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A review by crystals_library
Body Leaping Backward: Memoir of a Delinquent Girlhood by Maureen Stanton
4.0
Maureen Stanton grew up in Walpole, MA (home of the Walpole Prison) in the 1970s. She was a middle child with 6 siblings. At the age of 12, Maureen's parents were the first parents on her street to get separated and then divorced. Her family seemed to be the typical Catholic family and she had no idea that her parents weren't getting along. After the separation, Maureen's mother took to shoplifting in an attempt to keep up with their middle class lifestyle.
Maureen had always done and said what she wants. So when she decides to try PCP/angel dust at the age of 15, she is all in. Angel dust numbs her feelings (although she doesn't realize that's what she's doing) and she no longer cares about school, swimming or gymnastics. She only cares about getting dusted. Maureen is extremely lucky to be alive after all the drugs, hitchhiking, parties, vandalism, and theft.
Body Leaping Backward does start slowly and I wasn't sure where the book was headed. It becomes clear that the background of Maureen's upbringing is clouded by Nixon's "war on drugs", Walpole prison and it's famous inmates, and Nixon's own legal troubles. Maureen is very lucky to have been a privileged white female because if she had been a minority, I believe that she would have ended up in jail and/or prison. As an adult, Maureen is very aware of her "luck" and privilege.
Maureen had always done and said what she wants. So when she decides to try PCP/angel dust at the age of 15, she is all in. Angel dust numbs her feelings (although she doesn't realize that's what she's doing) and she no longer cares about school, swimming or gymnastics. She only cares about getting dusted. Maureen is extremely lucky to be alive after all the drugs, hitchhiking, parties, vandalism, and theft.
Body Leaping Backward does start slowly and I wasn't sure where the book was headed. It becomes clear that the background of Maureen's upbringing is clouded by Nixon's "war on drugs", Walpole prison and it's famous inmates, and Nixon's own legal troubles. Maureen is very lucky to have been a privileged white female because if she had been a minority, I believe that she would have ended up in jail and/or prison. As an adult, Maureen is very aware of her "luck" and privilege.