**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** “A Gen-X This Boy’s Life…Music and his fierce brilliance boost Jollett; a visceral urge to leave his background behind propels him to excel… In the end, Jollett shakes off the past to become the captain of his own soul. Hollywood Park is a triumph.” –O, The Oprah Magazine “This moving and profound memoir is for anyone who loves a good redemption …
“This moving and profound memoir is for anyone who loves a good redemption story.”
–Good Morning America, 20 Books We’re Excited for in 2020
“Several years ago, Jollett began writing Hollywood Park, the gripping and brutally honest memoir of his life. Published in the middle of the pandemic, it has gone on to become one of the summer’s most celebrated books and a New York Times best seller…”
-Los Angeles Magazine
HOLLYWOOD PARK is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country’s most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.
We were never young. We were just too afraid of ourselves. No one told us who we were or what we were or where all our parents went. They would arrive like ghosts, visiting us for a morning, an afternoon. They would sit with us or walk around the grounds, to laugh or cry or toss us in the air while we screamed. Then they’d disappear again, for weeks, for months, for years, leaving us alone with our memories and dreams, our questions and confusion. …
So begins Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollett’s remarkable memoir. His story opens in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country’s most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader’s mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult’s “School.” After spending years in what was essentially an orphanage, Mikel escaped the cult one morning with his mother and older brother. But in many ways, life outside Synanon was even harder and more erratic.
In his raw, poetic and powerful voice, Jollett portrays a childhood filled with abject poverty, trauma, emotional abuse, delinquency and the lure of drugs and alcohol. Raised by a clinically depressed mother, tormented by his angry older brother, subjected to the unpredictability of troubled step-fathers and longing for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con, Jollett slowly, often painfully, builds a life that leads him to Stanford University and, eventually, to finding his voice as a writer and musician.
Hollywood Park is told at first through the limited perspective of a child, and then broadens as Jollett begins to understand the world around him. Although Mikel Jollett’s story is filled with heartbreak, it is ultimately an unforgettable portrayal of love at its fiercest and most loyal.
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I had no prior knowledge of Mikel Jollet or his band prior to reading this memoir. He was born into a cult in California. This is the story of his life in and out of the cult.Very well written, heartfelt honest account of his life. Thank you to Celedon Books for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you in advance to the publisher, Celadon Books, for providing a complimentary UNCORRECTED advanced review copy. A positive review was not required. All words are my own.
Some “trigger” or content warnings might include:
* Cult Living
* Heavy Drug Use
* Alcoholism
* Foul and questionable language
* Underage drinking, drug use, and smoking
* Physical Abuse
Anyone who is disturbed by the content should probably avoid this book.
The premise of the book was interesting – a child who was in a cult/commune escapes with his mother and brother, lives in poverty, tries to figure out his role as a son and his mother’s role in his life, and recounts his life experiences as a result of that life – delinquency, living with his father, and making a choice not to head to prison like his father did. This is a brutally honest, jarring memoir with raw and realistic language.
I had never heard of the Indie Band “The Toxic Airborne Event” and I hadn’t I heard of Mikel Jollett prior to reading this either.
Despite being born in the mid-late 1970’s (about two years after the author), I had never heard of Synanon. Nor did I know that at one point the courts referred drug offenders to the group for rehab.
At one point for his movie, THX 1138, George Lucas needed a large group of people with shaved heads, and so he hired some of his extras from Synanon. In addition, for the movie California Split, Director Robert Altman hired members of Synanon to be extras.
There was also the 1965 movie, Synanon, starring Edmond O’Brien as Chuck Dederich, as well as Chuck Connors, Stella Stevens, Richard Conte, Eartha Kitt, and Alex Cord (Airwolf 1984-1987).
In addition; the 1968 season 1, episode 22 [“Delayed Action”] of Mannixx featured Synanon.
Synopsis: “The first clue in a mysterious hit-and-run leads Mannix to a rehab center where discovers that the case is connected to a 20-year-old crime”. [Richard Bull (Night Court), Ned Glass, Walter Koenig (Star Trek), Ronald Long, and Louise Sorel guest star].
Those facts show that this cult was definitely prominent for quite a while.
So, there was a lot about this cult I didn’t even know, and so much that could’ve been explored. What is surprising is the memoir only covers Mikel’s escape from the cult and his life going forward, and is told over four parts:
** Escape
** Oregon
** California (where he goes to live with his dad and “step-mom”)
** Hollywood Park
To be honest, I was very disappointed with the book. And, I say that with a lot of reluctance. I know that memoirs, biographies, auto-biographies are often hit or miss with some people. For those who enjoy memoirs or books of this time, it will not be an easy read. I found it difficult to read and get through. It definitely was not as I thought it would be.
It starts with Mikel’s point of view as a child and a limited perspective of what is going on, which is to be expected. After all a child has a limited vocabulary and sense of the world around them. However, it probably would’ve worked better if he would’ve written it as an adult looking back as a child with “as a child, this was …” rather than writing it as if the child was telling the story.
Some of the other issues with this memoir:
** “That a$$hole Reagan” became like a mantra. We get it, the author and his family were not fans of Reagan or his policies regarding mental health. Since it isn’t a political debate, such criticism can’t be constructive.
** FAR too much dialogue, almost like recounting entire conversations rather than trying to summarize what they were about and in what context they were about or for. It was also like this was a cross between a fiction story and memoir. It became nearly monotonous and boring. Which I am very sorry to say.
** Lack of emphasis on Jollett’s published works before starting the band. Why did he choose the publications he did, why did he choose the topics he wrote abou. Also, why did he choose the major he did in college.
** The lack of a timeline to sort out the events and when they occurred, ie: what year did they leave, when did he move in with his dad, what year was his nephew born? While this is an UNCORRECTED ARC, I believe the inclusion of a timeline would have been beneficial. It might also help the reader identify better to the time period.
Most of the book featured the delinquency between him and his brother, as well the never-ending issues with his narcissistic mother. The reader doesn’t find the true nature of his mother’s “illness” until the very end. I had a feeling there wasn’t something right about her as I was reading it. In addition what was more disturbing was the fact that she was working at a mental hospital and with patients.
His “step-mom”, Bonnie, was at one time one of his “care-takers” at Synanon and due to the nature of the children being taken away from their parents at six (6) months old, Mikel bonded more with Bonnie than he did his own mother. This is understandable. However, despite Bonnie’s involvement in the cult, after her escape, she seemed to fair better mentally than Mikel’s mother did.
Interestingly enough, the kids were spared a custody battle between their parents. Instead, both their mother and father agreed to let the kids live where they thrived. However, Mikel’s mother was closer to him than she was to his older brother. This does cause some issues when Mikel wants to remain with his father and his mother’s behavior grows disturbing, as if it wasn’t already.
It isn’t until around chapter 32 that the story gets a bit more interesting, and seemingly more in-depth. By chapter 35 Jollett’s father starts what I’d call “maturing”. It is clear that after Mikel’s accident something has changed in the dynamic between the two and his father “stepped up”.
In chapter 36 (incidentally where the HOLLYWOOD PARK section begins), Jollett does spend a brief amount of time on the history of the cult. This is as a result of being in college and doing a paper on the psychology of it. But it is only a tiny portion.
So much of the history is left out as I said. And, while this is his memoir, I think the reader could benefit from having more of the history of the cult to truly see how kids like him were affected. Without research, I wouldn’t have been able to figure out what kind of a cult this was. The book wasn’t informative there.
One interesting fact is that Charles Dederich (the head of the cult) was able to utilize the media along with Hollywood associates to promote Synanon. Again, a lot of the cult’s history that could’ve made this a richer memoir was left out. It is understandable if the situation was uncomfortable, but why go this far without going the entire way? It seems like this was supposed to be therapeutic. At least, I would’ve considered it such given how much depth Jollett went to with such vivid conversations at times.
Five chapters later (chapter 41), when Mikel is now in the band – he talks about the tours they’re doing. The reason I mention this is a phrase that is used well over 40 times – “and the next” in reference to the touring. It is repetitious and unnecessary in my opinion. I get it, I am sure other readers get the point – the band toured from town to town (as do MANY in the music industry). I get that it was done for emphasis, but it didn’t need to be done quite so much. To me it looked like there was a push for a word count to be met and that was the only way of meeting it.
This is listed as “The 30 Most Anticipated Books of 2020 (so Far)” by Oprah Magazine, and thankfully I don’t use that as a recommendation tool, so I wasn’t disappointed in that respect.
I feel this could’ve had more of an impact without the foul language, with a more in-depth history of the cult, perhaps more of the psychological trauma and healing, as well as a chronological guide.
I didn’t find it uplifting, inspiring, or even motivational in anyway. It was a depressing read for the most part, and I couldn’t finish it fast enough. It just fell flat for me, and while memoirs are not usually riveting reads – this one was a bit boring. I feel bad that I just couldn’t connect to it.
It had a potential to perhaps tell about the author’s past while being a bit educational. And, it was, a way of trying to understand human behavior – whether or not they were influenced by a cult, criminal parent, or narcissistic parent.
I am sure that fans of the band (or author) might find this an interesting read, as well as those who have or had relatives/friends in a cult; or know of ones in one. Perhaps anyone dealing with a similar scenario might find this interesting.
This is something I probably would recommend as a library read first to test it out or borrow a friend’s copy if the reader is interested. I would highly recommend reading up further on the cult. Wikipedia does have several reference links to different articles.
HOLLYWOOD PARK
By Mikel Jollett
I was so excited to read this memoir as I have a strange fascination with cults and with the dealings of someone who has interacted or been touched by its effects.
Mikel Jollettt does an amazing job of breaking down not only the difficult subject on his experience of being born into a cult but also his life of poverty, dealings with drugs, the complications of hereditary addiction, mental illness and difficult topics. By breaking it down he makes it easy to read and understand the now uncomplicated pieces and being able to read with complete understanding.
Mikel and his older brother Tony are born into a cult formerly a commune now known as The Church of Synanon. They are born to a father who left the cult & ended up doing some time in prison and a mother who had some mental illness and didn’t have a full grasp on reality; only as she saw things. The church separated the babies at the age of 6 months from their parents, leaving them to be raised in an orphanage like structure & schooling.
But this book is not based on their lives in a cult, their mother managed to sneak the boys out years later and move them into a place of their own. One of poverty, with a mother who insisted that the boys were to take care of her during her moments of breakdowns, depression and mental illness. She had a tough time keeping a man in her life. She wanted so desperately to be loved but used the excuse of wanting a father figure for her sons. When there was no man, she expected her sons to take on the role.
This story is told from Mikel’s memories from about the age of 5 and he may be little but do not be fooled with the IQ being so high that the school wanted to move him up a few grades. He is able to tell the story of the neglect, abuse and trauma he suffered and as a result; kept him from forming healthy relationships and attachments throughout his life.
One such relationship that did not seem to suffer was the one that the boys had with their father whom the visited over summer vacation. His father slowly grew out of the man he once was and turns out to be a stable, loving father and role model for his boys. He gives them a better life. Feeds them well, clothes them, spends time with them but most of all, showing love. One year Tony stays with his father to live and Mikel must return to his mother alone. Neglected he picks up bad habits, bad friends, vices and gets in trouble. His grades take a dive and nothing matters much anymore. Music and writing lyrics get him through the time spent with his narcissistic mother. His mom constantly guilts him into fulfilling and believing things that her mind conjures up.
Eventually Mikel goes to spend the summer again with his Father but calls his mom and tells her that he is not going to return and will live with his dad. As you can imagine, she wasn’t very happy.
From here is a tale of the ups and downs of Mikel’s life, the impact of growing up in environments that were so detrimental on a child’s development. He fights to become someone, watches his brother follow in their Father’s early years footsteps and almost die, so many stories you get caught up and emotional knowing what Mikel went through. Finding himself, trying to find & hold onto love and accept the changes that comes with aging. You see Mikel Jollett become a front man in the band, The Airborne Toxic Event that currently performs and plays today.
I couldn’t put this book down as I need to know what poor Mikel and his family were going to go through next. There are some beautiful moments as well and it made me feel so happy whenever these boys got the love and affection they deserved. And to watch them struggle to accept and believe they deserved any love was hard. A brave beautiful story that must be on everyone’s TBR.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from @CeladonBooks #partner. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
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