Half a Life
A Memoir
Jill Ciment
- Jill
- Ciment
- weaves
- an
- unforgettable
- tale
- of
- survival,
- compassion,
- and
- courage,
- in
- this
- haunting
- recollection
- of
- a
- child
- surrounded
- by
- confusion
- and
- madness,
- and
- her
- struggle
- to
- find
- an
- identity.Half
- a
- Life
- traces
- Jill
- Ciment's
- family
- from
- Toronto
- to
- the
- California
- desert—a
- landscape
- and
- culture
- so
- alien
- to
- her
- father
- that
- the
- last
- vestiges
- of
- sanity
- leave
- him.
- As
- madness
- engulfs
- him
- he
- becomes
- increasingly
- brutal
- and
- the
- family,
- grasping
- at
- survival,
- throws
- him
- out
- the
- door.
- Having
- no
- understanding
- that
- he
- has
- done
- anything
- wrong,
- he
- first
- lives
- in
- his
- car
- at
- the
- end
- of
- the
- driveway,
- waiting
- to
- be
- invited
- back
- in,
- before
- exiting
- completely
- from
- their
- lives.Poor
- and
- fatherless,
- Ciment
- spends
- the
- years
- from
- age
- fourteen
- to
- seventeen,
- as
- a
- gang
- girl,
- a
- professional
- forger,
- a
- stripper,
- a
- corporate
- spy,
- and
- finally,
- a
- high
- school
- dropout
- who
- by
- age
- eighteen
- has
- seduced
- her
- art
- teacher,
- a
- man
- nearly
- three
- decades
- her
- senior
- and
- bluffed
- her
- way
- into
- college
- in
- an
- effort
- to
- shape
- a
- future.Ciment
- is
- cutting,
- insightful
- and
- clearly
- unapologetic
- as
- she
- details
- the
- confusion
- and
- bravado
- of
- a
- child
- heroine
- whose
- dreams
- and
- tenacity
- allow
- her
- finally,
- to
- create
- the
- life
- she
- has
- been
- so
- desperately seeking.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
