Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again

by Teresa Giudice, K.C. Baker

The star of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and three-time New York Times bestselling author offers a behind-the-scenes look at life in prison, her marriage, her rise to fame, the importance of her family, and the reality TV franchise that made her a household name in her explosive and ultimately uplifting first-ever memoir.

“People think they know everything about me…but they don’t. Not even close.”

Teresa Giudice, star of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, has seen it all, but nothing—not even Real Housewives scandals—could compare to the media firestorm that ensued after she was convicted on federal fraud charges.

The infamous, fun-loving Jersey mom of four was sentenced to fifteen months in the same prison where Piper Kerman—the real-life inspiration behind Orange Is the New Black —did her time. Her tiny prison cubicle in Connecticut felt so far removed from the glamorous world portrayed on The Real Housewives of New Jersey . What was a skinny Italian to do? Keep a diary, of course…

In her very first tell-all memoir, Teresa comes clean on all things growing up as an Italian-American, meeting the love of her life and starting a family, dealing with chaos and catfights on national television, and eventually, coming to terms with the reality of life in prison. Featuring never-before-seen scans of her prison diary, Turning the Tables captures some of the most memorable moments of her prison stay, including the cringe-inducing fights she witnessed, the awkward conundrum of being trapped when a fellow inmate had a…guest…over, and the strength she found while confined between four concrete walls.

Even at her lowest of lows, Teresa was able to live la bella vita by staying positive and realizing her purpose. Friends, foes, and fans have speculated about Teresa’s prison experience, but nothing will prepare you for the revelations she makes in this entertaining and heartwarming memoir.

“The world will see a new Teresa. A different Teresa. Well, actually, the Teresa I always was.”

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Biography, Celebrity, Audiobook, Pop Culture

288 pages, Hardcover

First published February 9, 2016

About the author

Teresa Giudice is an American reality television cast-member, known for starring in The Real Housewives of New Jersey. She is the daughter of Italian immigrants, grew up speaking Italian, attended Catholic school and is a graduate Berkeley College. Teresa is married to businessman Joe Giudice and they have four daughters together. In 2014, Teresa and Joe entered a guilty plea to several counts of financial fraud. Teresa was sentenced to 15-months in a federal prison.

Reviews

[Tina Arvin · Rating 1 out of 5]

While it is supremely embarrassing that I actually read this book, the writing itself is far more embarrassing.

[Maureen Forys · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is SO EMBARRASSING that I read this and paid money for it. Ugh. But whatever. I watch bad reality tv all the time and always thought Teresa was funny. I wanted to know the backstory to her arrest and legal trouble but in the book she glosses it over and focuses on prison (she claims innocence but doesn't really give any information to back that up). Her prison descriptions sound like they're written by a fifth grader and at the end of the book I found myself disliking her when I originally didn't. She talks about how much she loves Trump and says some weird, vaguely classist stuff about prison. She also says over and over that "these women are criminals!" SO ARE YOU. She and her husband committed fraud to earn over $5 million. Probably did more damage than the women in there for longer sentences for drugs. But, according to her, they were the real criminals. Jesus. Overall, how could I not have known this would be terrible?!

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes, you just want to read a garbage book. You may lose a few brain cells in the process, but you'll be mindlessly entertained.
However, I could not believe how she refused to acknowledge she'd done something wrong. She kept saying she didn't know why she had to go to prison! Give me a break.

[Valerie Sellix · Rating 1 out of 5]

I listened to the audio and whoever thought it was a good idea to allow Teresa Guidice to read her own book aloud should be shot. She literally. Read. The entire book. Like this. It was unbearable.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Exactly what you'd expect from a woman who spent a year in prison and still doesn't even understand the charges that landed her there.

[Christopher Hicks · Rating 1 out of 5]

First I must say i'm a fan of HWONJ and of Teresa and I wasn't expecting this book to be a "Great American Novel" I knew it would be her story of her time in prison. I was shocked however at how extremely bad it was!! It was beyond bad!! It felt like it was written by a 10 year old. I've read many of the books by the various Housewives but this was definitely the worst. In the book Teresa portrays herself as an innocent victim
Not understanding why she's in prison but while there she's all positivity and light and she's a tough chick that stops fights and spreads wisdom (gag) I almost stopped reading it several times. The part that disgusted me the most was her statement that the ones punished the most by sending her to prison were her daughters. (Because she maintains she's innocent) let's also hope she never has to go back because she trashed the prison officials and several of the inmates. Saint Teresa also stated that she believes she went to prison so God could help her learn to be a better person and love more (not because she broke the law) (GAG) this book only got one star because it did have a cool section of pics. It was a complete waste of time!!

[Mark Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

This audiobook is the worst I have ever heard...the author is not a fluent reader and so she reads 2-3 word utterances without regard for the natural flow of the sentences. The story is not deep, lacks reflection and is basically just a money making scam rather than a well thought out story. Awful!

[Angmdc · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 love the show but Teresa is not an author LOL The writing felt choppy, superficial (but did I expect anything more??) and the humour forced; at least this book finally got interesting about 1/2 way through.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

an absolute waste of $12.99 and my time

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

I follow all the housewife shows and I was looking forward to this book. However, it is terribly written. She praises herself all the time. How strong she is/was. If you want housewife gossip I recommend Andy Cohen's book. If you want to know how good of a person Teresa is, then this is the book for you.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, you guys. This book. I put this book on hold at my library the millisecond I learned that it was even a thing you could request. Anyone who knows me IRL knows that my love for the train-wreck that is the Real Housewives franchise runs true and very, very deep. So OF COURSE I read Teresa Giudice's book. And it was, much like a marathon of RHWOMiami, not nearly as good as I wanted it to be.

This is, as it says, a memoir of Teresa's life from the time she's sentenced, basically, through her prison stint (the book is written post-prison). Which is a completely fine thing for her to write about. And it's probably super unfair of me to make this criticism, but it's my Goodreads and I can have lofty unfair goals for books if I want to. Which is all to say that what I wanted (a juicy dish of a tell-all about her meteoric rise and fall with the other Housewife ladies) wasn't what we got. What we got instead was a pretty vanilla look at a white upperclass woman going through a miuimum security prison. If that's ringing all your Orange is the New Black bells, maybe it's because Piper Kerman and Teresa were slammed behind the same bars (UNINTENTIONAL LESBIAN SEX PUN FOR THE WIN). Only the way Teresa tells it is soooooo boring.

Essentially, this book seems to be Teresa putting the rose colored shine on her life pre-prison, and then trying to tell us the story of prison with as much glossing over as possible. Teresa worked out a lot, prayed a lot, thought about her family a lot - and apparently witnessed a great deal of lesbian shenanigans while in prison. All of which is fine, but was also kind of super boring. And while there were aspects of this book that really made me genuinely laugh out loud (as in when Teresa shared snippets of the 'prison dictionary' she made for herself so that she didn't get her prison lingo all mixed up) the rest of it just fell flat.

Oh well, this is pretty much entirely the fault of my shoddy expectations, and not the book's execution of it's promise. 3*

[Gina *loves sunshine* · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you do not watch Real Housewives of New Jersey, do not read this book just to hear about jail....It will probably be frustrating! In this book, just like on television....Teresa is funny, ditzy, clueless about stuff, but obviously a great Mom, Daughter and Wife, who loves her family. I can see how people would be put off by her attitude about having to serve a sentence. Whatever. I'm not surprised she doesn't really get it. People falsify documents and don't get caught - her husband got caught..bottom line>>> go to jail. There really isn't much else to discuss, so don't look for those answers in this book.

I was not even a big fan of hers from the show, but after reading this book I actually like her more. She is obviously very devoted to her husband and daughters. The book was a nice story of her childhood, the back story of her and her husband, and a detailed look at her time in Danbury. I thought it was all very interesting. The writing is very simple, so don't look for long drawn out descriptions or imagery. I listened to the audio version that was narrated by Teresa herself, which I think made the book so much better! Even though Teresa is not an actress, and the reading isn't as smooth as a professional reader - it makes the story more authentically her.

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, please skip this review if you are judging me right now for reading this book. There is nothing here for you.

I admit, I regularly indulge in RHONJ. It's my mindless t.v. time. So, I was anticipating this tell all from Teresa Giudice. I watched last season, which depicted Teresa and her husband going to trial and all of the drama related to their court case. The book overlaps this time period and then describes her time at Danbury. Some of her prison stories reminded me of watching Orange is the New Black, but I enjoyed watching OITNB more that reading this book. This book wasn't great, but it wasn't disappointing.

[Jen Slipakoff · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Real Housewives are my favorite guilty pleasure. I wasn't expecting great literature from this book, but it was beyond bad. It was obvious which passages were written by Teresa and which were written by her co-author. The bad writing was something I could've looked beyond but honestly, Teresa really just didn't seem to learn anything from this ordeal and her prison sentence seems to be everyone else's fault but her her own. Her ignorance and refusal to accept responsibility was too distracting for me to be even remotely entertained by this book.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not go into this book expecting a literary masterpiece, especially from Tre, the woman who makes up words as she goes along on RHONJ. (She fully cops to this fact and owns the fact that she had a co-author to make the book readable.)

It was, however, an interesting look into the time she spent locked up at Danbury Federal Prison, a locale that is a mere 35 minutes from my house. Joe is famously quoted as saying Tre was in a "low budget spa" but Teresa makes no bones about it, sure...minimum security prison camp is desirable in comparison to, say, a stint in supermax but the place is still a shithole. Drama queens galore littered the prison, and a lot of them tried to give her shit and provoke her while she was in there...but her main focus was getting home to her daughters.

I feel bad for Teresa, it seems like 99% of the blame should be on Joe, she probably was blindly signing a lot of the papers Joe threw at her without knowing what she was signing...I mean, she flat out admits to signing a contract to RHONJ without really reading it, let alone letting a lawyer look it over...so I doubt she'd bother to question anything her husband asked her to sign. She didn't murder anyone, she's not a violent criminal...I don't understand why people want her treated like a serial killer.

My only complaint is that a good half of the book was spent rehashing her life so far, the table flipping incident on the first season of RHONJ, and then lightly explaining how she ended up a felon. I came for the prison tales, and that was only the last half of the book.

Is this a money grab? Absolutely. Teresa and Joe owe the government $414k in restitution. Mama has to make money somehow since Joe's next to be in jail for 3 and a half years. Despite this, I enjoyed the book.

Now she needs to put out another cookbook. Just sayin'.

[Kristen Nowicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a total guilty pleasure. I will always love Teresa, but this book is so clearly written by K.C. Baker. I thought they would include details into what events led her to prison, but instead she still sounds like a victim who thinks she did nothing wrong. I was annoyed by some inconsistencies; especially when at the beginning she says she has never seen Orange Is the New Black, but later compares a welcoming inmate to a specific character from the show. I skimmed through the last quarter, but it was entertaining for a while.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only made it through about 30 pages. This quote from Billy Madison (1995) applies to this book, just replace references to his speech with references to this poorly written book:

"Principal: Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. No. No. I did not finish this book. I didn't get out of chapter 1. What was I thinking? Bad writing, poor poor me, and excuse after excuse for her "mistakes". Not to mention "how did I get here"? I could tell you, Theresa, but you'd still play dumb. Ugh. I still can't get that flat nasal whiney voice out of my head. A stinker!!!!

[Elvira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, I told myself I wouldn't read this book but then I changed my mind because I was interested in what Teresa had to say. It wasn't a great book I think that's obvious. It was ok and I wouldn't read it again. There's many errors and sad bc she paid someone to re-write the book for her, there's a lot of mis-spellings and grammar issues. She contradicts herself in the book in many different ways and worst of all, she still doesn't know why she's in prison. If I was the judge on her case and read that (her words, in the book not mine) I would lock her ass back up!

[LL · Rating 2 out of 5]

No shame in my Housewives game.

[Cari Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never admitted to what she did, writing was awful. I was hoping it would be a more sincere story. Nope.

[Victoria Ugarte · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was in a waiting room killing time and this was there and I read it. It was not good. Never again. Thanks.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a huge Real Housewives fan and had been wanting to read Teresa’s memoir for years. Not sure why I waited so long to dive into it aside from the fact that I thought I would be a flop-I was pleasantly surprised how entertaining it was. It wasn’t my favorite memoir by any means, but it was quite an eye opener for a few reasons. Without giving anything away, I was surprised by her upbringing, how she met her ex husband, Joe Guidice, and the some specifics of her time spent behind bars.

I admired how Teresa stayed positive and realized her purpose during her lowest of low times. I also applaud her for her strength, determination to rise above her legal situation, and how she stayed true to herself and exuded so much love and protection for her daughters despite all the conundrums she encountered.

My only grievance for Teresa’s memoir was in listening to the audio version of her book & the monotone voice she used to narrate it. I could certainly tell she was strictly reading from the text and wasn’t actually reading with genuine warmth nor passion.

All in all, Turning The Tables was an entertaining and ultimately heartwarming memoir. (Audio)

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a terrible book. Madonna Mia!

[Stanley (Stan) Enya]

I'm just never gonna finish this, fuck it. So far the floppiest of all three (!) Housewives memoirs I've read :(

[Robert Thermopolis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fascinating to read this while watching the most recent seasons of RHONJ for the first time, where Teresa contradicts pretty much everything she wrote* about her brother and sister-in-law. Reading this also proved she doesn’t understand that she is just as much a criminal as all the other women “at camp” with her.



*The scattered photocopies of her prison journals make it abundantly clear — to the surprise of absolutely no one — that the ghostwriter did all the heavy lifting here.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not an easy read. Not because the book's profound or intellectual (it's neither). Or because it's so obviously a promotional tool to help Teresa to remain relevant, and to hawk her TV shows, products, other books, and herself as a brand (that was all expected). Rather, what makes this less than seamless collection of tales - er, this "nonfiction memoir" - difficult to read is: it's so self-serving, it's so full of internal contradictions (fuggedabout its contradictions with incontrovertible facts, given the abovementioned points and the reality that many memoirs have unreliable narrators), and it's so reflective of Teresa's delusional belief she can spin the image she wants the public to have of her, of her behavior, of her husband, of their legal issues, of their children, and even of her and "Juicy Joe's" parenting skills, even when her spun versions contradict incontravertible, objective evidence readers have seen for themselves.

I'm not a "hater" in the sense that I begrudge Teresa opportunities to earn income, pay her restitution, or move on. And I'm sad she and her husband made such bad choices, and that the consequences have so hurt their children and others.

But...

...Teresa (and Joe)'s crimes aren't victimless.
...She refuses, on one hand, to fully own up to or show remorse for her and Joe's crimes, and on the other, minimizes the crimes' significance
...She constantly laments: "I don't belong here", and "Why am I here?"
...She refers to what she and Joe are "going through" as if they've been afflicted, inexplicably and involuntarily, by some externally imposed natural disaster or illness.
...She asserts that people who are convicted of crimes punishable by imprisonment, who are parents of minor children, should get preferential treatment over convicts who don't have minor children (i.e., shorter or lighter sentences, or confinement to house arrest rather than prison).
...And Teresa-the-bankrupt is bragging about her large home, its lush garden, its expensive furnishings, her extravagant/status-conscious shopping habits (even while in prison and while in enormous debt), and other aspects of the lifestyle she and Joe committed fraud and cheated vendors to pay for, and that without ongoing media and branding deals they cannot afford going forward, especially now with Joe's lengthy prison sentence, possible deportation afterward, and the need to make restitution payments and pay legal fees.

I wish Teresa would:
...Write a book series for prisoners, perhaps called IN THE CAN, giving cooking, cleaning, grooming, lifestyle, nutrition, legitimate moneymaking, workout, and inspirational tips for incarcerated women
...Use her experience and celebrity status to do documentaries, interviews, etc. to expose and advocate for improved conditions in prison (e.g., providing gratis the basic essentials that she said she saw some impovershed prisoners prostitute themselves to be able to afford; eliminating rodents, providing clean and functional bathrooms, repairing exposed/filthy pipes, ensuring meals are well-balanced, non-expired, and vermin-free) and for prison policies requiring reform.

[Denise Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank goodness I got this from the library. It would have been a total waste of money to buy it. I am a reality TV junkie and watch most of the Real Housewives including RHONJ. I was looking forward to the book but was very disappointed. She still is not taking responsibility for anything, seems like she is still disrespecting her fellow cast mates on the show. And the book was all about me me me & not love love love" She is still self absorbed and I don't see that prison has changed her at all.. She repeats herself over and over again, and I would not recommend this book at all...

[Sharon Bradley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am huge Housewives fan. I have read almost all the books by all of the housewives but this one was by far the worst. I listened to the audio book and Teresa's speech pattern was very awkward and unnatural. I didn't learn anything new that I didn't already know from having read the tabloids about her and her family. I felt like I was listening to an episode of Orange is the New Black but a really boring episode. If you must read this book, save your money and borrow a copy from your local library.

[Jenny Lewis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poor writing, and her stories from prison are hard to follow...almost like she is trying to sound tougher than she is. Good for her for capitalizing on her experience to provide for her family, but not a good book. She made it very clear throughout the book she is ready to make some yoga DVDs and a line of yoga gear. But, for someone who had their husband going to jail, I don't blame her for trying everything she can to make money.