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Her Last Death: A Memoir
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 courageou...more
Paperback, 273 pages
Published
October 7th 2008
by Scribner
(first published January 1st 2008)
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So you think you had a difficult mother? This memorist's mom - an intoxicating and intoxicated coke-addicted, sex-obsessed, narcissistic, party girl(and ridiculously irresponsible parent who hits on her daughter's boyfriends, among other things) - takes the cake. But midway through the book - which not only details mom's sexual excesses but the writer's - I grew increasingly irritated. Just why did she write this peep show of a memoir and why was I reading it? Judging from a favorable NYT review...more
I found this memoir to be very self-indulgent. I actually didn’t believe the majority of the “stories” that the author relayed about her life. I found myself rolling my eyes a lot while reading. The author complained (a LOT) about how her mother lied to her throughout her life. She complained about how her mother’s mania caused her to be choppy and hard to follow in conversations. I think both criticisms could be applied to the author herself.
The author had quite the high opinion of herself;...more
The author had quite the high opinion of herself;...more
6 likes · like · see review
In HER LAST DEATH, Susanna Sonnenberg achieves what I believe the very best memoirs can accomplish. She paints a vivid, living picture, not just of a life but of her relationship with her manic but unbalanced mother, and she does so with prejudice and personal perspective. Memoir is not autobiography; at its very best, the genre tells us not the facts and objective observation of the events. Memoir takes us into the heart of the author's experience, and it is its very subjectivity that gives it...more
I had high expectations for this book. I love me some true narratives from people who've been born into a crazy famous life. I love the drama, the struggle, the shock value of the insane things they deem mundane.
I was expecting a Running With Scissors memoir, equip with drugs and sex and crazy mothers and mental break downs.
And true, the book did seem to be going down that path for the first third of it. But then, somewhere along the way, the author lost sight of the interesting and it became a...more
I was expecting a Running With Scissors memoir, equip with drugs and sex and crazy mothers and mental break downs.
And true, the book did seem to be going down that path for the first third of it. But then, somewhere along the way, the author lost sight of the interesting and it became a...more
Jul 09, 2009
Chrissy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
all-time-greats,
bookcase
I should have put this down after the first few pages. I felt an absolute kick to the gut that can only be explained by deep understanding. Ms Sonnenberg could have been writing about my life, my feelings and my mother.
My mother, while not a drug addict or as overtly promiscious, rivals Daphne in her inabilty to share. I was tickled by the bad reviews of this story - and I can only guess that those who grew up in an environment where safety and love are related have trouble comprehending a home...more
My mother, while not a drug addict or as overtly promiscious, rivals Daphne in her inabilty to share. I was tickled by the bad reviews of this story - and I can only guess that those who grew up in an environment where safety and love are related have trouble comprehending a home...more
I was really torn between a 1 and a 2 on this book - the 2 rating ultimately won out only b/c I had such a viscerally negative reaction to it that I thought that was worth something! I just didn't like any of the "characters" - the author, the mother, the sister, and even the husband. I was so tired of hearing from the author's perspective how terrible the mother was (and if this book is true, she did some horrible things) but yet the author spent her whole life wrapped up in her mother's world...more
I probably should have put this book down & not read the whole thing since it was just a memoir about the author and her relationship with her drug addicted, sex addicted, lying mom, which in turn made her become a nympho from a young age. So just sex & drugs in this one. This author married a (jack) mormon & had a couple of kids (after an abortion that this (jack) mormon approved of.) I think if I were her in laws I'd be embarrassed to read this about my daughter in law and all she...more
Aug 31, 2008
Betty
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
young women curious about mother daughter relationships
this book was an easy read about a mother written by an author. mom was addicted to drugs and attention. a rather unpleasant combination. the writer talks about the relationship with her mother being an uneasy cocktail of mother-daughter and girlfriends chatter an revelations. the boundaries blurred by cocaine and over eager young men. lies become truths and visa versa more readily than should be expected.
I enjoyed this book. the characters were pretty well defined and each chapter was lively a...more
I enjoyed this book. the characters were pretty well defined and each chapter was lively a...more
Having read about Susanna Sonnenberg's latest memoir, She Matters, in a newspaper, my interest was piqued about not only this as a potential read, but also her first memoir, Her Last Death, the true story of a troubled (putting it mildly) childhood and the effects of which infiltrate adulthood. The honesty with which Sonnenberg arranges her words grasps the attention of the reader in much the same way an automobile accident may engage passing motorists. . . too horrific to comprehend, but imposs...more
Have you ever wondered what it must be like to hang out with Lindsey Lohan and her mother? Read this book.
Granted, this family isn't as trashy, in fact they live a somewhat privileged life. Under the guise of "memoir" Ms. Sonnenberg writes a disjointed narrative straight from the teen age, angst-filled diaries of her youth. Do we know if any of this is true? By her own admission, Ms. Sonnenberg writes that she changed all the names and conflated or changes some of the stories. And as she states,...more
Granted, this family isn't as trashy, in fact they live a somewhat privileged life. Under the guise of "memoir" Ms. Sonnenberg writes a disjointed narrative straight from the teen age, angst-filled diaries of her youth. Do we know if any of this is true? By her own admission, Ms. Sonnenberg writes that she changed all the names and conflated or changes some of the stories. And as she states,...more
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"Her Last Death" is a memoir, a memoir that I had hoped would be in the same vein as "The Glass Castle" and "The Tender Bar". "Her Last Death" falls far short of these two brilliantlyh written memoirs. The main problem with "Her Last Death", even though it may be as true to life as possible, I found it totally to be unbelievable.
The book finds the author and her mother totally absorbed in drugs and sex. Too much of a good thing or bad thing is always too much, and the drugs and sex are way too m...more
The book finds the author and her mother totally absorbed in drugs and sex. Too much of a good thing or bad thing is always too much, and the drugs and sex are way too m...more
I read several different books at the same time, alternating back and forth through the day and the week depending on my mood. I picked up Her Last Death and didn't pick up another book (even ones I had been happily reading the day before) until I finished it. I've read a lot of memoirs and sometimes I feel like it's all been done (and written) before... but not this time. This is a jaw dropping experience, a memoir that is so far out there it feels like fiction but so emotionally right on that...more
Mrs. Sonnenberg should have written three books: one book about her relationship with her mother (and family), another about what a selfish person she was growing up, and a third about her work in an abortion clinic.
We read about all of the sordid details of her childhood and her relationship with her highly engaging mother, the reading of which reminded me of reality TV. And like reality TV I did not want to read, but I kept reading. The author lulls the reader into thinking she is the only san...more
We read about all of the sordid details of her childhood and her relationship with her highly engaging mother, the reading of which reminded me of reality TV. And like reality TV I did not want to read, but I kept reading. The author lulls the reader into thinking she is the only san...more
***1/2
Memoirs are ultimately only as good as the lives of their writers. I am halfway into Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle, and it is so effortless, so compelling, so funny, and so shocking it makes me jealous. I do not wish I could live the author's life, mind you - I simply wish I could write such a book myself.
With Susanna Sonnenberg's memoir Her Last Death, the reader experiences a mix of things. Here we have a unique story of a girl who is raised by a mother who whirls through cocaine and...more
Memoirs are ultimately only as good as the lives of their writers. I am halfway into Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle, and it is so effortless, so compelling, so funny, and so shocking it makes me jealous. I do not wish I could live the author's life, mind you - I simply wish I could write such a book myself.
With Susanna Sonnenberg's memoir Her Last Death, the reader experiences a mix of things. Here we have a unique story of a girl who is raised by a mother who whirls through cocaine and...more
Jan 17, 2010
Holly Lee (Bellas Novella)
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2009
This book was an emotional rollercoaster. I read the book very slowly because i had to take time to process what I had read. The author Susanna Sonnenberg has held nothing back in her memoir. It was difficult to read at times because it was such a personal experience, and most of the time it was quite depressing.
Its hard to call a book like this a good book, or to even say that I enjoyed it. I would recommend it though, to anyone who can appreciate a candid life story.
I always feel like a lot ca...more
Its hard to call a book like this a good book, or to even say that I enjoyed it. I would recommend it though, to anyone who can appreciate a candid life story.
I always feel like a lot ca...more
Another fast, entertaining read, although I did take issue with some of it. It's a memoir of this woman's life with her mother, who raised her and her sister.
In the first part of the book I felt sympathy for the daughter/writer. But as the book continued it seemed to evolve into just a blame game, wherein her mother's shortcomings caused the writer's life problems, particularly in her love life. That's not to say the mother was blameless, but it didn't seem like the writer cut her much slack, e...more
In the first part of the book I felt sympathy for the daughter/writer. But as the book continued it seemed to evolve into just a blame game, wherein her mother's shortcomings caused the writer's life problems, particularly in her love life. That's not to say the mother was blameless, but it didn't seem like the writer cut her much slack, e...more
This book is beautifully written (though in the crazy-mother memoir category I prefer Jacki Lyden's "Daughter of the Queen of Sheba", perhaps only because I could relate to it on more levels than this book). Sonnenberg's mother made me furious, which, in my opinion, means the writing was great because I still cared what happened even though I wanted to scream at this woman! EVERYTHING the mother did and espoused revolved around what "men" would prefer (true to that generation in many cases, but...more
I love those books that you haven't been reading about or pining after and then they usually fall under your expectations or maybe meet them but then there's no surprise because it's what you expected. Then there are the books that you stumbled on without any urging from other reviewers or barnes and noble lists or goodreads suggestions etc etc etc.
The books that jump out at you at the library or maybe you read something about a new book but the review mentions an old book and that's the one yo...more
The books that jump out at you at the library or maybe you read something about a new book but the review mentions an old book and that's the one yo...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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1 like · like · see review
Mar 06, 2009
Dawn Michelle
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-read-in-2009,
non-fiction
Interesting. Weird. Very Weird. Did I mention W E I R D??? Sad. Intriguing.
Why do people do the things they do? Why do MOTHERS do things that hurt their children irrevocably? WHY do children feel they have to write it all down and share it with MILLIONS of people? I don't know the answers to ANY of those questions, nor did I even remotely find the answers in this book.
The author's mother is crazy. She is a drug addict. She is most likely bi-polar. She is a sex-addict who enjoys trying to turn h...more
Why do people do the things they do? Why do MOTHERS do things that hurt their children irrevocably? WHY do children feel they have to write it all down and share it with MILLIONS of people? I don't know the answers to ANY of those questions, nor did I even remotely find the answers in this book.
The author's mother is crazy. She is a drug addict. She is most likely bi-polar. She is a sex-addict who enjoys trying to turn h...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I usually enjoy reading memoirs but I found this one to be so tedious. I'm actually amazed I finished the book. Sonnenberg's memoir is about growing up with her drug-addicted and promiscuous mother, Daphne. Daphne grew up a privileged, well-connected (and there is A LOT of name dropping in the book) spoiled young girl who never quite seems to grow up. Sonnenberg can never trust her mother because she's caught her in so many lies, from pretending to sleep with one of Sonnenberg's boyfriends to ha...more
Jan 06, 2009
Kathleen Hagen
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2008-audio-books,
2008-nonfiction
Her Last Death: a Memoir, by Susanna Sonnenberg. Narrated by the author, produced by Simon and Schuster Audio, and downloaded from audible.com
This is a strange book about the coming of age of Susanna Sonnenberg. She and her sister were raised by a mother who lacked any kind of judgment or maturity, took drugs including coke, and who could never be trusted to provide a mother’s help. Instead, she made up stories to make herself seem exciting, including several where she claimed to have almost die...more
This is a strange book about the coming of age of Susanna Sonnenberg. She and her sister were raised by a mother who lacked any kind of judgment or maturity, took drugs including coke, and who could never be trusted to provide a mother’s help. Instead, she made up stories to make herself seem exciting, including several where she claimed to have almost die...more
Feb 25, 2010
Keleigh
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Keleigh by:
Clif
This is a compulsively readable memoir. The main focus is the writer's relationship with her glamorous, narcissistic, sex-and-drug-addicted mother, and how this bond (rife with violence, intensity and betrayal) reverberated over the course of the author's life and relationships. The writing is straightforward and not too frilly; the story is fascinating and at times shocking, with a raw-edged honesty that resonated with me. Most affecting for me was Sonnenberg's description of her use of sexuali...more
Didnt finish it, don't plan on finishing it, NEXT BOOK :D
Story : So I read up to page 106 and that was more than enough to figure out that I didn't like this book. I couldn't relate to the characters, I didn't feel bad for anyone and I thought it pretty poor written memoir.
Characters : What can I say about the characters...they're not very likable, even if the mom is meant to be unlikable , you still dont really hate her either. She's just a crappy mom but there isn't really that feeling of hat...more
Story : So I read up to page 106 and that was more than enough to figure out that I didn't like this book. I couldn't relate to the characters, I didn't feel bad for anyone and I thought it pretty poor written memoir.
Characters : What can I say about the characters...they're not very likable, even if the mom is meant to be unlikable , you still dont really hate her either. She's just a crappy mom but there isn't really that feeling of hat...more
Enjoyable to say the least.
From dust jacket:
"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 mo...more
From dust jacket:
"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 mo...more
it was OK - Glass Castle was better - I do not know if the author has had enough time to truly heal from the wounds inflicted by her mother - book does demonstate that many of us are lucky to get out alive - due to our parents stuggles which they then pass on - sad - some humor - very real
Susanna decides to not go to her mother's bedside after she's been in a nearly-fatal accident. The bulk of recovery work falls to her sister, who makes the trek to South America to care for their illing mother. Susanna looks like the bad daughter.
But when you've grown up with a cocaine-using, pill-popping, self-absorbed pathological liar for a mother, what can you expect?
Susanna tells the story of the complex, twisted relationship she has with her mother, ranging from moments of complete disgust...more
But when you've grown up with a cocaine-using, pill-popping, self-absorbed pathological liar for a mother, what can you expect?
Susanna tells the story of the complex, twisted relationship she has with her mother, ranging from moments of complete disgust...more
I often find myself noticing themes and connections between books that I read close to each other. Recently, I went through an inadvertent “teenage girls having inappropriate relations with older men”- phase. I wasn’t seeking out books on this topic on purpose…it just happened. One of those books was Nabakov’s novel Laughter in the Dark and the other one was the memoir Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg.
In her memoir, Sonnenberg recounts her life from her childhood through adulthood, focusing...more
In her memoir, Sonnenberg recounts her life from her childhood through adulthood, focusing...more
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May 07, 2008 03:38pm
Nov 21, 2008 07:37am