ABOUT THE BOOK
I wanted to put a sign on my forehead saying: “Be Kind To Me – My Son Just Committed Suicide.” I wondered how many people we meet each day who also want to put a sign on their forehead describing the pain in their hearts.
On July 11, 2007, a coroner called and told me my son, John, had put a shotgun between his legs and used his toes to pull the trigger, blowing his head off. Many years earlier, as a single, unwed mother, I had given him up for adoption, and it had been twelve years since I found him again.
In the years after his birth, I had gone through heavy methamphetamine use and hit rock bottom when I spent time in jail and prison. But life had also been good because I then became the mistress of a wealthy Greek gentleman, businessman, and philanthropist, benefitting not only from his financial generosity but also his emotional wisdom on living life. He made it possible for me to manage an apartment building on one of the most famous corners of the world, Sunset Boulevard, and Crescent Heights. I also began to establish myself in politics and the community of West Hollywood.
After the death of my son, spirituality would enter my world and show me how the pain of early rape and being forced into prostitution had led to my life of addictions. I chose to be independent, overcame my addictions, and not only would I survive, but thrive. Here is how it happened…
In the years after, an unrooted Summers got caught up in prostitution, vice busts, and a deepening despair: “Prostitution rips out the soul,” she writes, with her usual clear-eyed power. “It eats into the guts, the essence of who we are, and feeds on the hatred and disgust already there.” The fresh start of a move to Los Angeles and work in the then-new antiques industry—and the forming of her own customhouse brokerage business—eventually sputters as she develops addictions to speed and then meth. Imprisonment for theft and bad checks follows, as Summers endeavors to get her life back on track.
That she does, in the face of great personal tragedy, is a testament to the same spirit and resilience that never allows this book to become too dark. Summers’ storytelling is crisp and vivid, honest about her choices, and distinguished by extraordinary care for others, including strangers in need but also, movingly, the son she didn’t get to meet until years after his birth. Backmatter includes precepts for living derived from her experiences (“If a person has no problems, there is no growth”), but their truth shines through the story as she tells it.
Takeaway: This clear-eyed memoir faces addiction, abuse, and incarceration as it reveals a life that finds purpose in helping others.
Great for fans of: James Brown’s The Los Angeles Diaries, Rachel Moran’s Paid For.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
