Out of Orange audiobook

Our story begins in 2013, with our author/narrator in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the home in which she grew up. She is looking back on the events that shaped much of her adult life.We are then transported back to February 1993, in Paris, as the crazy world of drug smuggling unfolds. We see the intricacies, the complexities, the minutiae of each aspect of the plans, including how many others are involved. Like a unique kind of staging event, the couriers have their own part, and it all happens in tandem.It started for Cleary in Africa, where she met her sister Hester’s fiancé…he was the head of the organization. He called the shots, and a certain amount of fear was involved.Back and forth we go, following each series of assignments, and Piper Kerman (Orange is the New Black) comes into the story when Cleary and associates are back in Massachusetts after one of the trips.The events transpire over a rather brief period of time. And then it all ends. Cleary is out, and beginning a new life in Vermont, where she is renovating a carriage house. She has a new business with computers and technology. It is 1996. She feels she can breathe again.Then the proverbial chickens come home to roost, and on an ordinary day, as she is at the bank, a fleet of SUVs block her in, the marshals surround her, and she is arrested.Her new journey in the prison system begins.Out of Orange was suspenseful from the very first pages, and even knowing how it would all turn out, it was fascinating to see how many ways in which everything could go wrong. I felt compassion for those in the “game,” as most were there for seemingly legitimate reasons….the need of money, helping a friend, or protecting someone. But it seemed inevitable that everything would go wrong at some point, as none of the plans seemed well orchestrated. Too many human errors could bring the whole house of cards down at any point.My heart went out to each person trapped in the world of her own making, and even familiar with the show that sprang from Piper’s book, I was touched once again by the unfairness of a system that imposes “mandatory minimum” sentences that are equal in severity to those of hardened and violent criminals. This author’s writing was riveting and kept me turning pages, even as I suspected how everything would finally play out. A 5 star read for me.

I've read orange is the new black, watched the series and read this book. I loved it. if you put all the pieces together you get the whole picture. I think some of the reviews people haven't remembered the golden rule of stories. there is always two sides and two versions of every story. to be honest I actually liked this book better than orange is the new black.

** spoiler alert ** This amazing narrative is the story of the real life Alex Vause, a character loosely portrayed by Laura Prepon, on the hit Netflix series, Orange is the New Black. After reading the book, I have to agree with Wolters: she and Vause have little in common other than the fact that they had a relationship with Piper's character, smuggled drugs and money, and their shared signature eyeglasses.Did I read this because I love the show, because I've have already read Piper's and Larry's books, and because I wanted to "complete" the list? Yes. Did I highly enjoy the book in it's own right? Also a resounding "yes!"The narrative is largely chronological and Wolters goes back and forth somewhat between present-day, the years during her involvement in the drug smuggling ring, her later (seemingly relatively short compared to the TV show) relationship with Piper, the years after they split, the years after she managed to get away from the business, how her arrest went down, the events involving her own self surrender, her years in prison, her release from prison, and her life after.We learn a lot more details about the drug trade than the show or Piper's book give us. This is largely due to the fact that Wolters was more involved/higher up the chain. She is very open about her family and we come to know her sister, brother, and parents - in addition to a whole cast of interesting actual/true characters/friends from the days she was globe hopping with money and drugs. I found the whole thing extremely fascinating and walked away with a much more developed sense of how the prison system really works, how broken it is, and how scary it is. The book is a very detailed account of her own life and the majority of it has nothing to do with Piper or anything from the Netflix show. In no way was that disappointing. Thankfully her life is interesting enough on its own, and I enjoyed learning more about the true events that inspired the show. Wolters' ability to recount minute details of days long gone by is incredible. I highly recommend this book.Cleary, should you ever read this - thank you for telling your own story. Also, I'm right there with you on the cats. I related immediately with Edith ans Dumb Dumb, through all of your cats and cat tales. The biggest decision when going out of town is who do we trust with them. I have 5 as of this writing and I would have been right beside you helping Patches get her house back so she could safely survive the elements outside prison. I would have also taken her with me when I got out. Having a cat there could have possibly been my personal saving grace at the end. I hope the rest of your life is filled with as much happiness as possible and shared with at least one feline companion.

You might know Cleary Wolters as Alex Vause in the hit Netflix series, Orange is the New Black or as Nora Jansen in Piper Kerman's book with the same name.Personally, I enjoyed reading this book more than Orange is the New Black. Cleary's story is more personal than Piper's. She gets us into the deep into the African drug smuggling ring. She gives us details of how they were under the impression they were smuggling diamonds, which soon turned to heroin, which then turned to $50k sewn into suitcases. They never expected to be in so deep with a drug lord, yet here they were carrying loaded luggage through airports and living to tell the tale. Piper got involved when Cleary started crushing on her. She thought maybe, just maybe, Piper could be a stand in on one of their runs. They could start an international love affair with suitcases full of money. Which is exactly what they tried to do, before Piper realized she didn't want to be a part of that life. Cleary was already in way too deep to call it quits and head back to San Fran with her.It details how they got into this business, how they got out, how they got caught, and how they made their prison time worthwhile. It deals with love, loss, and growth. Cleary never expected for this to be her life and she really never expected to turn on the tv one day and a blonde girl hop out of a van and say, "Hello. My name is Piper Chapman, and this is my story." This review and my review for Orange is the New Black can be found on A Reader's Diary!

As a fan of "Orange is the New Black" show, I was eager to read Cleary Wolters' memoir. It more than held my attention through the back story of how she and her sister became involved in drug smuggling, meeting Piper, the waiting game after the arrest of a colleague, the heart wrenching devotion of her family and the time in prison. Wolters writes with a clarity only hindsight and deep reflection can bring. Her willingness to bare her past mistakes and vulnerabilities to the world with brutal honesty is the heart of this book. The underlying soul is the deep loyalty and love of family both feline and human.

Honestly written memoir that was disturbing at times but on the whole, informative and true to life.

** spoiler alert ** I know no one said it in reviews...I’m so bothered by that. This book is a prequel to Orange Is The New Black. This memoir is clear that Cleary was aware of the content of Pipers memoir, and filled in what you need to know. The pre story to what happened to get into prison. Whole OITNB definitely touches base on back story of its prisoners, this one does so in another way. This book is salaciously filled with how big a crime it was that committed, and how Cleary and Piper played a role in the crimes. It is inevitable that during the war on drugs this ring that imported heroin would be a big case. She fills in some info you need to know about herself and Piper. The book is filled with contrition, love, and details. Ignore the fact that reviewers say the book is about cats. Ok she loves cats ok. That’s as juicy as Piper buying mackerel at commissary. Give it up the kingpin godmother of heroin. She does try to protect her flock, in the way Alejah, the drug lord doesn’t. She repeatedly protects those around her, including her sister, Hester, who was romantically involved far before Cleary and Piper came along. Clearly protected her sister, got roped in, and thought if Piper worked for her, Alejah would never touch her. This part is what we don’t see in OINTB, she is portrayed as an sexy villain to some capacity. That is not Cleary. Read both books.

This book has a lot about cats, actual cats, and I liked seeing that because it's clear how important the cats were to Cleary. A majority of the book focuses on the drug and money smuggling and not a lot on her jail time. I do wish there was more of an even split on the how she got there to what her jail experience was like, but what she did say was compelling.

I hated getting to the end of Out of Orange! Three days later, I still miss Cleary Wolters, the woman I had come to know through her memoir.I bought this book because I am an OITNB fan, and I've finished Season 3 of the series and have to wait a year for Season 4 - and so I frequently browse for books pertaining to the show. Wolters' book is a must-read for any fan: She is the person on whom the character Alex Vause is based, and of course I wanted to hear her version of the story!The book begins with Wolters discovering through the media that her former friend and co-conspirator, Piper Kerman's memoir was being adapted as a Netflix series. Cleary had not known about either the book or the series; she describes her surprise, and then begins to tell her story as she understands it.As her story begins, Wolters seems to be an ungrounded young woman. Though a college graduate, she works mainly as a waitress, mostly in Northampton MA but occasionally moving to Provincetown. She doesn't seem to have "career goals" or ambitions that would create a more stable life. Through her sister she gets involved in an international drug trafficking operation. Yes, there is travel abroad and yes, she does make a large amount of money - but this life seems even less appealing than her life in Northampton. The money allows her to get a nicer apartment, without a roommate, and she thinks if she's frugal she may pursue writing a novel she had started in college.But her services are required again, and she needs more money, and she recruits a friend, and then more friends, including Piper....and she's caught in a tangle she's afraid she can't get out of. And then the U.S. Federal Marshalls arrest her, move her to California, and there she is caught in the tangles of the justice system and then the prison system.The Cleary Wolters I met as the book opened was not a person I would care to spend time with. She seems shallow at best, and seems to be trying to justify her actions and not accept responsibility. Yet, as her story unfolds, she begins to examine her own life and her relationships with other people. She introduces her readers to her parents and we can see where she gets the core strength that allows her to do her time and reset her moral compass.Her insights about the prison system are similar to what we've learned from the show...and I think most of her readers will realize that Cleary Wolters may be one of the very few who has been able to put her prison time to good use to rehabilitate herself. It is interesting to note that the prison system did little if anything to foster such rehabilitation - indeed, when she had to spend time in a half way house, it seemed that the system created barriers and traps designed to make inmates fail and return to prison. Cleary Wolters is a gifted writer who tells her compelling story well. I look forward to reading whatever she turns to next.

I listened to the audiobook which I highly recommend. I think one of the reasons there are such critical reviews of this book is that people went into it with a certain expectation that, like OITNB, it would be an account of prison life. That was the focus of that book. Out of Orange is not a book about being in prison. It’s an account of how seemingly ordinary people find themselves breaking the law for adventure and profit and, years afterward, find themselves in the federal justice system to pay for those crimes. It’s a book about lost opportunities and missed family events. I felt OINTB failed to accept responsibility. Even when acknowledging fault, Piper Kerman gives the impression that she still blames others for her foray into the prison system and only faults herself in following their lead. Walters presents an alternate, and I’d say credible, theory of culpability. They all went into it for the cash, the adventure, the thrill, the travel. They were all at fault for their own decisions. All of them were adults and all of them made adult decisions. The book does tend to focus a bit much on cats. But that’s because it seems, for Wolters, cats are a constant in her life. She also crafts an engaging narrative about her family, her friends and her surroundings. The latter of which, it seems, always involve cats. It was a very interesting story and incredibly well written. But it was also refreshing to see Wolters take full responsibility for her crimes. She doesn’t regret smuggling heroin only because she was caught and suffered the consequences. She also regrets her role in the drug trade, feeding the beast of addiction and enjoying a frolic about the globe for profit at the expense of the lives the heroin she delivered likely destroyed.This isn’t a story about a socialite adjusting to prison life. This is a story about a person who made a series of dumb decisions and found herself standing past the point of no return. It’s also a story about how our criminal justice system can outright impede the rehabilitation of offenders through onerous and outdated post-release restrictions. Without a strong safety net, Wolters may well have been returned to prison. The halfway house designed to provide released offenders with support ends up hobbling their rehabilitation. This won’t become a Netflix show. However I think it is an important read and I’m glad Cleary Wolters came out of the shadows to tell her side of the story without attempting to merely replicate Kerman’s account. This book stands on its own.

I started this book out of curiosity but I stayed for the brilliant prose and fascinating story. Cleary Wolters has a way with words and her detailed descriptions will pull you in. She is honest about her flaws and faults and with the benefit of hindsight is able to admit to the irrational insecurities that sometimes fueled her actions. She offers introspection into her motivations and youthful indiscretions that not many people would be willing to share even years after the fact. She didn’t always make the right choices in life but you can’t help but feel bad for her anyway. The combination of money and excitement verses the fear of getting caught helps explain these choices. She knew the entire time that what she was doing was wrong and she also knew that eventually she would get caught, yet the fear of quitting and its immediate repercussions far outweighed what might happen years down the road. The consequences eventually arrive and we follow Cleary on her journey through a ridiculous penal system and a series of lock ups across the country. She spends years in limbo where she is not actually sentenced yet cannot leave the state; a state where she never lived and had no friends, family, or connections. Having been caught and confessed, but not yet sentenced, she has to spend years awaiting her fate until the courts get around to her case. Always resilient, Cleary makes the best of it but what follows is absolutely heartbreaking. A decade of her life is lost to one stupid decision made years earlier. She loses everything over a decision she immediately regretted and tried to not repeat. Although Cleary is hard on herself I found myself wanting to give her a big hug and I don’t know how she survived. Cleary did not choose the spotlight and we never would have heard her story if not for that other orange book and TV show that prompted her to tell her side. I’m glad she did. I thought it would just be another version of the same story but it touched me in ways I never expected and I’m so glad I read it.

** spoiler alert ** I read this after reading Piper Kermans memoir: Orange Is The New Black. As an insanely huge fan of the Netflix Original Series, reading the two memoirs behind this adventurous story was a must for me. I have to say, though biased due to my love for Alex Vause, I found Cleary to be a relatable person. I am a young girl, who lives in the United Kingdom. The closest I have been to a life of crime was once when I accidentally left the shop without paying for a bag of apples.. so being able to relate to a member of a drug smuggling operation from before I was even born, in the United States? It was so mad. [Spoiler] Cleary's writing, depicting the times laying on the shore with her wine, going to restaurants and clubs in France and her time with the Prison Kitty (Who I love and you can find photos of on her Instagram!!!) made this book the gripping adventure it was for me. You can feel the tension with them as they crossed through customs, you are scared for them, questioning your own sense of justice.My only criticism has to be how she didn't make the book longer! Would definitely recommend to any reader, interested in OITNB or not.

If you watch Orange is the New Black, you should read this book. Written by the woman who inspired the character Alex. Even if you don't watch the show, it is a good read, especially on the consequences of our "war on drugs" and a look at the conditions in federal prisons.

I actually liked this book a lot more than Orange is the New Black. I found Wolters to be refreshing, and have a less outsiders' perspective. Plus her stories of the drug trade were unexpected and informative. Still, this and OITNB now occupy kind of the same space as a literary twitter fight.

Really enjoyed this book. As a fan of OITNB, I was eager to learn how Cleary found herself in the world of drug smuggling and she offers a fascinating look at her life behind bars - and how she has used these experiences to transform her life.

It was really interesting to read this story from another perspective. I was glad to see it was a smear book against The author of Orange is The New Black.