Hollywood Park

Starred review from December 23, 2019
In this arresting debut memoir, Jollett, frontman of the indie band Airborne Toxic Event, writes of escaping a California cult named Synanon—where he lived in the 1970s until age five—with his mentally unstable mother and older brother. He recalls his impoverished, lonely youth; his family’s struggles with addiction; his challenging relationship with his parents; and the ways music and therapy saved him. Synanon started out as a commune and a drug and alcohol treatment facility (Jollett’s father was treated there for heroin addiction) but became a cult when the facility’s leader became more domineering and began forcing parents and their children to live in separate locations. While there, Jollett and his brother were left in the care of various cult members and rarely saw their parents. Jollett engagingly narrates his story, which includes living, after leaving Synanon, in Oregon with his mother, a needy narcissist who brainwashed him into believing that kids take care of their moms, not the other way around; loving his father while hoping to never be like him; and dealing with his addict brother. Jollett also talks about turning pain into music, getting help for abandonment issues, and finding love and starting a family. All this results in a shocking but contemplative memoir about the aftermath of an unhealthy upbringing. (May)
Due to a production error, this review originally published without its star.

March 15, 2020
A painstaking emotional accounting of a tortured youth ultimately redeemed through music, therapy, and love. In his debut, Jollett, the frontman for the indie band Airborne Toxic Event, opens the narrative in an orphanagelike facility in California when he was introduced to a strange woman who had come to take him away. "I remember that a 'Mom' is supposed to be a special thing....She tells me I'm her son and she wanted kids so she would not be alone anymore and now she has us and it is a son's job to take care of his mother," he writes. Both the author's parents were members of Synanon, a drug-recovery program-turned-cult that took children from their parents when they were 6 months old. After their release from captivity, Jollett and his brother grew up in extreme poverty in rural Oregon. Their mother's distorted view of the parent-child relationship made her almost completely useless as a caretaker; her terminally alcoholic boyfriend was the boys' only reliable source of either physical sustenance or affection. For the first third of the book, the author attempts to portray the world, and the English language, as he perceived it at age 5 and 6. His troubled mother had "deep-russian." She hated "Thatasshole Reagan." Another escapee from the cult was beaten by goons and developed "men-in-ji-tis" in the hospital; he thought about sending the cult leader a "sub-peena." This becomes tiring, and since Jollett's mother was ultimately diagnosed with a personality disorder, the level of detail and repetition with regard to her maternal failures is overdone. The author's father, though an ex-con and former addict, is the story's hero; he is beautifully written and lights up the book. In fifth grade, a friend introduced Jollett to the Cure. The Smiths and David Bowie were not far behind, and the teenage portion of the book, during which he often lived with his father in Los Angeles, is a smoother read. Ultimately, as he lucidly shows, music would change his life. A musician proves himself a talented, if long-winded, writer with a very good memory.

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Starred review from April 1, 2020

In this first book by writer/musician Jollett, front man of indie band Airborne Toxic Event and on-air columnist for NPR's All Things Considered, readers are brought into his childhood in Synanon, a cult that initially attracted his parents before they found themselves disillusioned. Jollett eloquently writes about years of being constantly left alone with his thoughts while his dad tried to turn his life around after spending time in prison and his mom, who lived with severe depression and alcoholism, sought to find a father figure for her two sons. Moving chapters describe the emotional toll of Jollett being forced to become a caretaker for his mom as her mental illness intensifies, and accompanying his dad to the Hollywood Park race track. Jollett is at his best when exploring his complicated relationship with his brother; drifting apart as children and forming a stronger bond as adults, especially after the author becomes the first person in his family to attend college. He concludes with how music, and writing, became outlets for masking feelings of shame and coming to terms with the past. VERDICT Jollett's absorbing memoir of self, discovery, and rediscovery will have a wide audience.--Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2020
While his first book is being touted as a memoir about growing up in the Synanon cult, Jollett, frontman for the band Airborne Toxic Event, actually writes much more about his life after escaping it. Raised as a universal child by several people, he hardly knew the woman he was told to call mom, a narcissist who believed Jollett and his brother should take care of her. In Oregon, after Synanon, they live in extreme poverty and both boys struggle with loneliness and substance abuse. They find much-needed senses of normalcy and family in California, where they're periodically sent to live with their father and his wife, also a former Synanon member. Jollett learns to navigate the world through music, running, and later, therapy. He is a very good writer able to relay details of his difficult life, even as a young child, and despite occasionally overwrought descriptions, the story remains engaging and heartbreaking. A good choice for fans of memoirs about overcoming dysfunctional childhoods like Educated (2018) and The Glass Castle (2005).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)