Her Last Death: A Memoir
by Susanna Sonnenberg
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Book Reviews of Her Last Death: A Memoir
Book Review: Something lacking
Summary: 4 Stars
Having had a wife who suffered sexual abuse from a stepfather as child, I could not stop reading this book from the first chapter. It hit too close to home. The author's prose is crisp, sharp, and vivid, but therein may lie the rub. I could never quite get a feel for how this insane mother truly affected her emotions and world view. She writes almost in a distant and third person non-emotional state, as if recording this had happened to another person. Sure, she describes how her mother's pathological behavior affected her relationships with lovers and children, but for me it rang hollow. I still could not quite feel or figure how, or who, Susie is, or was. I kept reading, fully engrossed, unable to stop, like watching a car or train wreck.
Finally, we are still left to wonder where or when her mother really does die, so the title is a bit misleading, but does work to draw one into the web of dysfunctional childhoods. For me, I would have liked a little more meat and substance.
Book Review: Best Memoir in Years
Summary: 5 Stars
Susanna Sonnenberg has written as she remembered. Flurried memories as a child, torn and hormonal as a teen, and memories that fight for their lives as a young woman.
Her story is wrenching and touching. I see many who claim to have read this in one sitting, which, to me, is a mistake. This book needs to be put down sometimes, to allow for the emotions and absorbtion of the incredible trauma and destiny in these words. Brave and absolute, the only adaptions are the changes of names from Susanna's brilliant life story.
Dysfunction personified, this is a must-read. Period.
And after reading the last sentence, this is a must-sit-with book. It deserves analysis and contemplation. There's a reason for her shifting writing styles, for the inclusion of new life characters without much...character. This is not a novel written lightly or without regard, and calls for investment from the reader, to ensure maximum delight.
Book Review: Waste of Time and Money
Summary: 1 Stars
About 60 pages into this book and calling it quits. The only other book that I can compare this to is Augusten Burroughs' Running With Scissors, which I would have quit also, had it not been the choice of my book club. I just can't stomach any book that mentions masturbation and children in the same scene. I wouldn't have bought this book but for the good reviews inside - but really, would any one read it but for the celebrity name-dropping, expensive locales and oversexed mother? The fact that the author and her sister were allowed to remain with their mother, despite the father's purportedly patrician parents is frankly unbelievable, as is much of what I've read so far.
60 pages in, I don't care enough about any of the characters to bother continuing. What is touted as a brave memoir seems to me like an attempt to cash in on a story focused on a lascivious and disturbed mother.
Book Review: Where have I heard this before?
Summary: 2 Stars
Oh yeah, everywhere. It's becoming that books with this exact story are published every month. The entire book is predictable: young mother naively marries a man ten years her senior, they procreate the author + siblings, divorce, author goes through twisted childhood with junkie mom and absent dad, experiences drugs and sex through mom, naively loses virginity to married professor/neighbor/artist, continues to fornicate, marries, abortion, semi-remorse over abortion, then BAM! All that gives way to pureeing organic baby food and essentially becoming perfect "Suzy" Homemaker.
Really.
You don't say.
Apparently Suzy's read as many novels with the same storyline as I have.
Book Review: Dislike!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
I disliked this book. Unlike the other One Star reviewers who complain about her characters being under developed, or bad writing style, i completely disagree. Her writing is immaculate and her characters are very well developed. However, what i did not enjoy was the graphic sexual details, the unnecessary crassness, and the over-the-top WAY too much information. Sometimes i had to just put the book down and go, "EW! I think I'm going to puke!" I kept reading, holding out hope that the writer would redeem herself. But she didn't, the plot only deepened into sicker matters, which made me dislike her. Then in the end I shut the book and took a deep breath... thinking... "Why did i put myself through that?"