You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
SPOILER AHEAD:
I finished this memoir over the weekend and I can't really recommend it. The author's mother had mental illness issues and drug addictions and was a HORRIBLE mother. Toward the end of the mother's life, the grown daughter (author) finds out that her mother was horrifically abused as a child and then decides to forgive her for everything. All I could think was, "Just because she went through hell doesn't absolve her of the way she neglected HER kids."
I finished this memoir over the weekend and I can't really recommend it. The author's mother had mental illness issues and drug addictions and was a HORRIBLE mother. Toward the end of the mother's life, the grown daughter (author) finds out that her mother was horrifically abused as a child and then decides to forgive her for everything. All I could think was, "Just because she went through hell doesn't absolve her of the way she neglected HER kids."
A book about healing, understanding trauma and ultimately forgiving!
For what it was, it was a great read. I can’t take away from her experience (memoirs are hard to rate). But at times, the book was slow and a bit all over the place. Some parts felt rushed. She also focused a lot more on her moms trauma vs hers (I understand it can tie together)
I’m glad she forgave her mom. That was beautiful.
For what it was, it was a great read. I can’t take away from her experience (memoirs are hard to rate). But at times, the book was slow and a bit all over the place. Some parts felt rushed. She also focused a lot more on her moms trauma vs hers (I understand it can tie together)
I’m glad she forgave her mom. That was beautiful.
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
This going to be a LONG review. And I do write at least ONE swear word in this review.
Trigger warnings for the book - Violence, rape and sexual assault graphically described.
Child abuse, mental and psychological abuse also described.
This was a tough book to get through, but I am glad I read it.
I started this on 1st Nov 2024 to read for Non Fiction November. I have been in a reading slump since early 2023, and while I have started reading several books, I never managed to finish them. I would lose interest. Today I actually finished a book.
The main reason why I was able to finish reading this book was due to the Genealogy. I love Genealogy. Stephanie was born out of wedlock and had no idea who her father was.
This books starts off being about Stephanie's life, but ends up being about her mother and Stephanies relationship with her mother.
Stephanie was raised by several stepfathers, some of whom were kind to her and others who sexually assaulted or gaslighted her. And if you are screaming why didn't her mother help her? The answer is because the mother could not.
The Mother Florence had also been sexually assaulted and raped at the age of 11, and mentally she never really grew up. She never had any access to psychiatric care. She pretty much physically and mentally neglected all her children as well. Just like she had been raised. In fact Florence had been raised and spoiled by her grandparents as a child. Right up until the week she was abducted and raped. At age 11. After her rescue, and return home, Florence was neglected by her grandparents. She was now considered to be dirty and unfit for high society.
Florence had regularly claimed to be descended from the family of George Washington. Noone ever believed her. Turns out to have been true.
Florence and thus Stephanie were descended from George Washington's sister Elizabeth (Betty) Washington, and her husband Colonel Fielding Lewis, who was the uncle of explorer Meriweather Lewis. (Lewis and Clark). They are also descended from other high society families such as Thornton, Beall and Grubb.
With regard to other reviews saying that some parts of this book dragged - well I didnt feel that. Nothing dragged for me. Not even the genealogy and ancestry info dumps. I was fascinated by those. So you kind of have to be into family history to get the full benefits of this book.
And since I am a genealogy enthusiast, I went looking for the family details myself.
Florence was abducted and raped in 1953 in Baltimore by several high society males, young men and a couple of teenages, in Baltimore. It turns out that one of these men was a young man named Franklin D. Roosevelt D'Alesandro. He was the son of the Mayor of Baltimore.
I went looking for the newspaper reports and yes I did find them. As Florence stated, this was reported in "all the newspapers".
Before I read this book, I did not know the name of D'Alesandro and I thought nothing of it. Until this week when I discovered that this was the family of Nancy Pelosi. D'Alesandro was her maiden name. Her father was the mayor of Baltimore and her brother Franklin was the man accused of rape.
If you dont believe me, you can also look it up. Here is a link. Scopes is reliable, right?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nancy-pelosi-crime-family/
There are 5 stories on this page. You will need to scroll down to the 4th story with this heading.
Was Nancy Pelosi's brother, Franklin D. Roosevelt D'Alesandro, charged with lying during a rape trial? Status: MIXTURE
I have never liked the mafia and I dont trust anything they or anyone from their families say or do. They claim to be good Catholics. But how can they be good catholics when they go around killing people. Thou shalt NOT kill.
Stephanie eventually did a DNA test and discovered that she was half italian and her mother told her about the Italian man she had slept with a few times.
But when Stephanie tried to contact his family she discovered that her father had died in 2006, and that both of his legal children had also died as adults. The half sister in 2016, and the half brother in 2018. And noone wanted to speak about them. Suicide was hinted at.
My mother had a similar problem. My mother was also born out of wedlock to an Irish Catholic man, and an English Protestant teenage girl. When mom and I both did a DNA test in 2018, we eventually discovered her fathers family. Her father had died some years earlier. The family however, who are still catholic, have basically told us that they want nothing to do with us, because having a child out of wedlock in the 1930s was a shameful thing, and they refuse to admit or accept it. My mother was raised by a foster family until she was 3 years old before she was eventually adopted. But we dont mind about the no contact rule. I was more intersted in the information than fostering any kind of relationships with Catholics.
Stephanie and I have two things in common. She was born in the same decade as me - she is just 3 years younger. Some of the cultural things she mentions in her childhood, I was very familiar with. And she did a DNA test also in 2018 to find her family. My mother and I both did the same to find our ancestry as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story of an American Daughter who has overcome adversity and a shitty childhood to come out on top and is now living her best life.
Trigger warnings for the book - Violence, rape and sexual assault graphically described.
Child abuse, mental and psychological abuse also described.
This was a tough book to get through, but I am glad I read it.
I started this on 1st Nov 2024 to read for Non Fiction November. I have been in a reading slump since early 2023, and while I have started reading several books, I never managed to finish them. I would lose interest. Today I actually finished a book.
The main reason why I was able to finish reading this book was due to the Genealogy. I love Genealogy. Stephanie was born out of wedlock and had no idea who her father was.
This books starts off being about Stephanie's life, but ends up being about her mother and Stephanies relationship with her mother.
Stephanie was raised by several stepfathers, some of whom were kind to her and others who sexually assaulted or gaslighted her. And if you are screaming why didn't her mother help her? The answer is because the mother could not.
The Mother Florence had also been sexually assaulted and raped at the age of 11, and mentally she never really grew up. She never had any access to psychiatric care. She pretty much physically and mentally neglected all her children as well. Just like she had been raised. In fact Florence had been raised and spoiled by her grandparents as a child. Right up until the week she was abducted and raped. At age 11. After her rescue, and return home, Florence was neglected by her grandparents. She was now considered to be dirty and unfit for high society.
Florence had regularly claimed to be descended from the family of George Washington. Noone ever believed her. Turns out to have been true.
Florence and thus Stephanie were descended from George Washington's sister Elizabeth (Betty) Washington, and her husband Colonel Fielding Lewis, who was the uncle of explorer Meriweather Lewis. (Lewis and Clark). They are also descended from other high society families such as Thornton, Beall and Grubb.
With regard to other reviews saying that some parts of this book dragged - well I didnt feel that. Nothing dragged for me. Not even the genealogy and ancestry info dumps. I was fascinated by those. So you kind of have to be into family history to get the full benefits of this book.
And since I am a genealogy enthusiast, I went looking for the family details myself.
Florence was abducted and raped in 1953 in Baltimore by several high society males, young men and a couple of teenages, in Baltimore. It turns out that one of these men was a young man named Franklin D. Roosevelt D'Alesandro. He was the son of the Mayor of Baltimore.
I went looking for the newspaper reports and yes I did find them. As Florence stated, this was reported in "all the newspapers".
Before I read this book, I did not know the name of D'Alesandro and I thought nothing of it. Until this week when I discovered that this was the family of Nancy Pelosi. D'Alesandro was her maiden name. Her father was the mayor of Baltimore and her brother Franklin was the man accused of rape.
If you dont believe me, you can also look it up. Here is a link. Scopes is reliable, right?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nancy-pelosi-crime-family/
There are 5 stories on this page. You will need to scroll down to the 4th story with this heading.
Was Nancy Pelosi's brother, Franklin D. Roosevelt D'Alesandro, charged with lying during a rape trial? Status: MIXTURE
I have never liked the mafia and I dont trust anything they or anyone from their families say or do. They claim to be good Catholics. But how can they be good catholics when they go around killing people. Thou shalt NOT kill.
Stephanie eventually did a DNA test and discovered that she was half italian and her mother told her about the Italian man she had slept with a few times.
But when Stephanie tried to contact his family she discovered that her father had died in 2006, and that both of his legal children had also died as adults. The half sister in 2016, and the half brother in 2018. And noone wanted to speak about them. Suicide was hinted at.
My mother had a similar problem. My mother was also born out of wedlock to an Irish Catholic man, and an English Protestant teenage girl. When mom and I both did a DNA test in 2018, we eventually discovered her fathers family. Her father had died some years earlier. The family however, who are still catholic, have basically told us that they want nothing to do with us, because having a child out of wedlock in the 1930s was a shameful thing, and they refuse to admit or accept it. My mother was raised by a foster family until she was 3 years old before she was eventually adopted. But we dont mind about the no contact rule. I was more intersted in the information than fostering any kind of relationships with Catholics.
Stephanie and I have two things in common. She was born in the same decade as me - she is just 3 years younger. Some of the cultural things she mentions in her childhood, I was very familiar with. And she did a DNA test also in 2018 to find her family. My mother and I both did the same to find our ancestry as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story of an American Daughter who has overcome adversity and a shitty childhood to come out on top and is now living her best life.