| Her Last Death: A Memoir |  | Author: Susanna Sonnenberg
Publisher: Scribner
Category: eBooks
In Stock
Rating:  96 reviews
Sales Rank: 44,695
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1st Scribner Hardcover Ed
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.29092
Publication Date: January 1, 2008
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Amazon.com Review
Susanna's mother gave her a copy of Penthouse when she was a ten-year-old, cocaine when she was 12, and seduced her boyfriend at 14. Sonnenberg recounts "the true calamity of being daughter to this mother." The glory of this memoir is that the author survived her traumatic childhood and somehow navigated her way to a deftly written book capturing her dismantled youth. The daughter of a glamorous, falling-down addict of a mother and a gifted, self-absorbed father, Sonnenberg never falls into the trap of attempting to analyze two people never meant to be parents. Instead, we are allowed to feel the strange and powerful familial currencies running between mother and daughter through the keenly observed writing of Sonnenberg. The writing is razor-sharp and raw, a significant feat considering the untethered early years of this immensely talented writer. --Molly Jay
Product Description
Her Last Death begins as the phone rings early one morning in the Montana house where Susanna Sonnenberg lives with her husband and two young sons. Her aunt is calling to tell Susanna her mother is in a coma after a car accident. She might not live. Any daughter would rush the thousands of miles to her mother's bedside. But Susanna cannot bring herself to go. Her courageous memoir explains why. Glamorous, charismatic and a compulsive liar, Susanna's mother seduced everyone who entered her orbit. With outrageous behavior and judgment tinged by drug use, she taught her child the art of sex and the benefits of lying. Susanna struggled to break out of this compelling world, determined, as many daughters are, not to become her mother. Sonnenberg mines tender and startling memories as she writes of her fierce resolve to forge her independence, to become a woman capable of trust and to be a good mother to her own children. Her Last Death is riveting, disarming and searingly beautiful.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 96
 Her Last Death: A Memoir July 28, 2010
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book was difficult to finish due to the lack of character development. I continually reminded myself that the author's warped perception was the damage collaterial of addiction and mental illness. Hopefully. she can receive appropriate therapy to help her forgive and form healthy relationships without the backlash of self pity and self absorbtion.
 Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg May 19, 2010
Loretta M. Carrico-Russell (Round Mountain, CA)
What is perhaps the best aspect of Sonnenberg's memoir, Her Last Death, is that it demonstrates child abuse transcends socioeconomic and cultural levels. And, had Sonnenberg not been the child of privilege would her story have been published? Another compelling aspect of her memoir is Sonnenberg's unapologetic handling of her own life and sexuality from a young age. What rings most true and shows her struggle for normalcy and boundaries is how Sonnenberg handles her mother's near death. Reared in an environment that thrived on chaos and drama, most caused by a mother who would never qualify as mother of the year, the author shows us how she's had to acclimate to an ordinary life of stability and predictability in a relatively remote area of the country far from New York and the high life; which isn't as easy as one might think.
 courage May 8, 2010
Kelly Soriano (Talent, OR, US)
This is a wonderful story of courage and bravery from a victom of addiction. This girl shows sheer sreinth and poise as she keeps her self in check while being deprived of all she needed. A story that gives hope to others, much like this book, Not All Prisons Have Bars
Understanding the genre and the author April 26, 2010
F. fish Studio (Vermont)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Here is a link to an Amazon interview with Susanna Sonnenberg. http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK1GRX315NTSYF
A memoir is a writer's impressions of her life, from her perspective. I believe a good memoir doesn't get bogged down in emotions: anger over how her parents neglected her, gave her drugs, or abused her. She is telling a STORY and who wants a memoir that reads like a therapy session? (Well, that COULD be interesting but that might be a different genre.)
Sonnenberg's recollections may seem detached to some readers because she is not judging or analyzing what happened to her. It would be extraneous for her to write how she thinks of her childhood now. The fact that she is writing about it speaks volumes! She knows it was screwed up! Same for Augusten Borroughs' books.
I listened to this book on CD and maybe hearing the story in her own voice gave me a different experience than those who read the book. But mostly I think too many people expect memoirs to be as factual as an encyclopedia.
Worth reading.. March 2, 2010
Cheryl L. Laurie (Cape Cod, Ma.)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Good read, (4 stars) not 5, but definitely will keep you turning the pages if you enjoy memoirs! I actually really enjoyed this book!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 96
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