first person, although not always by the same narrator. They generally progress from the Kalamazoo Jail to a Michigan prison, although “The Boy Who Dreams Too Much” takes place in a transitional facility where prisoners are transferred after leaving jail as they await an assignment to a prison. “Swans,” which tells of a friendship that the narrator had before he was incarcerated, takes place in a reformatory, although it is narrated by an adult who is eight years into a life sentence. The last story, “Leche Quemada,” is told in the third person and focuses on a man who, having just been released from prison, soon realizes that a part of his mind will always live behind bars.

The tone is set in “County,” the collection’s first story. The narrator’s new cellmate in the Kalamazoo Jail describes being hit by a Cadillac, the conversation being one more way to pass time in days that are filled with emptiness, just like the fake suicide attempt that hastens the new inmate’s desired path back to prison.

Some of the stories deal with the theme of alienation, an inmate’s desire to connect in some way with the outside world. The narrator of “The Human Number” makes random collect calls from jail, connecting with people so lonely or bored that they are willing to chat with an inmate they don’t know. The narrator of “The World Out There” makes up a story about a girl who is sitting in the stands of a baseball game he’s watching on television.

Many of the stories are slices of life behind bars. “Sunshine” is a vignette about an inmate whose sister may or may not have cancer. “In the Dayroom with Stinky” relates a series of conversations between inmates. “Daytime Drama” focuses on an inmate who seems to be having mental health issues. “Depakote” talks about cigarettes, prison scams, and the perils of owing debts to other prisoners. A goose gets caught in the prison’s razor wire in “Brother Goose.”

A couple of stories discuss the lives that inmates led before they entered prison. “Six Pictures of a Fire at Night” spotlights Catfish, who cleaned up suicides and other dead bodies for a living and who may or may not have killed his wife. But “Engulfed” suggests that the inmates who talk about their outside lives are probably lying, and that the lies are an essential means for inmates to feel less bad about themselves, to construct a more productive past than the one they lived.

The most poignant story, “573543,” mixes memories of the narrator’s time as an addict with the arbitrariness of prison guards who are eager to dehumanize inmates in ways that drugs never manage to accomplish.

This is a strong collection and a valuable contribution to the genre of prison literature. Incarceration is challenging and dehumanizing, but Curtis Dawkins makes the reader remember that the majority of prisoners are ordinary people who, like most of us, are trying to make the best of our circumstances.

RECOMMENDED

Got this in exchange for an honest review.
I requested this in order to use it in the Reading Challenge. The title mislead me, I took it for another kind of story... it wasn't engaging, not for me, at least.

Who would imagine that a murderer serving life without parole would have an MFA in writing and create masterful short stories? Not I, that’s for sure, but this is exactly who Curtis Dawkins is. His new collection of 14 short stories, The Graybar Hotel, destroys other assumptions about prisoners and prison as well.

This funny, sad, heartwarming and just plain astonishing book is Dawkins’ first published collection. He has published essays and shorts previously in several literary magazines where his publisher discovered his short stories.

It’s unclear how many of these are autobiographical; they take us from the beginning of incarceration—jail—to a court trial, the judge speaking to a defendant via closed-circuit TV, a bus transfer to a Michigan state prison, and then a life inside. We know from the acknowledgments at the back of the book that Dawkins was convicted of first-degree murder in a botched robbery in 2004 and is serving his life sentence in the same Michigan system where these stories are based.

Some are written in first- and some in third-person, and he even throws in a bit of magical realism in one short where a prisoner practices disappearing. All of them take us inside the thoughtful and profoundly observant mind of Dawkins, who uses his time, his talent, a state-issued floppy ink pen, and his fellow inmates to create stories that haunt. He captures the unfurling of time served and to be served—the petty and profound and the long days of tedium.

In the first story, “County” the narrator says, “I’m not in prison yet. I’m in jail.” Jail is where you go while awaiting trial and during a trial. Prison is the Big House. The character knows he will be awaiting trial for a long time and spends a good deal of it curled up in a corner detoxing.

In “Human Number” the prisoner is bored, so he begins cold-calling people. Collect. It’s surprising, he says, how often people will accept the charges—after all, the calls are ID’d as coming from jail. It makes him think it's because so many Americans have relatives locked up these days. He’s also learned to say a cool, anonymous “Hey it’s me” so they accept faster. They also pay because people love to talk. He listens past the callers’ voices, straining to hear the sounds of their houses. Kids playing, stray outside noises, traffic, a neighbor playing a piano, birds, and once, the mumbled conversation of a demented woman who forgets the phone, lays it on the table, takes a cake out of the oven, and speaks lovingly to it. Normalcy. Freedom.

Dawkins creates a cornucopia of characters with monikers like Kitty-Kat, Peanut, Little D, and Popcorn. He writes of men who lose all hope and figure out ways to die (challenging guards in the yard watch towers), men who suffer as family on the outside become sick or die and they are unable to be there for them, violent men, humble men. He also writes about bartering systems, TV soaps, baseball, debts, hand-rolled cigarettes, homemade candy, tats, and liars. Prison is full of them. “When fucked-up people end up in prison they can be whoever they want,” says one of his characters. Some are better at lying than others, and a healthy dose of skepticism by cellmates is a requirement. Dawkins deals with all of them with compassion and insight. And humor.

Unlike Jack Abbott’s In the Belly of the Beast, I didn’t sense anger on Dawkins’ part, and he certainly doesn’t blame others for his incarceration. In his acknowledgments, he says that he struggles with his guilt, so overwhelming at times he feels he might explode. “But, you learn within twenty-four hours of hearing a prison door slam shut, either you will die regretting the past or you’ll learn to live in the present.” He has a lot of it stretching out ahead of him and all the material he needs; I will be looking for more of his stunning and provocative work.

I read through this book with great interest and learned a lot about prison life. I found it hard to deal with sometimes, but am glad I read it.

This is a fascinating collection of stories that show what life is really like inside prison. The writing is very good and the stories ring with authenticity. They're somewhat disturbing at times, funny at times, and overall unique and enjoyable to read.

This book first caught my attention because it's written by a convicted killer, serving life in prison. And so the stories hold a bit of voyeuristic intrigue, allowing a glimpse behind those fences and gray walls.

Curtis Dawkins is a gifted writer. There is beauty in his words, despite the darkness of the pictures he paints for us. I was prepared for a visit to a violent world. What I didn't expect was Dawkins' powerful portrayal of the utter boredom and what it does to the mind. We also see the inability to escape the chatter of people with whom you're forced to live in close contact, despite the fact that you'd probably never choose to hang out with them if given the choice.

These stories could be fiction, fact, or a mixture of both. They all have a strong component of realism, along with a surprising amount of depth. Curtis Dawkins shows us the humanity within the cold, uncertain world where we lock away our problems.

I wasn't sure how to first take this book, so I just dived in Short stories can be hit or miss with me, but this collection was spot on! I loved the stories, albeit if this were a novel even better! It was like peaking into a world where you have all the questions but none of the answers and then Bam, someone that can write great prose shows you inside that room. I realize this is a work of fiction, but hey, he's writing from inside a prison so I'm sure there's some truth behind those words The truth behind the fiction, the words behind the words is what will hit you and probably stay with you for quite some time! If you like short stories, and want to see a little more behind the scenes of a prison and learn a lot more about freedom, pick this up. It flew by and I was done before I realized it, or you can even take bits and pieces and stretch it out over a longer length of time.

review copy courtesy of netgalley

These stories are sensational. The writing is so raw and visceral, so honest, and give an insider look into the grueling life in prison. This volume will win prizes- what a voice and style.

This collection of short stories reads more like non fiction - and I mean that in the best possible way.

Curtis Dawkins tells stories of prison life - something he is intimately acquainted with as he is serving a life sentence for a robbery gone wrong (that is such a weird phrase by the way, as if a robbery can ever go right). As such he tells stories that feel true and believable while at the same time being well written and polished. Save a few stories that have elements of magical realism, the majority of this book gives snapshots of people, situations, moments of life totally different from life outside of prison. There is an underlying sadness here that is always tempered with acceptance that this will be the rest of the protagonists' lives. The characters are all guilty of their crimes and they know it. They have to adapt to the rules of prison life and find whatever solace they can; or even something to do. What struck me most was the sense of total and utter boredom, of days that are much like the days before and the days coming afterwards. Still there is always small change - new bunkmates, new rules, new stories to be listened to.

The stories made me so sad. This sense of the inevitablity of live in prison, of wasted opportunities and of stupid decisions, made the collection a very melancholy read for me. I could not divorce the author from his work - his stories were so believable that I could not help but wonder how much of the stories' sadness is his sadness, his regret. A very impressive collection.

This is a fantastic collection of short stories from a most unlikely author.

Hi:

My review can be found at the link below. Thanks for sending me a copy of this.

Best,
Zachary Houle

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. We are told upfront that the author was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole. He has three children and a partner who is a professor on the other side of the country. Mr. Dawkins holds a MFW from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan. There is no blame throwing, only acceptance for what he did and the price he now pays. We learn this immediately and because of this I took a chance on his book.
This collection of stories is stunning. Right from the first story we learn what it feels like to lose our freedoms. Freedom to choose. Freedom to feel air and rain on our face. Freedom to see sunshine and clouds and choose who we associate with and how to dress and what to eat and to stand in a doorway and see a garden before us. Freedom to ride in or drive a car. Free to hold money in our hands. Free to attend to our family. We take so much for granted when we have it.
The men in these stories are heartwarming, funny, and sad. In the first story an inmate makes phone calls to strangers at unknown random numbers just to hear what is going on in the background. What’s on television? Are there people talking in the background? Is there dinner on the table that he interrupted? Will the doorbell ring? Who of us thinks of that? But it was this story that had me hooked because of what the author was telling us and how he was speaking to us. He was telling us these men were real people who made a bad decision, made a mistake or perhaps as for some of them, lived their poor choices always. But they were still people with a story.
I have no doubt the author is using bits of his own story in the various narrators’. I have no doubt that these are real stories of real men and circumstances in our prisons. You can’t make this stuff up, as the saying goes. This isn’t a daily diary…this is what we do at 8 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., etc. These are the stories of people who use prison tattoos for currency. Of the value of a cigarette when smoking was banned. Of ingenuity in the face of deprivation. Of how to cope when released and the internal courage is takes to not go back.
Mr. Dawkins is gifted, polished and yes, he will never be free. But he has his words and he put them out there for us and we would be remiss to not read them.