For fans of The Glass Castle and Educated, comes mystery author Toby Neal’s personal story of surviving a wild childhood in paradise.
We never call it homeless. We’re just “camping” in the jungle on Kauai…
We live in a place everyone calls paradise. Sure, Kauai’s beautiful, with empty beaches, drip-castle mountains, and perfect surf…but we’ve been “camping” for six months, eating boiled … surf…but we’ve been “camping” for six months, eating boiled chicken feed for breakfast, and wearing camouflage clothes so no one sees us trespassing in our jungle hideout. The cockroaches leave rainbow colors all over everything from eating the crayons we left outside the tent, and now a tractor is coming to scrape our camp into the river.
Standing in front of the tent in my nightgown, clinging to my sister as we face the tractor, I know my own truth: I just want to be normal.
But Mom and Pop are addicted.
Addicted to Kauai’s beauty, to drugs, to surfing, to living a life according to their own rules out from under their high-achieving parents’ judgmental eyes. I’m just their red-headed, mouthy, oldest kid. What I want doesn’t matter.
But I’m smart. I will make a different life for myself someday if I keep up my grades no matter what happens.
No matter how often we run out of food.
No matter how many times I change schools…or don’t go to school at all.
No matter how many bullies beat me up for the color of my skin.
I might be growing up wild in Hawaii, but I have dreams I’m going to reach, no matter how crazy things get.
“An affecting and riveting chronicle of a singular childhood that evokes the contradictions of hippie utopian ideals in an unspoiled Hawaiian landscape long since lost.” ~Kirkus Reviews
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Autobiographical account of a childhood growing up living on the fringes of society with parents living the surf culture in Hawaii and California. Toby Neal brings the simplicity and worries of a childhood full of challenges and the burdens of being a constant outsider and regularly rootless for most of her youth. This will open your eyes to the hidden homeless lifestyle and not so idyllic parts of Hawaii.
Memoir of a child of hippy surfer parents in the 70’s growing up in Hawaii. Some great reading here, folks!
I was given an advance copy of this book by the author. Here are just a few of my feelings and thoughts:
This story really got to me on a personal level. My family, with 3 daughters right at Toby’s age, moved to Hawaii in 1968, so our life paralleled hers in many ways. We knew how it felt to be in the minority, something I’ve been truly grateful for as we’ve lived the rest of our lives. Although we didn’t go through the bullying and hardships as Ms. Neal did, her story brought back memories of what it means to be a part of the Hawai’ian culture – on many levels. I know some parts of this story were hard for Toby to write about, but I can only think it was a sort of cleansing exercise for her. She writes about some things that I would hesitate to even put in a personal journal, but has tenderly and vividly put out there for us, as readers, can certainly reflect on and learn from the lessons that life has given us. Her life story is full of strength, conviction in believing oneself, making dreams come true. I’m in awe at her determination to rise above a situation that many would find impossible, to continue to be her best self, and to put it all out into the world, for everyone to see. NO! For everyone to learn from, to draw on our own strengths, to continue to believe in ourselves. Thank you, Toby Neal!
This book is a stand out. I’ve read many of Toby Neal’s fiction books and was delighted she wrote this non-fiction book about growing up in Hawaii. As with her other books, the writing is just plain excellent. Her childhood years will resonate on some level with almost everyone and compel you to join her painful and joyful youth. I simply couldn’t put this down. Non-fiction beats fiction most of the time! Read it – don’t miss out. Thank you to the author for sharing this and being willing to expose your pain, grief, and joy. You had to work so hard to arrive where you are today.
A Classic Example of What a Memoir should be
A memoir is one of the hardest genres to write, especially if most of the characters in the book are still alive. As the author you only have a thin line to walk between not stepping on people’s toes and telling a truthful and unflattering story. With every word you are aware that it’s just your perspective and possibly not what the other people involved have experienced. Apart from that, you are confronting yourself with your own life, its many hardships and its few triumphs. This is not a genre for the weak at heart.
With Freckled Toby Neil has shown that she holds the Master Pen. What I admire most in Freckled is how Toby expands from writing through the eyes of a four-year-old to that of a young adult. It requires a many-layered skill to be able to write with such precision and I’m in absolute awe of her mastery. I wholeheartedly believe Freckled belongs in the category of sublime literary non-fiction. It’s a unique book, about a unique place, in a unique time, written by a unique woman.
Freckled ties you to the page: it opens your eyes to the green lush, the golden beaches and the Surfers Paradise in Hawaii in the 1960s and 70s and then it does no less than totally break your heart. Here is a girl in Paradise who’s dealt a crappy hand of cards: no stability, constant moving, responsibility way beyond her age, child labor, lack of schooling, and emotional and physical neglect. Although there are sparks of love, she basically lacks everything that every child should have a right to. But this resilient, headstrong girl is never a loser, she’s made of the stuff of real heroines. You feel yourself cheering her on on every page and hoping she will be able to create her life in her rebellion to be normal?
Will she reach her goal? You’d better find out the answer to that yourself by reading Freckled.
I highly recommend Toby Neil’s Freckled to everyone but especially to people who are struggling in their lives right now and who need a beacon of hope. They will find just that in this heart-touching memoir.
Neal does an incredible job of helping us see her wild-in-Hawaii upbringing through the eyes of a child. I could feel how much she loved her freedom and the beauty of Hawaii–and yet there was always a scary edge to her life that she didn’t question for a long time. In fact, she blames herself for the explosive mood-swings of her alcoholic/pot-addicted parents who on the one hand clearly love her and her sisters, and on the other hand cannot provide physcial and emotional security for the family.
Toby gains hope through books, art, connections to animals and nature, and education. There are definite parallels to “Educated” and “The Glass Castle.” It was extra fascinating for me to read this book on Maui, since this is where Neal now lives, and to be soon headed to Kauai, which is where most of the book takes place during the 1970s and 1980s.
I got so invested in her life and that of some of the other characters that I wished at the end to learn more. I hope she writes the next chapters in another memoir.
A wonderful, unvarnished autobiography of growing up in Hawaii in the mid 1960’s through the 1980s, told from the growing child’s viewpoint. She is an intelligent, questioning child searching for acceptance, happiness, and security. Her honest observations about herself and those around her show her growing insight about herself and her family. Highly recommended.
Dysfunction through the eyes of a child…
This book recounts the author’s memories of instability in growing up with emotionally immature parents in unstable environments on the islands of Hawaii.
Beautifully written in a matter of fact manner as though the reader is seeing it all as it is happening in real time. Although the facts are presented to the reader, the narrative is not dry, dull, or boring. There is a definitive story being told throughout.
I love that through all the setbacks she faces, the author never gives up. She keeps pursuing her dreams. I also love how the author was able to present everything to us without taking sides one way or the other. Both sides have flaws and the author is unbiased on this point. She presents us with a story in a way that lets us make our own decisions on the matter.
I have never been to Hawaii myself. The closest I’ve come are the beaches of California. Most people talk of it as a paradise but, for this author, it was not a dreamy paradise that’s so many people describe. For this author Hawaii was full of trials and tribulations that she had to overcome and get past in order to live the life that she so desperately wanted. Just such an amazing story.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes reading memoirs.
I’m a memoir junkie, and this one grabbed me from the start and didn’t let me go. One not to miss.
I loved this memoir of author T.W. Neal! Beautifully told. At times, heart-wrenching. But always poignantly truthful. I am in awe of Toby’s resilience and determination to make a normal life for herself. So inspiring.
This book provided an insight into how some families in warmer climates lived back in the late 60s-70s (especially in Hawaii). Some families that seem dysfunctional (if not abusive) by current standards actually instilled some good values in their offspring – self-sufficiency, respect for nature, responsibility – that served them well throughout their lives. I’m loathe to place judgement on these parents; they gave their children a rare gift.
I LOVED the reference to everything Hawaii in this book. I had the fortune to live there for 8 years and this book brought it all back to me from the language to the description of the islands and more. TW Neal did an exceptional job with this one. She laid it all out there, good, bad or otherwise. It could not have been easy to be a child growing up that way, times were hard, but she persisted and made the best of it. Thanks for taking me back to Hawaii with you as I read along! I really enjoyed this read!
As with all Toby Neal Books, this is a winner! Love everything this author writes!!
This is a genuine five star book and you can’t put it down. The writers inspirational youth is generally portraited, where she rises above the hardships of her family’s situation. Her mother and father live a hippy life, suRfing in the wonderful seas of Hawaii., but the idealism of their lives lead to a very difficult life for a young girl, who loves them, but suffers many deprivations. . She eventually goes on to become a well round mother and counselor. It’s easy to read, if a bit harrowing and I am happy to,give it five stars.
Very true of preduce in Hawaii. I live in Hawaii, so it was relevant to me.
Toby Neal has been a favorite author of mine for sometime now. Upon hearing that she was coming out with a memoir, I jumped at the chance to read it even though memoirs aren’t my usual read. I thoroughly enjoyed traversing back in time with Toby as she takes us through her journey growing up in Hawaii. She pulled me into her early life and I connected with her lonely childhood as she strives to try and fit in. I longed for her happiness and my heart broke for the many obstacles she endured. I felt as though had it been another time and place, we could’ve been great friends. As tough as life had been for Toby, she became an amazingly wonderful woman. An example of what love and forgiveness can do if you learn to let go of what haunts you.
Children live in unseen spaces created by contradiction. Freckled is a raw, compelling, and ultimately hopeful memoir of growing up haole on Kauai where the idyllic freedom to surf, climb trees, and play Barbies on the beach runs counterpoint to a reality of homelessness, food insecurity, prejudice, violence, and the need be the adult when parents can’t.
As outrageous as of some of the events may seem to outsiders, I know firsthand of the truth she speaks. A celebration of the best within each of us as well as a witness of both human frailty and resilience, T.W. Neal’s memoir is a must-read.
This book was fabulous even for those of you that don’t usually read memoirs. I loved getting a firsthand look into the life of Toby Neal while she was growing up. I found it absolutely inspiring. Her courage, spunk and love of the outdoors made her into one of the best writers. I loved the glimpses into her childhood from her point of view. It gave me a better understanding of why she writes the way that she does. I think this book is as amazing as the author that wrote it. And I really think that you will love this book even if you aren’t into memoirs. This book is as wonderfully written as all the other fictional books that she writes. You won’t be disappointed if you read it. I know I wasn’t.
Toby Neal is a truly gifted writer and this book may be the greatest example of that. I was taken on an emotional roller coaster while reading Toby’s memoir. There were times my heart just ached for young Toby and I could relate to her in many ways. She ended up inspiring me through her strength and perseverance for a “normal” life. It didn’t matter how many times she had to move, what conditions she lived in, or what she had to endure in her life. She always fought for more.
Thank you for sharing this side of Hawaii with us, and for giving us a glimpse into your childhood.
Toby Neal tells a gipping tale of growing up in less than ideal circumstances. The eldest daughter of parents troubled by substance abuse issues, she had both experiences and responsibilities imposed on her at a very young age. Through it all, she showed a resiliency and a fortitude most people never achieve. This beautiful memoir, told in the first-person voice of the child being recalled, tears at your heart and keeps you cheering for Ms. Neal.