The Great Peace: A Memoir

by Mena Suvari, Mena Suvari (Read by)

Overview

A memoir by award-winning actor Mena Suvari, best-known forher iconic roles in American Beauty, American Pie, and Six Feet Under.

The Great Peace is a harrowing, heartbreaking coming-of-age story set in Hollywood, in which young teenage model-turned-actor Mena Suvari lost herself to sex, drugs and bad, often abusive relationships even as blockbuster movies made her famous. It's about growing up in the 90s, with a soundtrack ranging from The Doors to Deee-Lite, fashion from denim to day-glo, and a woman dealing with the lasting psychological scars of abuse, yet knowing deep inside she desires so much more from life.

Within these vulnerable pages, Mena not only reveals her own mistakes, but also the lessons she learned and her efforts to understand and grow rather than casting blame. As such, she makes this a timeless story of girl empowerment and redemption, of somebody using their voice to rediscover their past, seek redemption, and to understand their mistakes, and ultimately come to terms with their power as an individual to find a way and a will to live—and thrive. Poignant, intimate, and powerful, this book will resonate with anyone who has found themselves lost in the darkness, thinking there's no way out. Ultimately, Mena's story proves that, no matter how hopeless it may seem, there's always a light at the end.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781549165382
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	07/27/2021
Edition description:	Library Edition
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 6.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Mena Suvari is an award-winning actor whose credits include American Beauty, American Pie, Six Feet Under, Chicago Fire, and American Horror Story, among many others. She lives in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xv

Introduction 1

The thoughts of the silent in heart 5

Mena's Corner 7

Rich Bitch 10

No One Told Me 14

"I Don't Want to Do That!" 17

Slut Shamed 21

The Kids' Division 24

City of Angels 27

Someone's Watching 29

What Was Happy? 32

Life has its ups and downs 35

Smile for the Camera 37

Wasted 39

Thinking back upon the days 43

Another Manager 45

Hollyweed 48

Guatemala 51

Geoff and Franny 54

The Day I Never Expected 58

Up All Night 60

Meth Month 62

The Loss of It All 64

Totaled 66

Rave Daze 68

"Ever Done It?" 71

Hollywood Acid Test 73

God, why did you go? 77

Never Listening 79

Expiration Date 82

Chuck 85

"All My Stuff Is Here" 87

Miss American Pie 92

Steph 94

Toys 96

Handicapped 99

Easily Convinced 102

Angela 105

American Beauty 107

Do I consider myself great? 111

Breaking Free 112

The Hiding Place 121

Robert 122

A Reprieve 124

Engaged 126

A Bloody Mess 129

Sigal 131

Permission. 135

Second Thoughts 137

Jay 140

Down Under 145

Trust 147

Looking 151

Heavy-Duty Detox 153

"By the Way …" 157

Caught in the Middle 159

Changes of the Chameleon 161

Temescal 163

Mike 167

On Location 170

Simone 173

Another Attempt 176

My Dream 179

Costa Rica 180

The Jungle 183

Tree of Life 188

The Rescue 192

In Need 194

Cries Heard 199

Gratitude 202

Mayan Dawn Prayer 205

Love and Loss 207

Feeling Alone 211

The Augment 215

Something Borrowed 219

Sleeplessness 225

An American Horror Story 227

"I'll Find a Way!" 233

No More 237

"Sweet Soul Sal" 239

Papa 241

Justice 244

Starting Fresh 248

Creating Space 250

Moon Magic 255

Hope 257

I Am Her 263

Reclaiming My Power 265

Truth 267

Acknowledgments 271

Editorial Reviews

08/02/2021

In this haunting debut, actor Suvari—best known for her roles in American Beauty, and American Pie—chronicles her life and rise in Hollywood, and opens up for the first time about being sexually abused. She traces how her seemingly idyllic childhood in the 1980s in Rhode Island crumbled as her parents faced financial trouble and the family moved to South Carolina. There, she started middle school and was groomed into an inappropriate sexual relationship by her older brother's friend. In frank and searing prose, Suvari illustrates how this violation sent her into a tailspin, even as her acting career took off at age 13 and she moved to Los Angeles. "I gravitated toward men who took advantage of my vulnerability and confusion," she writes. "A photographer. A manager. A lighting engineer." Time and again she found herself in toxic relationships—including two marriages she deems "ill-conceived escapes"—and numbed herself with drugs, all the while clinching leading roles and trying to find her footing in the limelight. Suvari writes that until now, "this life of mine was... my secret world of shame." While the experiences she details are devastating, her ability to weave them into a narrative of empowerment is what makes this so moving. In bringing her struggles to light, Suvari reclaims her story and will surely inspire others to do the same. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"A powerful read that – much like Sharon Stone’s The Beauty Of Living Twice – will make you see its author in a different, perhaps more forgiving light."
 —Total Film

From the Publisher

07/01/2021

Actress Suvari (American Beauty; Six Feet Under) lays herself bare in this fearless and forthright memoir. Born in 1979, Suvari spent her early days in a palatial estate in Newport, RI, with her parents and older brothers. As a precocious child, she excelled in school but stumbled socially. Her memoir details with courage and candor the sexual and emotional abuse she suffered at the age of 12, a trauma that led her to self-medicate with marijuana and other drugs. After several moves, her family settled in Los Angeles so that Suvari could focus on acting and modeling. As she endured a series of abusive relationships and a growing drug addiction, Suvari found ways to access her emotional turmoil in the roles she played. This memoir chronicles the confusion, extravagance, and loneliness of her life in Hollywood. Using the wisdom that she's gathered from excruciating breakups, near-death experiences, the loss of a parent, and more, Suvari proves to be an exceptionally strong narrator whose memoir will offer solace and companionship to readers who might feel isolated and alone. VERDICT An honest and unadorned Hollywood confessional that casts a light on the darkness behind the scenes.—Megan Duffy, Glen Ridge P.L., NJ

Library Journal

Mena Suvari, an actor featured in AMERICAN PIE and AMERICAN BEAUTY, narrates her memoir, which is replete with ego, self-righteous negativity, and childlike pouting at every turn. Providing no clear context for what follows, Suvari plunges into explaining that a poem she wrote as a teen called “The Great Peace” has provided valued comfort throughout her significant life challenges, which include drug dependence and abusive relationships. Her tone and affect are workmanlike, varying little throughout despite a life that has thus far included great trauma. Listeners will likely empathize, but the weak conversational writing and bland narration compromise a potentially fascinating listening experience. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2021 - AudioFile

Mena Suvari, an actor featured in AMERICAN PIE and AMERICAN BEAUTY, narrates her memoir, which is replete with ego, self-righteous negativity, and childlike pouting at every turn. Providing no clear context for what follows, Suvari plunges into explaining that a poem she wrote as a teen called “The Great Peace” has provided valued comfort throughout her significant life challenges, which include drug dependence and abusive relationships. Her tone and affect are workmanlike, varying little throughout despite a life that has thus far included great trauma. Listeners will likely empathize, but the weak conversational writing and bland narration compromise a potentially fascinating listening experience. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2021 - AudioFile

★ 2021-07-27
In her powerful debut memoir, the actor demonstrates both candor and storytelling skill.

Suvari is stunningly straightforward about how she survived—and even flourished—despite years of sexual and emotional abuse. There will be tabloid interest in The Great Peace, named for “a book of poetry and stories” she wrote as an escape from her troubled teenage years, but this is much more than a celebrity tell-all. The author unflinchingly reveals that she was raped at age 12 by a childhood friend, discusses her suicide attempt, and examines her numerous questionable relationships with older men as she started her career as a young actor. Though Suvari doesn’t include anything about the sexual harassment allegations against her American Beauty co-star Kevin Spacey, she does tell a story about an unusual ploy Spacey used to prepare for a pivotal scene in the movie. The author also frankly explores the problems with her previous two marriages even though they are not always flattering for her. As an award-winning veteran actor, Suvari is already known as a masterful visual storyteller, and the craftsmanship she exhibits here is impressive. “It was too hard to verbalize some of my traumas, even to my therapist….Those memories were like walls that kept me from escaping,” she writes about her first real experience in therapy. “I had become too used to pretending I was okay.” Each bite-sized chapter skillfully builds on the experiences of the previous one while foreshadowing what is to come, creating a page-turner that propels the streamlined narrative forward. Even when, in the story, Suvari seems stuck in a destructive relationship, she offers enough hints that suggest she’ll make it out. How she does it is a rewarding journey worth taking. “I want [the book] to serve as the flickering light at the end of a dark road showing there is a way out,” she writes in the author’s note. “And there is.”

Suvari’s bracing tale of abusive patterns and building new beginnings is wrenching, potent, and ultimately inspirational.

Kirkus Reviews