Girlbomb

Sep 12, 2008 Rachel rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one.

Shelves: memoir-esque, own-it, library-check-out

One of the reviews of this book on the back cover has something to do with "You can't help but pull for Janice throughout this book" or something.

It has something to do with rooting for the author.

I disagree. I feel bad for Janice at the beginning of the book because she genuinely feels unwanted and blah blah blah.

And then she starts sleeping with a bunch of guys and doing a bunch of drugs and drinking a bunch of booze and just totally slips down this huge spiral of self-destructive behaviors.

I...more

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Jun 28, 2007 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-300

This book was recommended to me by a librarian I work with and I it took me awhile to really get into it but once I got through the fisr 50 pages I enjoyed it a lot.

It's the story of a girl who walked out on her mother when she was fifteen and lived in halfway houses for a year and a half (or so). The book is a memior so it's very raw. Janice had a lot of problems with drug abuse and she was very free sexually. Her friends stabbed her in the back but she wasn't the best friend either; she had l...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Kelsi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Erlbaum has a way of putting you into situations that make you completely uncomfortable. You'll live vicariously through Janice and you will hate every second of it. Her horrific anecdotes will literally make your bones ache with remorse.

Told in a series of different sections, each section poses itself to a different reader. If you have ever gone through anything bad in your life you'll be able to relate to Janice. From being halfway homeless, to drugs, promiscuity, and even hopeless displays of...more

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Feb 01, 2011 Very rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, borrowed, nyc, true-story, xx, city-girls, screwy-teenagers

Long story short: Drugs are fun to do, but boring as hell to read about.

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Sep 01, 2012 Crystal rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one

I am not sure why I picked this book out of all the elibrary books I could have picked. Perhaps because I was in a hurry and the premise seemed interesting. Even now, after finishing it, I am not quite sure how I feel about it.

The writing was awful, but it was easy to read and didn't require much thinking on my part which is nice sometimes after reading a lot of "heavy" material. The beginning of the book was interesting, how she was in a terrible situation at home, how she survived in a group h...more I am not sure why I picked this book out of all the elibrary books I could have picked. Perhaps because I was in a hurry and the premise seemed interesting. Even now, after finishing it, I am not quite sure how I feel about it.

The writing was awful, but it was easy to read and didn't require much thinking on my part which is nice sometimes after reading a lot of "heavy" material. The beginning of the book was interesting, how she was in a terrible situation at home, how she survived in a group home, how you were pulling for her to succeed. At first, I thought that this would be an inspirational, atta-girl book. It kept me hanging on until about halfway through for that.

Then something changed. Suddenly, it lost all substance and meaning and I lost my connection with the author/character. It was now about how many sexual conquests she could attain with random men that she didn't even care about. She betrays those closest to her without even feeling a hint of remorse, other than being upset that she was caught in her own game several times. She cheats, lies, and steals from others and never really explains her actions, she simply moves on, upset only for a little while that things didn't go her way. She also gets herself involved in illegal drug after drug after even more dangerous drug, and even after some close calls, she never really quits that lifestyle, she never really learns from her mistakes. The latter half of the book is simply a drug-hazed orgy.

After betraying friends and someone she genuinely cares about, I lost interest in her as a character. Not that I cared about her friends in the first place. The other people she describes in her book as "friends" or "lovers" are at best, one-dimensional. The latter half of the book had me hoping she would fail and fall flat on her face and maybe learn something. It made me dislike her and no longer want to pull for her. I wanted her to lose everything and when bad things did happen, it just felt like she was getting what she deserved.

...But in the end I still ended up giving this 2 stars. Why? Because I kept reading it and finished it in just a few nights. It was like watching a train wreck, I simply couldn't look away or maybe I just wanted it to be over. The writing was visceral and raw. I wanted to see how much worse this ride would get. I wanted to genuinely like it from the beginning, but now, of course, the ending (or lack of one) made me feel that I wasted my time, even if it did keep me entertained for a while

So, in the end, would I reccomend it? No, probably not. It isn't a great work of fiction and there are better pick up, tune out, and throw-away stories out there that you could read. In the end, it just wasn't very satisfying and I am glad I got it from the library, rather than buying it myself.
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Sep 03, 2011 Paulina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Paulina by: School Assignment

It’s a mixture of frustration towards her recent stepfather, Dave, and disappointment in her mother as she takes him back yet again that 15 year old Janice decides to walk away from home. From that moment on, Janice’s life changes completely. She has to face the cruelty of the world on her own, unable to rely on anyone but herself. But Janice is determined to live it up on her own terms, hanging out with her two-faced friends at parties and clubs, doing a variety of different drugs, and experime...more It’s a mixture of frustration towards her recent stepfather, Dave, and disappointment in her mother as she takes him back yet again that 15 year old Janice decides to walk away from home. From that moment on, Janice’s life changes completely. She has to face the cruelty of the world on her own, unable to rely on anyone but herself. But Janice is determined to live it up on her own terms, hanging out with her two-faced friends at parties and clubs, doing a variety of different drugs, and experimenting with guys who seem to never fully satisfy her. Soon enough, the lifestyle she’s upholding fails her, as her roommate at the group shelter she’s currently in backstabs her and puts in danger of having to find someplace else to go, and her mother keeps asking for Janice to come back home, where she belongs. Now Janice is stuck unsure of what to do, and whether or not it’s safe to go back home is the question that seems to bug Janice more than anything else. Maybe running away was an easy task, but actually figuring out life came out to be the hardest task Janice had to face in the long run.

Girlbomb is the type of book that will leave you unsure of what will happen next. Janice’s story in the end leaves you feeling glad you’re not her, seeing as how she goes through her own share of difficulties. In retrospect, her story proves to me that life on your own will never be easy. Whether that means you stayed or left home like Janice, finding your own place out there in the world isn’t very simple. I feel as if Janice is that very example of a person who decides to do everything they want when not under supervision. She’s with her friends, Alice and Hope, most of the time, telling her mom she’d be “sleeping at Alice’s” even though she’s really actually going to clubs and doing drugs (Erlbaum, 158). She has sex with all these other guys, and there comes a point in the book where the reader is left wondering, how much more irresponsible is Janice trying to be?

The author does a phenomenal job of going back and sharing her story to the readers. I feel like Janice didn’t want to take out too many details out of her story, and the point of Girlbomb isn’t to shed an entirely positive light on Janice herself. I think that’s what makes this memoir so great, that you come to know Janice as a real person; you have points in the book where you love her, hate her, or fear for her even. Janice’s story is not about persevering, or about succeeding in this huge way. It’s more about her making it on her own. That’s why I feel like the author really knew how to tell her story. She didn’t use the same techniques over and over, but actually found a way to pull in the readers and make her story worth telling. Her characters just add to the overall story; I myself was drawn to Sebastian in the end, feeling sympathetic for him when his relationship with Janice came crumbling down. It’s so obvious that Sebastian was an important person in Janice’s life, and part of the reason why she made so many mistakes along the way. Having characters like him really made Janice’s story feel more real.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. Girlbomb really attracts the reader in more than one way, and the characters are each so compelling that it’s so hard to put down the book once you get started. This is a book about choices, and the effect that they have on you. There’s enough drama to appeal to any audience; Janice’s story teaches an important lesson about figuring yourself out and distinguishing between what’s right and wrong. And most importantly, it teaches the reader that walking away isn’t always the right choice. Overall, this book gives us an inside look at the life of a person who doesn’t pertain to the rules very often. Who doesn’t like that? ;)

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Jun 27, 2011 Sarah Apsey-Barres rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: autobiography, fiction, young-adult

Wow - I was completely blown away by this memoir. This is one of my favorite books. I had no idea what to expect when I picked it up. I got it at work from someone who was getting rid of some books and she just laid them out as a first come, first served style of giving them away.

I don't remember the date I began reading it; it was April 2011? May 2011? I don't remember. Regardless I thoroughly enjoyed reading this - it turned out to be a great story, the kind of story that, afterwards, I came...more

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Aug 08, 2010 Stephanie Gallegos rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Book, Girlbomb by Janice Erlbaum, is about a lost and confused girl on a journey to find happiness. She lives in an abusive home, her mother, taking crap from a man that does not deserve her, yet doesn't do anything to better her life. Janice talks to us about how she doesn't want that life anymore, and runs away. She moves into a shelter where she tries bettering her life, yet her life takes a few wrong turns. She comes to consume drugs to blind her from what her world has become and goes...more

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Aug 08, 2010 Amalia M. Villegas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Earlbaum, is about a young girl who takes the decision of leaving her mother’s apartment, trying to find a better place other than the one she calls “home”. When her mother chooses to vacillate between her abusive boyfriend and what’s best for her and her two children, Janice decides to move out of the house. She finds herself living in a shelter with other troubled girls, many of which do not seem to like Janice. From the shelter she moves to a grou...more Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Earlbaum, is about a young girl who takes the decision of leaving her mother’s apartment, trying to find a better place other than the one she calls “home”. When her mother chooses to vacillate between her abusive boyfriend and what’s best for her and her two children, Janice decides to move out of the house. She finds herself living in a shelter with other troubled girls, many of which do not seem to like Janice. From the shelter she moves to a group home, where she too finds some unpleasant experiences.

During her “halfway homeless” experience, Janice finds herself confused about love, as well as trusting the people in her life. Janice meets a few guys during this time; although she seems to be growing up a bit too fast when it comes to relationships. Meanwhile, her mother attempts to get her to come back home. She succeeds. Janice ends up right where she had started, not quite relieved from the past. Janice leaves once again and moves in with her new boyfriend.

Girlbomb is overall an amazing book. There would be many times when I would feel as if Janice were some girl in my third period. At my age, I have come across many young girls who continuously swim in confusion and who don’t always choose to make the right decisions. Although I have never exposed myself to an abusive stepfather, drugs, or friends that serve as bad influences, I was able to find a connection with Janice one way or another. I feel that the books that present you with a character that you can relate to are the good ones.

It was a book that had me turning pages, wishing that I had Janice’s number to call her and give her someone to talk to. Earlbaum never ceased to amaze me with the many things that Janice experiences while living on her own. A detail in the story that I found very appealing was the fact that Earlbaum included her talent in drama. It’s a little aspect of the story that took Janice away from her every day mistakes and struggles and symbolized the idea of worth. The description used to help the reader get inside of Janice’s thoughts and feelings was also very captivating.

I definitely recommend this book to all young girls who may be having a hard time, or that just appreciate hearing other women’s personal experiences. It touches all the subjects of struggle, decision making, family, and love. It’s a perfect book for discussions among women.
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Aug 08, 2010 Erika Sanchez rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is about a teenager who has to go through a hard time with her family specially with her mother. Her mother gets boyfriends that abuse her and Janice who is the main character has to see that.For that reason she decides to leave her own home for a shelter her mother didn't do anything to stop and let her leave that easily. Her so called "friends" were never there for her.When they needed something from her Janice would always lend them a hand but in the other hand when Janice asked th...more

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Jul 22, 2010 Juston Daniels rated it 3 of 5 stars

Girlbomb is a true story about Janice Erlbaum who has bad family life. Her mother keeps telling her she's going to get out of the relationship but she always goes back. But one day Janice decides to leave and to check in to a shelter. She constantly does drugs and at one point it almost takes her life. And finally her mom comes around and she moves back for a few months and eventually moves out with her boyfriend Sebastien.

In my opinion it is a great book. Her struggles and pains are enormous sh...more Girlbomb is a true story about Janice Erlbaum who has bad family life. Her mother keeps telling her she's going to get out of the relationship but she always goes back. But one day Janice decides to leave and to check in to a shelter. She constantly does drugs and at one point it almost takes her life. And finally her mom comes around and she moves back for a few months and eventually moves out with her boyfriend Sebastien.

In my opinion it is a great book. Her struggles and pains are enormous she had to share rooms with a person who drived to stab her to death. She had roomates that threatend to beat her up or to exploide her if she didn't take them places. The most intersting fact about her is her friends. They are the most treacherous people you could ever meet. They only wanted her because the had connections to the best drug dealers. When she got kicked out her sapposely best friend would not even offer her a place to stay but when her best friends friend needs a place to stay she automatically askes her to come to her place. When Alice and Hope plan to go to college out of state they exclude Jan out of it. And one of the Boyses that she has been in love with forever doesn't even notice her until she finally gets a stable relationship with Sebastian. I think Jan could have had a way better selection of friend that did not use her for their benifits.I also think that Jan exploides her tallents. She ends up being great in drama and it even kept her from drugs and being dependant on a man. When she started writing she would sometimes put it down to go hang with her friends I believe this is because she only wanted to fit in. she admited that she hated drinking and occasionlay she puked but that didnt stop her from doing it.

I recomend this book. Alot happens that you wouldn't think occur in the 80's. It also makes you wonder if you were in a abusive household what is the smartest deciousion to make. And it shows you that no matter what when your friends aren't there you parents will always be there for you.(less)

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Jul 08, 2010 Tiffani Obregon rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book girlbombomb:a halfway homeless memior is a great book that had been brought to my attention when a fifteen year old girl that moves out of the apartment to try to get away from her mother's abusive boyfriend. Janice the fifteen yr old was a girl that had went to a shelter for girls like us that are pregnant and are different races explain to us the experiences that happened at the shelter was shared in this book. Girls trying to beat her when she waked and go against her color skin. Wh...more

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Jan 14, 2010 Tyinnia Jenkins rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tyinnia Jenkins
January 14, 2010
Book review

The book “Girl Bomb” containing a fifteen year old girl sick of her unbearable and increasingly dangerous life. Girl bomb is such an example for young female that feels as if they don’t have anything or anyone.

The family in addition Jan was her mother Barb Rosen and her mother’s abusive boyfriend. Dave wished that she could find her a steady home (life style).

The book is an example because it shows how the streets life is and how it affects a child’s lif...more

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Jun 24, 2009 Meryl rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of M. Night Shyamalan (see review)

The reason I bought this book was because there was pink fishnet on the cover and I thought that it was cool because I happen to like fishnets. And I read the back of the book, just like anyone would do, and was surprised to find it would be a runaway/drugs/teenage girl story, and it was all true! I figured that because of the pink fishnets it would be about some rebellious teenage girl with the influence of the Sex Pistols and other punk bands in her life.
Whatever. I was at Target and hadn't re...more The reason I bought this book was because there was pink fishnet on the cover and I thought that it was cool because I happen to like fishnets. And I read the back of the book, just like anyone would do, and was surprised to find it would be a runaway/drugs/teenage girl story, and it was all true! I figured that because of the pink fishnets it would be about some rebellious teenage girl with the influence of the Sex Pistols and other punk bands in her life.
Whatever. I was at Target and hadn't read anything in a while, so I bought it.

Upon reading the first chapter or so that night, bent up in my bed, I found that the story was captivating. "Wow, this girl actually packed up a few things and left home." I liked her description of the streets and the dark and what had happened years before with her mother and these boyfriends. (Yay, problems!!!) Yadda yadda yadda.

So I kept reading, every chance I got just like I would with any other book. I kept going and was intrigued by an authentic story of halfway homes and those wild teen girls that stay there. It was rather sleazy, too, but not like "Britney is SUCH a slut". More like, dirty and raw. Edgy, if you will. I liked it. LIKED the way it was told. Janice was growing up and in high school and all that, and suddenly BANG! drugs are involved, which I kind of like reading about: it's an alternative to getting high. (Drug virgin? Read about them first!) And drug stories always have that addiction to keep reading, not actually DO drugs (sometimes. See "Crank".) because of how quick the story will go along and how the protagonist is still going on with her life and there's that little bell in the back of BOTH of your minds, of wanting to get back to the BAD part of the story, which, in this case, is drugs.

So "Girlbomb" was going along and come the final chapter or so everything just comes crashing down. And it's unexpected as if jogging and all the sudden you trip and falldowngoboom and you have a bloody knee or two. I am not sure what happened but everything just stopped. Not the story, no, it wasn't over, but the whole thing just got ...REALLY uninteresting. So dull and "When is this lady gonna shut UP?!". Kind of like this review, but I've been meaning to write a revew on this book so now I am. And anyway, the book got dumb. It was going along great and being a pull-you-in type of thing but it stopped being that way and just plain out sucked. Like an M. Night Shyamalan movie. It lost it's OOMPH! and stuff.

What should I say, the book was good? Well, it was, up until the last chapter or two. I wish it hadn't done that because then this book coulda gotten four or even five stars from me, but it wasn't all that great all the way through. So I say, "Read it, but expect to be disappointed at the end!!!"(less)

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May 11, 2009 Indra rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read Erlbaum's second memoir, "Have You Found Her", first...part of me wishes I'd read this one first, but it works either way. While "Have You Found Her" is slightly better, "Girlbomb" is very good as well. I related to it more than a little, as I'm sure many readers will. Really captures the late teens, particularly when in a situation like hers...looking for a place to belong, looking for a guy to love, trying to make sense of her place in the world, feeling different from her friends (who...more

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Nov 04, 2009 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir

I found this book oddly compelling (and I read it in one fell swoop working the election), despite the fact that basically everyone else involved in this story besides the heroine (and sometimes even her) I wanted to shake, slap, or yell at. Huh. This book promotes violence!

Janice has had enough of her mother's new husband, and abusive bully. At 15, she decides she's had enough and leaves, moving to a horrifying halfway house for 6 weeks, and then an even more horrifying (in different ways) for...more I found this book oddly compelling (and I read it in one fell swoop working the election), despite the fact that basically everyone else involved in this story besides the heroine (and sometimes even her) I wanted to shake, slap, or yell at. Huh. This book promotes violence!

Janice has had enough of her mother's new husband, and abusive bully. At 15, she decides she's had enough and leaves, moving to a horrifying halfway house for 6 weeks, and then an even more horrifying (in different ways) for 1 year and a half until her mother realizes what an idiot she is with men, divorces her loser husband, and brings Janice back home. Then Janice spends the rest of her high school days doing drugs with her circle of friends while her mother blithely ignores what's going on.

The descriptions of her life in the shelter and then the Group home are suitably horrific (who wants to be almost stabbed by an angry pregnant black teenager? Or threatened with Detention where they shave your head if you get mad in group therapy or miss curfew?

Mostly this book horrified me if I ever had teenage girls and they ended up friends with janice. Her mother, a successful small business woman despite being a high school dropout, does not seem overly concerned with the fact that Janice is doing every drug imaginable, having sex with everyone in her small circle of friends, and cutting classes. I really couldn't get the hang of her mother...she's co-dependent on these losers, but then she's not, but then she's supportive of Janice except not really present, but then...i had no clue. Even after they reconcile, she just seems...absent. The fact that Janice, now almost 40, never got pregnant or had a disease (that she mentions) from her high school exploits is incredible. It's amazing she didn't die of a coke overdose. Really, she just wants love, and when she finally finds it with a nice (although drug-connected) older guy, she tosses it away, simply because she doesn't think she's good enough to keep it.

Erlbaum is fairly sympathetic and pretty self-aware...when she's being an overly dramatic narcissist, she admits it. My biggest complaint was the last section of the book, involving her constant partying. Her circle of friends are...awful. Who would want to spend time with them? It was like Less Than Zero ALL THE TIME. Her two best friends, Hope and Alice, are fairly interchangeable, mostly unsympathetic, and unpleasant. They're those girls that when you're older you wonder why you ever spent time with them...they're awful. And there's a guy she pines for, who blatantly uses her than dumps her, then finds he's hopelessly in love with her when she's with someone else. Yuck. Run, Janice, run!

I don't know that i want to spend more time with Erlbaum, but she was interesting. But I'm glad I can't relate to any of her high school experiences!(less)

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Aug 08, 2010 Brenda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Janice is a runaway teenager who is search of a better life. She encounters various challenges along the way like sex and drugs. Drugs become a major role in her life that she consumes them constantly. From the momet she wakes up until she is getting ready to go to sleep. Janice grew up in a house where her parents had arguments and false promises for her. She believed her mother would be brave enough one day to leave that man, but the day never came for her. She decide to go to a nearby shelte...more

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Mar 03, 2009 Caitlin Constantine rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book inspired the same kind of visceral reaction I felt while reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - namely, all of the drug use made me feel like I was going to hurl. I remember those days and how shitty I felt all the time, and it made me think about that.

Aside from the puke-y feeling it inspired, I enjoyed reading it, as much as one can enjoy reading books about women and girls who are seemingly bent on self-destruction. I can see why it's a big hit with the Bust-and-zines crowd though...more

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Jan 28, 2009 Erin rated it 3 of 5 stars

What a life this woman had as a teenager. Although I can't relate to anything she has gone through (which is for the best), I still found the book interesting. So much drugs, sex and craziness, I'm glad to see she made it through alive (barely at times!). She must be doing well today (since she wrote this memoir and works with homeless teenagers now).

Thanks Morgan for letting me borrow it!

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Jan 30, 2009 Renee rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this after "Have You Found Her" by the same author. It's a quick read, the author's account of her years as a teenage runaway. For those of us who still cringe at memories of high school -trying to be popular, illicit drug use, and hooking up with guys we didn't care for may want to skip this book. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable way to spend a snow day.

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Mar 14, 2011 Jaclyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: addiction, memoir

I enjoyed this memoir although I found the subtitle "A Halfway Homeless Memoir" slightly misleading. I should have paid closer attention to the "halfway" as much of the story does not revolve around her time away from home. What I found most appealing about this book was the level of honesty Erlbaum displays in her reflections on her youth. She doesn't try to paint herself as a victim despite circumstances in which she certainly could have. She acknowledges that some of her problems stemmed not...more

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Apr 09, 2010 Celestasaurus rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Celestasaurus by: Mrs. Henson

Shelves: young-adult

If I had to choose one word to sum up this novel, wow would do the trick. And to think this is a memoir, a true story. Janice Erlbaum dealt with abuse, drugs, and casual sex, and somehow survived it in the end. She was in a constant state of paranoia and self-hatred. Her life was a roller coaster of events--some taking her high, on-top-of-the-world high; others bringing her so low, leaving her seriously depressed or near death. But she kept living her life the way she was, partying often and exp...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Allison rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, not-worth-the-paper, memoiries-nonfict-and-essays, 2012

I just wasn't impressed with the writing or with the "horrible" things that happened to her.

If I want to read about how wild and crazy drug users are, I can think of at least six books I'd rather read.

If I desire to relate to some young girl whose mom sucks and whose step-dad is an a-hole, I would rather read Push by Sapphire. That would shut Erlbaum the hell up (and pretty much anyone on the face of this earth). Yes I know, it wasn't real, but it is a reality nonetheless. And it burned me to my...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Alison rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reading-challenge

On paper, girbomb sounds like it would hit all the marks for a Juliette-Lewis loving recovering girl punk who fetishizes both the late 80//early 90s, particularly in NYC (I count myself in this characterization as well as many others I know.) in reality I just felt Janice sounded like a bit of an asshole, especially when you heard about the sad stories, anger and misery faced by many of the other women in the shelter system and group home she stayed in.
As much as her home situation maybe wasn't...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Val Wilkerson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books-read

A memoir Janice wrote about her teenage life. She left home at
the age of 15, because her mother had a jerk boyfriend, actually
she married him & had a kid with him, who she could not give up.
He made life miserable around the house so Janice left. She ended
up living at shelters, then a group home. She did more then her share
of exploring drugs and booze while still managing to stay in high
school. While reading this I suddenly realized that usually when I
think of kids running away from home I pu...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Monet rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

the semi-homeless version of "girl interrupted." no lessons learned here! in the very beginning i thought this was going to be a promising book of trial and triumph of a young girl dealing w/a dysfunctional household. how quickly things spiraled... a bratty, narcissistic (borderline schizophrenic) teenage girl doesnt address a SINGLE thing! instead she runs away each and every time whether she's literally running away or taking a plethora of drugs to escape reality... and tops everything off w/c...more

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Jul 21, 2010 Jazmin Valencia rated it 4 of 5 stars

How many bad things can happen in such a beautiful day. At age fifteen Janice runs away from home not knowing where to go and wondering where she is gonna spend the rest of her life. She ends up going in a shelter trying to survive where there are a lot of girls with problems just like her and worse. She gets beaten up and nearly stabbed by another girl. As Janice get use to being in the street life, she continous to go to school. She also go to clubs, drinks, and hits hard on drugs. She hangs o...more

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Jan 07, 2010 Storm added it

My first glance at this book it seemed exciting and had a catchy plot. Defiantly a book I wanted to dig my nose into. The first 20 pages were easy to get through; I learned Janice's character and what she was all about. However getting towards the middle it was dry and I had to push myself to focus on the events taking place. After I reached that hump though, I was greatly rewarded with a page turning experience. I was hooked and the ending surprised me. She didn't last with any of her true love...more

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Aug 10, 2010 Jamila rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-top-favorite-books-of-all-time

"Girlbomb" is a memoir in which Janice Erlbaum takes you into her adolescence spent on the streets, shelters, group homes, and apartments in NYC during the 80s. Her childhood consisted of a revolving door of loser husbands for her mother. Her mother never showed any restraint with these men kicking them out and letting them back in time and again but its Janice that suffered the most. When her mother comes across another man that gets her pregnant, uses, threatens and abuses Janice finally walks...more

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Jun 03, 2009 Leslie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Erlbaum's gritty memoir of her high school years belongs to the same genre as Piece of Cake, A Million Little Pieces (assuming hers is true and not "enhanced"), and so on. Gritty, deeply depressing, Erlbaum's prose is vivid enough to leave the reader feeling hungover and strung out along with her. Unfortunately, the endless waves of description of drugs, sex, and a small dose of rock'n'roll leave the reader wondering if the experience was worth it. Erlbaum offers glimpses that the unending tide...more

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Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir

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Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir

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