A harrowing true story of choices and consequences.As a teenager, Elle Mott descended into hopelessness. Her life as a criminal and a vagrant led her deeper into the darkness. Balancing multiple identities, the moresecrets she kept, the more lies she needed. She sheds personas, rebelling against who she was and who she’s becoming, but thousands of hitchhiked miles can’t distance her from the … her from the crushing expectations of her great-grandmother’s legacy.
Until she surrenders to herself, she will never find her way out of chaos.
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This story hit hard. I’ve lost people to alcohol abuse, seen others fade into shadows. One or two have found there is a way back. Technically, well written but that isn’t the heart and soul of this memoir. It’s hope that drives it. Thanks for bearing your life so others may see there is hope. All is not lost. Life can be redeemed from the depths. Great read.
‘Out Of Chaos’ is a compelling autobiographical read, written with honesty in a matter-of-fact style that makes reading this somewhat discomfiting story still a quite comfortable experience.
The title of this book is no lie: it is a story of family dysfunction, homelessness, crime and abuse experienced by a young woman who had the strength to then reclaim and rebuild her life. It is a cautionary tale about how easy it can be to fall so far that it’s hard to get back up, but it is also a story that would give hope to anyone in similar situations.
Mott neither glorifies the less-than-stellar choices and actions of her misguided youth nor begs for the reader’s pity as she tells her story, but does evoke a great deal of understanding and empathy in the reader as her life is pulled into a downward vortex from which she cannot escape. The moments of resolve and the decisive actions that Elle takes as a result position the reader to share her hope of a better life and to almost will her to make it work, despite the fact that they are reading the story in past tense.
Despite the bleakness of its beginning and the despair encountered as the story continues, the overall tone and the message of this book are positive and life-affirming.
To write a memoir and bare your soul to the world has to be a difficult task — especially when you’ve done some pretty terrible things as the author of this book has. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a TRUE story. So many times, it felt as if I was reading crime fiction, wondering what was going to happen next to the characters and how they would escape or be caught. It can be easy to justify our actions and choices in life, blaming them on others or bad situations. The author used others to claw her way to survival, because life had become too rough to manage on her own. However, our conscience, or in this case the author’s memory of her Nana, keeps reminding us that this is not the life we should be living. I’m glad the author found the strength to lift herself up, despite the bad choices she made and the hardships life threw at her. It’s a story of hope — to never give up.
As a side note: I felt the author’s excitement as she touched the Atlantic Ocean waters for the first time. I, too, shared that experience, yet in reverse. I’ve lived on the east coast all my life, but once had the opportunity to go to California on a business trip. My one goal was to be able to touch the water in the Pacific Ocean. It was a great thrill.