Thank you SimonBooksBuddies / Simon and Schuster, #partner, for the finished copy of The Many Lives of Mama Love in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook for my collection.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster / Simon & Schuster Audio
Published: February 27, 2024 / August 1, 2023
Summary:
New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.
No one expects the police to knock on the door of the million-dollar two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors’ credit cards.
Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She finds that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies. Furniture is made from tampon boxes, and Snickers bars are currency. But Lara quickly learns the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder and acquires the nickname “Mama Love,” showing that jailhouse politics aren’t that different from the PTA meetings she used to attend.
When she’s released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, she’s legally co-opting other people’s identities and getting to meet Oprah, meditate with the Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her. Shame is a poison worse than heroin—there is no way to detox. Lara must learn how to forgive herself and others, navigate life as a felon on probation, and prove to herself that she is more good than bad, among other essential lessons.
The Many Lives of Mama Love is a heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption, despite a system that makes it almost impossible for us to move beyond the worst thing we have ever done.
My thoughts:
I am so glad that Oprah picked this as book club pick because it is what finally got me to pick it up! This isn’t a new memoir – it came out last year, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to read it and now I’m kicking myself for not grabbing it as soon as it came out. This is such a powerful read and one that will stay with me for some time.
The raw honesty that comes from this book, the vulnerability that Lara pours into this one is both heartbreaking and inspiring. It’s definitely not an easy journey and yet she tells it in such a compelling way that you just cannot stop reading. Once I started this one – and let me just say, the audiobook is narrated by Lara herself and is just amazing! – I could not stop listening and ended up finishing it in one sitting!
It’s hard not to feel a range of emotions while reading – both for her and for the situations that she finds herself in. There are definitely uncomfortable parts – this is by no means an easy read but it’s such an important one. But what struck me most was her drive and determination to reinvent herself. It was so inspirational and that is what makes this such a remarkable read. How one woman goes from absolute rock bottom as a drug addict and in prison to being a successful ghost writer with her own literary agency is nothing short of phenomenal! All the stars for this read and I am so thankful Lara Love Hardin was willing to share her story with us!
Audio thoughts:
I cannot recommend the audio book enough for this one. As I mentioned, Lara herself narrates it and of course she tells it like no one else could. It’s like having a conversation with her, full of heart and emotion.
Purchasing from the link below supports independent bookstores and my blog!
Surprise! This book was not at all what I was expecting when I first started reading it.
It is startlingly real and compelling. Because of this book, I read The Sun Does Shine, by Lara Love Hardin and Anthony Ray Hinton–another incredible story and book!
Author
I have added The Sun Does Shine to my list, too!