Editorial Review
Her Last Death begins as the phone rings early one morning in the Montana house where Susanna Sonnenberg lives with her husband and two young sons. Her aunt is calling to tell Susanna her mother is in a coma after a car accident. She might not live. Any daughter would rush the thousands of miles to her mother's bedside. But Susanna cannot bring herself to go. Her courageous memoir explains why.
Glamorous, charismatic and a compulsive liar, Susanna's mother seduced everyone who entered her orbit. With outrageous behavior and judgment tinged by drug use, she taught her child the art of sex and the benefits of lying. Susanna struggled to break out of this compelling world, determined, as many daughters are, not to become her mother.
Sonnenberg mines tender and startling memories as she writes of her fierce resolve to forge her independence, to become a woman capable of trust and to be a good mother to her own children. Her Last Death is riveting, disarming and searingly beautiful.
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Customer Reviews
Tragic (Warning: Spoiler Alert) 
2008-06-23
...but not in the way you might think. Unlike some of the other less-than-positive reviews, I'm not offended or shocked by the book, and didn't have any issues with the so-called "morality" of the author's actions. Nevertheless, with every page I turned, I believed more and more that Ms. Sonnenberg is not a nice human being. By about 2/3 of the way through the book, I decided that while her mother was indeed toxic, she herself was much worse, as she went on and on about how awful "mummy" is, while at the same time using people, lying and cheating in the exact same self-absorbed way. I found myself laughing towards the end as I was starting to hope the author would be the "death" mentioned in the title.
Strangely, as the book goes on, she doesn't even elaborate on her mother's antics, but basically uses the structure of "I was wary of meeting with my mother, and I warned my latest boyfriend about her, and then my mother said something very sexually inappropriate to my boyfriend!! Can you believe it, reader??!" Well, yes I can, as she's been doing that through the whole book, and in fact am getting quite bored with the broken record. I also found it a very annoying tic of the author to use the "I've changed all names" approach, but then drop lots of teasing hints as to who the so-called famous people in the book are. She's not shy about bragging that she lived next door to Bob Dylan and Henry Fonda, but then drops all sorts of details about "The Famous Lyricist" who her mother had a fling with. I guess she doesn't want to get sued for an inaccurate portrayal (if not an outright lie).
I also don't understand why many people seem to think this is well written. The sentences are often jagged and can read like a telegram. The flow of the words was a bit limp as well. Everyone was written about so shabbily and dismissively, that at times I was left trying to remember whether "Penelope" or "Daphne" was the mother or daughter. Additionally, her many boyfriends just drop in and out, with very little exposition or closure. Does she like any of these men for other than superficial reasons (i.e. they're good in bed)? Luckily, I got my copy out of the library, so at least I'm not out $20 for this.
On a somewhat more positive note, I will say that the book was interesting, in that I think it's the first time that I've read a book where the characters that I initially viewed as tormentor/victim were completely reversed by the end. It's not exactly the most wonderful kind of "interesting", but it is the only positive thing I can say about the book as a whole.
Poor excuse for a memoir 2008-06-05
I found Sonnenberg's "memoir" to be nothing but a tirade against her mother. It did not read like a cathartic exercise ... it seemed rather more a revenge novel. Sonnenberg's mother is indeed a toxic presence to the author and it is with good reason that Sonnenberg eliminates her from her life. However, Sonnenberg spends too much time casting blame for behavior that she herself engaged in with absolutely no apology or reflection. The reader is led to understand that the author has changed her ways but is it simply because she found a man loyal to her? There is little to no mention of the journey of the mind that must have taken her to this present life. That piece that is so lacking here is what makes the art of memoir great ... especially if you're not going to name names.
Her last death 
2008-05-21
What a shock to read this book! It shows that a child's love for a mother is all forgiving, no matter what suffering, neglect and abuse they have to endure. It is an amazing story of survival and hope. Well written, better than any suspense story because it is real life.
Not sure why this got such mixed reviews 
2008-05-11
I'm surprised by the mixed reviews of this book. As an avid memoir reader and wanna-be-published-memoirist, I thought Sonnenberg did an outstanding job of showing readers what a mixed bag of emotions and motivations her family members could be. She put that scrutiny onto herself as well, examining her own culpability along the way. Perhaps that's what some readers chaffed against: that until the middle of the book she herself is rather unlikable, disrespectful, sleezy, spoiled. But the sheer fact that Sonnenberg *presents* herself as such shows us she knows well what she's doing as an author, especially as she grows up and her real-life character arcs in the process. The writing was mostly clean and clear (a handful of sentences had some rhythm problems), and the book demands to be read once started. I'd recommend this book to a friend or bookclub.
A Literary Memoir 2008-05-08
The writing in this book mesmerizes, and must trump all mentions of plot events, sexiness, and craziness. (Not that it isn't plotted, sexy, and crazy.) In spite of many reviewers tendency to focus on the well-drawn but flashy props like affairs in airplane bathrooms and cocaine paraphenalia, it's the large issues that must convince the reader of this book's deep success. Sonnenberg cradles parenthood, abortion, love, addiction, and happiness in a deft and nuanced grip. As for comparisons to other recent memoirs, The Glass Castle is fragile and transparent compared to the lovely architecture of Her Last Death.
Eh . . . . 
2008-07-09
I love memoirs and I found Her last Death to be hard to leave when I had to go to work, but I have a few quibbles.
The book started off wrongly in the preface where the author, Susannah Sonnenberg, warns us that the only "real" character in the book is her; everyone else has a pseudonym and people and events may be composites of characters and situations. That is not the definition of a memoir, in my opinion. Rather, I felt I was reading fiction into which the author had inserted herself. Therefore, I have no idea if what she wrote actually happened as described or if the people she wrote about, including most of all, her mother and sister and her wealthy grandparents, really existed. A memoir, at least since James Frey got reamed out by Oprah, is about real people and real occurrences.
I also must admit I didn't like almost all of the people described in the book, including the author most of the time. Her husband remains a complete enigma (leading me to believe he's boringly normal) but that he doesn't seem to buy into her dramas says a lot about him. Her father has some interesting qualities and more so as his neurological disease has progressed. The mother, of course, is singularly distasteful in almost every aspect and it seems she has similarly doomed the younger sister. Her story is one of rampant, unrepentant child sexual abuse, passive aggressiveness, and deceit intended for no other purpose than to hurt her children in ways I haven't seen anywhere before. Everything she did was so inappropriately perfused with sexuality in dangerous and unspeakable ways. Should the author rear her two sons to be honest, decent, responsible, and loving adults, that will be a monumental credit to her ability to overcome her dreadful family.
If readers discount the story and the people populating it as mostly fictionalized, then they will experience a well-written, fast-moving "novel" about a quite unsettling family they should never hope to meet.
Mummy Dearest 2008-07-03
Reading this book, the story of Susanna's upbringing and early years of marriage and motherhood, was like reading someone's diary. Her Last Death is the intimate purging of an extraordinary life with Mummy--perhaps one of the most unfit and reckless characters ever to raise children. What's remarkable is that Susanna not only lived to tell the tale, but also ultimately seems to have turned out to be quite "normal." She has certainly realized her potential as an educated and talented writer.
It's the good writing that got me through this quick read. It certainly wasn't the subject matter. I kept asking myself, uh--WHY am I reading this? It had a definite Mommie Dearest revenge factor thing going for it, but the author's love for her mother came through as well, as she struggled to find herself while standing in an overwhelming shadow. I think it made me appreciate my own childhood, and marvel at the power we have over our children in mapping out the world for them.
The mother she names "Daphne," (the author makes it clear in the front notes that all names but her own have been changed), is in a word, outrageous. Living a sexy, single-girl life with two baby girls in tow, she consistently puts herself, along with her drug and sex addictions, ahead of the responsibilities of motherhood. From a daughter's eyes, the reader senses Susanna's conflict of love and betrayal as she bestows the horrendous details of her childhood. Namely, her mother's constant offerings of cocaine and alcohol to the adolescent Susanna, parading an endless line of lovers through their apartments and hotel rooms, her need to seduce each and every one of Susanna's friends (particularly the boyfriends), and explaining orgasm and introducing birth control when her daughter was hardly beyond puberty. It made me feel both sick and very sad.
Susanna divulges several of her own poor choices on the way to her life, as well as her initial struggles with motherhood. She may not be the most likable character walking the roads of Montana; however, due to the way she was raised, she has evoked this reader's sympathy. Overall, I found this to be an interesting and unique memoir and would enjoy reading future work by Susanna Sonnenberg.
Michele Cozzens, Author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.
her last death 2008-07-03
excellent book, keeps you wanting to stay up all night long just to finish it.
A Joke 
2008-06-26
Pffft! How does this get to be published? Try Walls's Glass Castle or Taylor's Rules for Saying Goodbye for a MUCH better young woman's memoir.
Great book! 2008-06-26
This is a great book and I did not want to put it down. The details that she remembers in this book are amazing. It tore at my heart strings as a mother. Highly recommend this book to any mother, or anyone with addiction in their family.
