We are presented with a determined author, that tells us how she might rather die trying than to quit or not have it, that had to endure her mother as her sworn enemy for no apparent reason and had the courage to carve a path to herself through little secrets, friendships, escapades that latter escalated into runaways. It’s admirable to see that although Marilyn Kriete, at the time, didn’t have the means of escaping the parental control, or dictatorship regime, she never lost the drive to get out of her house and live her life for herself and taste what was purposefully forbidden and straight out denied to her in order to make her suffer, it seems.
The war between Marilyn and her mother was… ugly, and with one-sided wins, the mother’s, as the author struggled to keep her morale, and many times her dignity, under the cold stare and ruling of a detached, angry, unstable and miserable mother. It’s telling to see how parents can fall into the trap of vengeance and punishment, “retribution”, to their innocent children for crimes the parents themselves made, as if that would make them happy in the end. Here we have a stark, example of this, as we get a feeling that her mother would much rather see her child as miserable as her, than to see her succeed or acknowledge her hard-earned triumphs.
It’s fascinating how easy it is the read this memoir, the narrative just flows as Marilyn tells about her friendships and the wild adventures of exploring basements, the occult, rivers and creeks, as both herself and her friends wanted to grow up as fast as possible and become “admirable and beautiful”, with such adventures somehow, and funnily enough, turning into the pursuit of LSD and acid. LOL.
The rawness of the despair and pain is coarse to our hearts as we are told about the family conflicts and the choices her parents made and how it affected her and the whole family dynamics, ripping holes into everyone, and although, as a child, a 13 year-old, she knew very well to discern what was happening and why, which makes us take a deep breath and ponder upon our present and future responsibilities as parents and how our choices, many times selfish, might affect our family members. Very nice.
With a healthy, quite light, dose of sarcasm the stories flow and keep a smile on your face, when the atmosphere is light enough, and the fact that you rise and fall with the mood of the book is a sure telling sign of how engaging this memoir is.
The awfully hard-truths are told all of a sudden, with no previous warning whatsoever and the violent, unseen shifts scattered on the book makes us grip our hearts and think of how illusions can break away so quickly, making this book a powerful roller-coaster of emotions.
Another very cool thing about this memoir is that it is constantly changing. There are so many episodes of so many “adventures” that readers will be constantly amazed and entertained by it. I mean, you have everything and some more, broken family relationships, abusive friends, lost best-friends, crazy nuns with horny chihuahuas, manipulators with insane families, crazy hotel managers and grim hotels experiences, unspoken love and crushes, weed, running away from home, pimps, farms, cycling and everything in between. It’s fascinating!
Warning: Be ready for heartbreak and the destruction of illusions as Death shows its smile upon the life of Marylin throughout the book, and that says, reminds her, and us that positive thinking is wishful thinking when denying its existence and command upon life.
There is a highly emotional aspect to this memoir as Marilyn retells her love for her partner and how she deals with after he leaves, how she shuts down and starts breaking down because she defined herself by his courage and joy, but also, the author shows how this emotional aspect limited her as well, how the courage of starting things over changed her, how she found herself and her strengths when she was on her own and faced her fears. We start to see clearly how the whole dynamic of co-dependence can manifest itself and how believing on our own abilities can change our lives completely. It’s inspiring, to say the least.
Things only get more interesting as romance and several odd, rapid-fire relationships evolve along this wild and unplanned adventure that takes its own course of action, and swings with the authors mood and impulses. Trouble? Fate? Choice? And which consequences will it bring? We do discover in this surprising read.
Pros:
- Good narrative ability
- Nice pace and flow of the book
- The organization of the first chapters and the story it created overall was very cool
- The emotional display and explanations are very good
- The recollections of her childhood are very sharp and set an understanding tone to book
- There is a high diversity of stories and occasions on this book that will make you gasp, laugh and will warm, and break your heart
- The author was able to infuse moral lessons into her memories
Cons:
- That quote about Dorian Gray.
- The book sometimes, in some chapters, feels scattered, not by the narrative, but because of the random choices of the author when she was having her adventures. It was inevitable, but we think that there could have been a way to make it somewhat “more packed” overall at places.
Scribble's Worth 