The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

This was short listed for the Booker Prize and has been on a lot of Best of 2018 reading lists.  The New York Times apparently printed a 12 page special section to highlight the importance of the book.
Romy Hall, the protagonist of the novel novel, is 29 years old when we first meet her, and she has resigned herself to the likelihood that she'll die in prison; she's been sentenced to two life sentences for beating to death a man who stalked her.  The novel goes back and forth between Romy's time before she went to prison with her time while there, and the overwhelming feature is that neither of them are any good at all.  Her drug addicted and self-debasing life, all lived with an attitude of refusing to feel sorry for herself and the reader can't help thinking otherwise.  It is a painful and all too believable story that doesn't even stoop to viciousness to get its bleak point across.  The book is populated with well drawn characters, and a heart breaking dilemma to propel it along, but it is the people and not the story that drive the book.  Very well done.