Book Review: Comeback, by Claire and Mia Fontaine

I really don’t.

I don’t give a shit if I come off like a girl sometimes. Or a woman rather. There’s nothing girly about me. Except my dainty little legs perhaps.

But, given that… I just read a book that absolutely floored me. Comeback, by Claire and Mia Fontaine. To summarize. I weeped. No I shook and weeped roughly thirty times throughout this book. I don’t think I have ever done that once with any book or movie for that matter. I may laugh out loud (rarely) or at best just gaze off stoically just being given a kernel of truth or an ample helping of appreciation or admiration for an individual in their courage, strength, and/or heart.

With this book I had no time to gaze. I was routinely crying like I was being reunited by a long lost love that I was sure had perished, but had defied all odds and reason to stumble back into my world. All right, maybe not that intensely, but I was literally bent over weeping. It was that beautiful. Shit, maybe I am a bit girly as well.

The review: Comeback

It is written by both mother and daughter and tells the story of how the daughter, Mia, was routinely molested as a two-year-old by her father, and the ripple effects it had throughout her childhood and adolescence. It all culminating at age fourteen when she, being a straight-A student at a top prep school, seemingly out of the blue, ran away from her upper-class, loving home (Dad was out of the picture long before) and ended up homeless on the streets, shooting heroin, and suffering further abuse from herself and others.

Due to her mother’s intervention, (sending Mia to a treatment center in the Czech Republic -huh?-) we witness the suffering, healing, and transformation of this girl/young lady and her mother.

The book is written by both mother and daughter as they re-tell the ordeal and each page is split up in their own narratives of the experience.

Incredible, incredible book.

Now of course none of you will probably cry. That’s fine. Just remember, I’ll still beat you at the sport of your choice. Except yours Jan-E. You are a biking fool.

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