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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
~3.5 stars. It started off a little confusing/disjointed and uneven, but once it settled into the story of the author's teen years spent as a "revolutionary" it found its stride. A fascinating look into a branch of the Communist Party during the '80s, from the point of a view of a young girl who lived it. Sonja Larsen peels back the facade of this organization to reveal its sordid truths, and the story is told in such a way that one can easily see how the author was drawn to the party, and internalized and normalized its many troubling realities.
Like a lot of people said, it took a good while to find its footing. This book didn’t leave me emotional until the last chapter. And now I am sitting in a Starbucks near tears over the acknowledgments? Something about this story hit me very late in the game.
A heartbreaking memoir written by my cool af neighbour. Growing up in a commune (think unstable, not idyllic), hitchhiking from Montreal to SF at 8 years of age with some random dude (her dad said something like, wow, look at all the choices you have at your age), molested by her mother's boyfriend and then her best friend murdered. As a young teen, she moves to Crown Heights in Brooklyn to a communist revolutionary group (aka cult) led by the Old Man. After 3 years waiting for the revolution while getting entrapped within the inner workings of the cult, she makes her escape. A crazy story and a fucked up family sure makes for a page-turning memoir.
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
I kind of wanted to read this to bring Mountain (Ursula Pflug) up to speed...but this one was a rough read. Just how much the parents refused to be parents...and how crazy it got (not the hippie commune part, which was more filled out than in Mountain, but the part where she joins an underground organization for the revolution which is actually a cult...an organization her mother gets her into, and leaves without her.)
So much suffering...
So much suffering...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting
A brave telling of a most unusual upbringing and youth, filled with wise observations about humanity and our desire for truth and love in a world of painful contradiction. It launched into some sharp bends and slightly confusing turns that made the timeline hard to follow at the beginning, but I also couldn't put it down. The story was riveting and it was satisfying to see the narrative gain clarity in tandem with the protagonist's own growth and reflection; this gave the memoir a resonance that I could best appreciate only after finishing reading it.
Well paced and fascinating this memoir is a quick glimpse into the life of a former, would-be revolutionary. The trauma Larsen experienced at the hands of what were essentially cult leaders is wrenching to read. I hope the author eventually delves into fiction writing as no doubt her miserable youth has given her unlimited capacity for describing human experience.
Well paced and fascinating this memoir is a quick glimpse into the life of a former, would-be revolutionary. The trauma Larsen experienced at the hands of what were essentially cult leaders is wrenching to read. I hope the author eventually delves into fiction writing as no doubt her miserable youth has given her unlimited capacity for describing human experience.