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I Can Take it from Here
I Can Take it from Here: A Memoir of Trauma, Prison, and Self-Empowerment | Lisa Forbes
2 posts | 1 read | 1 to read
An emotional, page-turning account of unhealed trauma and personal transformation that will break your heart and change your mind, in the tradition of Somebody's Daughter, A Piece of Cake, and Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reaped Riveting, honest, and raw, I Can Take It From Here recounts Lisa Forbes's harrowing journey into darkness — including a fourteen-year-long stint in a maximum-security prison — and her fierce resolve to understand the effects of the trauma she endured, to take personal responsibility for her actions, and to ensure that her history does not dictate her destiny. The youngest of six children, Lisa grew up in a Chicago housing project where she endured sexual, religious, and emotional abuse as a little girl. A voracious reader, she graduated high school at 15 and went to work as a secretary in a downtown insurance office, became pregnant at 16 and, at 19, unexpectedly and uncharacteristically committed a violent act, stabbing and killing the father of her daughter. Providing powerful insights into what we as a society need to learn and confront in the ongoing epidemic of mass re-incarceration, Lisa is a stunning example of an individual who through determination, knowledge, and hard work has been able to reclaim her own life. The book ends with Lisa's rousing call to action to support the people—as well as the shorthanded employers—who need the help, and need each other, more than ever.
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MaggieCarr
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This was the different perspective I was seeking for my upcoming prison book theme program. Many of the other books didn't address the decades after serving time and the issues that come with being labeled post incarceration. Lisa is vivid about not only the downfalls but the many, many ways she advocated for herself to find healing, forgiveness, trust, and build up from there. Not a light read by any means but a story...

MaggieCarr ...worthy of being told as it reminds us we are not just the crime committed by a past, a present, and a future worth living for and learning from. 2y
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LMJenkins
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Thanks to @penguinrandomhouse for these goodies in my mailbox today! #ARC

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