Hold Me Close, Let Me Go: A Mother, a Daughter and an Adolescence SurvivedWhat does a mother do when her teenaged daughter is spinning out of control and nothing is bringing her back? Here is a searingly honest memoir of motherhood and a testament to the power of love and family. When Adair Lara’s daughter Morgan turned thirteen, she was transformed, seemingly overnight, from a sweet, loving child into an angry, secretive teenager who would neither listen nor be disciplined. The author, her youngest son, Patrick, her ex-husband, Jim, and her new husband, Bill, all stepped on a five-year roller-coaster ride in which Morgan incarnated the chaos principle in torn jeans and dyed hair. Drinking, drugging, disappearing, suspicious companions, failing and cheating at school, joy riding in a stolen car–there was no variety of adolescent acting out that she didn’t indulge in. For Adair Lara it became an endless sojourn at the end of her rope, a trial immensely complicated by the reappearance in her life of her aging father, a man who had abandoned his wife and seven children decades earlier. Inevitably, Morgan’s misbehavior revives memories of her own headstrong adolescence, while her father’s presence makes agonizingly real for her the consequences of giving up. Paradoxically, he also becomes the source of her best advice. Hold Me Close, Let Me Go is an emotionally charged, often brutally honest memoir that all parents (and anyone who was ever a teenager) will experience shocks of recognition from while reading. It imparts invaluable lessons about holding loved ones close through the roughest passages and about the power of family to overcome the most grievous obstacles. Adair Lara is a clear-eyed and eloquent witness to the complex costs and rewards of motherhood, and her book will redefine for readers their idea of what being “a good enough mother” really means. |
Contents
Chapter 2 | |
Chapter 3 | |
Chapter 4 | |
Chapter 5 | |
Chapter 11 | |
Chapter 14 | |
Chapter 15 | |
Chapter 16 | |
Chapter 17 | |
Chapter 18 | |
Chapter 19 | |
Epilogue | |
About the Author | |
Other editions - View all
Hold Me Close, Let Me Go: A Mother, A Daughter and an Adolescence Survived Adair Lara Limited preview - 2002 |
Hold Me Close, Let Me Go: A Mother, A Daughter and an Adolescence Survived Adair Lara No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
Adrian already arms asked baby Bill blue brought called chair changed child cigarette coming Dad’s didn’t don’t door drive dropped drove eyes face father feel felt floor followed front getting girl give gone hair hand head hear heard high school It’s keep kids kitchen knew later leave letters light listening living looked mean months Morgan morning mother moved never night once parents parked Patrick picked pulled reached remember Robin seemed sister sitting smiled smoke sound standing started stay stop street sure Susan talking teenager tell things thought told took trying turned voice waiting walked watched week window writing Zack