pickThis book is a rightfully difficult read. Liz is a survivor of the troubled teen industry, places in the US “unruly” teens are sent to be “saved”. She suffered horrific abuse at the hands of a family member prior to being sent away, but things got much worse after she arrived. She details her time there as well as her efforts afterwards to help fellow survivors. She‘s no angel, but seeing, believing, and helping these survivors is essential!
Megabooks Honestly, I don‘t think I‘ve read a more difficult book this year. All the TWs for anything bad that can happen to a child. 103 people she knows from her “program” have committed suicide because they couldn‘t deal with the demons from their time there, including her best friend. This book will break your heart, but it‘s such an important read! 1y
squirrelbrain Wow, that sounds like a really tough read, but interesting nonetheless. 1y
Cinfhen I want to read this but I REALLY don‘t want to! It sounds wayyyy too horrific💔💔💔 (edited) 1y
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TrishB Yeah I definitely don‘t want to read it! 1y
Suet624 Heartbreaking. Don‘t know that I could handle this, but thank you for taking it on. 1y
Megabooks @squirrelbrain quite interesting. I think there would have been other times I couldn‘t have gotten through it, but I‘m really glad I read it. 1y
Megabooks @Cinfhen it was pretty horrific. I think it‘s one of those things you have to stand and witness though. Or at least some of us (humans) who have not been through it do. I‘m just glad to be able to amplify her voice and story. 1y
Megabooks @TrishB fair enough. It‘s not for everyone! (edited) 1y
Megabooks @Suet624 truly is! Kind of like what I said to Cindy above. I really felt the need to witness her pain. I had watched a few too many of those talk shows where they send teens to these places. As I started to read more about trauma theory, I came to understand a lot of those teens have been through something that they don‘t have the words to or feel safe enough to express, and these places make their situation so much worse. 1y
Suet624 Yes, I‘m familiar with these stories too. I actually pleaded with a local mom not to send her son to one of these camps to no avail. It broke me that I couldn‘t make a difference in that situation. 1y
willaful I read a David Sedaris book recently, in which he talked about his sister being sent to one of these camps. She, like many others, took her own life. 1y
Chelsea.Poole I‘m not familiar with this title…but there are so many of these survivor stories being published. Of course, Paris Hilton‘s memoir and I just read this one![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png)
The Elissas: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia (edited) 1y
The Elissas: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of SuburbiaChelsea.Poole And there‘sStolen: A Memoir 1y
Stolen: A MemoirMegabooks @Suet624 I‘m glad you tried, but I‘m sorry you weren‘t successful. It‘s hard to reason when parents feel that desperate for help and these companies just get their hooks in the parents that their way is the only way the kid will survive/improve. 1y
Megabooks @willaful I‘ve read all of David‘s books multiple times, and in them, he expresses this disconnect between Tiffany and the other sibs. I remember in one essay when she was still alive, he expressed a “the past should be the past” mentality towards her pain over this. I don‘t know what all she was troubled by, but I hope he comes across these survivor books, so he can understand what role that going there as a teen may have played in her suicide. 1y
Megabooks @Chelsea.Poole I enjoyed Paris‘ memoir, too, and stacked Stolen when you recommended it before. I just need to get to it! Thank you! 1y