Family

by Micol Ostow

Overview

I have always been broken. I could have died. And maybe it would have been better if i had.

It is a day like any other when seventeen-year-old Melinda hits the road for San Francisco, leaving behind her fractured home life and a constant assault on her self-esteem. Henry is the handsome, charismatic man who comes upon her, collapsed on a park bench, and offers love, a bright new consciousness, and—best of all—a family. One that will embrace her and give her love. Because family is what Mel has never really had. And this new family, Henry's family, shares everything. They share the chores, their bodies, and their beliefs. And if Mel truly wants to belong, she will share in everything they do. No matter what the family does, or how far they go.

Told in episodic verse, Family is a fictionalized exploration of cult dynamics, loosely based on the Manson Family murders of 1969. It is an unflinching look at people who are born broken, and the lengths they'll go to to make themselves "whole" again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781606841976
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/01/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
File size:	733 KB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

School Library Journal-syndicated blog, A Chair, a Fireplace, a Tea Cozy. Micol's graphic novel, So Punk Rock (and Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother), was named a 2009 Booklist Top Ten Arts Books for Youth Selection, a Booklist Top Ten Religion Books for Youth Selection, and a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Teens. She received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and currently teaches a popular young-adult writing workshop through MediaBistro.com.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 9 Up—Seventeen-year-old Mel decides to escape from her broken, sexually abusive home. Finally free, but far from unscathed, she parks herself on a bench in San Francisco where she is "saved" by Henry. He takes her first into his van and then to the ranch where he lives with his "family," a group of other young, broken people (many of them attractive young women like Mel) for whom the sun rises and sets on Henry. The family members share not only chores like cooking and laundry, but their bodies as well. As Mel's time at the ranch lengthens, she becomes increasingly concerned about Henry's anxiety and sinister rumblings. Much of the book is based directly on Charles Manson and the Manson Murders of 1969. Through Mel's tale, Ostow ostensibly aims to dig into the cult mentality and to discern how someone could be pulled so blindly into a madman's orbit. The verse format proves an apt choice to relay Mel's scattered and frenetic thoughts and the use of capital letters in He and Him reinforces the idolatry of Henry without being heavy-handed. Yet while Mel's cycling over and over and over about Henry filling her hollow places, her love for a fellow cult sister, and her abusive stepfather might simulate the mindset of a cultist, the repetitious thoughts become tedious. Still, Family will prove a worthwhile read for teens intrigued with the subject matter.—Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ

School Library Journal

"A fictionalized examination of cult behaviors in general and the Manson family in particular, told in episodic free verse, may not be for the faint of heart, but it makes for absorbing psychodrama." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

A vivid but ponderous exploration in verse of late-1960s-California cult life. Mel, broken by her uncaring mother's sexually abusive boyfriend, "Uncle" Jack, runs away from home with no plans beyond getting to San Francisco. Once there, without food or money, she's a sitting duck for the charismatic Henry, who promises Mel a new life with his family of "love and openness and / everyone caring," among whom she can be made whole and free again. Mel's embrace of family life, with its communal meals and shared sexual partners, is enthusiastic but not wholehearted: She easily recognizes the emotional damage in all of the family members and steers clear of the worst of the bunch. Eventually Mel begins to worry that Henry, who has always seemed "infinite" and healing, is just as shattered as his followers. Like Charles Manson, on whom he is clearly based, Henry was traded by his mother for a pitcher of beer and has pretensions to fame as a prophetic folk star. After an apparent snub by a music industry executive, Mel can tell that "Henry cannot restrain His infinite want. / cannot still the undertow within." Unfortunately, Mel's journey is a little too clichéd to be believable—of course her emotional damage is due to sexual abuse—and her voice, full of repetitions of ominous phrases, is too mannered to be engaging. (Historical fiction/verse. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews