Customer Reviews
Some good some bad 
2008-08-11
The first part of this book was very interesting and some of the facts I found so hard to believe can happen in America. Living in California and raising teens here it makes me ashamed to live in such a liberal state, where parents really have No Rights. For that and some of the things about the drug world I really got an education. The book went downhill for me when Mia went into treatment for years it seemed. The book really seemed to drag on and on with Mother and daughter analyzing every detail of their lives. I felt more compassion for Claire's Mother, than I did for Clair. I tended to skip a lot toward the end of the story. It is an o.k. read just not riveting
How do I get my money back? 
2008-08-03
This is, hands down, one of the worst books I've ever read. While the daughter in the mother-daughter author pair claims to have been molested and raped as the cause of her drug use, when she meets a boy who admits to having raped his girlfriend, she actually says, "the more you spoke, the more I felt myself wanting to say, it's okay, you didn't mean to" to the rapist and, "you need to stop beating yourself up and move on" to the rapist. She also tells him that his girlfriend is more hurt by his not speaking to her after than by the rape (really? And here I expected her to actually be HAPPY that her rapist isn't calling her). I can't imagine anyone BUT a heroin addict actually expecting anyone to read this drivel and believe it, and her heroin use is the only part of the book I do believe.
Yes, there are troubled teens who truly struggle with drug addiction, eating disorders, violence, prostitution and any number of other demons, and often trauma of some sort is at the root. Unfortunately, Mia seems to be a petulant child making excuses for her own drug use and attempting to use the trauma experienced by so many to excuse her own use away, with the help of her writer-mother, whose job consists of fabricating and embellishing plots (how convenient!).
I would be returning this book if I hadn't become so annoyed with the fabricated plot (yes, fabricated, as you will see many of the characters are if you read the end of the book) that I threw it against the wall at one point. If you want to read a memoir of a troubled teen, a runaway, a drug user and the good things schools like the ones in this book can do, there are so many other, better written books where the author does not attempt to make up sexual abuse.
Come Back Captivated Me 
2008-07-10
I bought this book on a whim about 6 months ago and shelved it in hopes I would get around to reading it someday. That someday happened over the last 18 hours. Although not an easy read by any mean, I have never been so drawn into a memoir so deeply and hurt so much as I was while reading this book. Mother and daughter seamlessly intertwine their stories together and I felt as though I was there throughout their struggles... laughing and crying and working through the demons in my own closet. Their openness and vulnerability made me commit to trying to correct the path I am already leading my own young daughter down and I thank them for opening my eyes before it was already too late.
Loved this book 
2008-04-30
This story saddened, surprised, shocked and touched me. When my book club read this early last year, I wasn't able to attend, so I shelved the book. Am I glad I dedided to pick it up a year later. I feel like I learned a lot about relationships from hearing this mother/daughter story. It reminds us all to hope and stay strong in any family crisis because afterall, blood is thicker than water!
Shocking and Beautiful 2008-04-12
A very emotional book about a mother daughter relationship. Its shocking and beautiful. You'll never forget this book. Moderate read, not hard just long.(took me about 3 days)
Come Back: A Journey of Confusion 2008-03-31
I found the book to be a very good read. A young troubled girl who runs away and does drugs in order to escape the memories and nightmares of abuses from a father's hands. A mother who will stop at nothing to help her daughter return to her as the loving child she wants so hard to remember. The catch is, you never really like or understand the mother's point of view.
She "forgets" that a therapist tells her that when the daughter becomes a teenager, the memories and emotions will begin to have an effect on the daughter again? How does a mother "forget" this kind of statement. Then she send her daughter to a school in a foreign country that will not give her any indication of how their system works other than "we use points and levels." The school tells her to EXPECT letters saying there is abuse and torture and not only not question those claims, but ignore them all together. The mother blindly believes the school and waits for them to correct her child with no parent/child counseling.
Let's not forget the seminars for the parents. The participants must be seated after the music is turned off (much like a game for elementary age children). They must never question the leader (much like what we expect from elementary age children)- or they can but get some circular reason why the leader is correct. They must "stare" at other participants without looking away, cannot takes notes, and must share intimate secrets with other participants (that they have known for less than a few hours). Then they are sent home too exhausted to think about the day and come back for the next day and the next day of more insanity.
Identical seminars on done with the children. Who are too young to even question the "theraputic" qualities of the sessions. I do, however, find the daughter to be very likable and can see how she could view the schools as symbolic parents (as they actually spend time with the child and show some sort of discipline). Although, I do wonder about the child near the end that leave in "The Hobbit". (A small prison-like room that reminds me of Cool Hand Luke. I suppose the girl in-prisoned had a "failure to communicate" with the staff.)
The book was more believable as a fiction (and quite a good read when viewed that way.) But the thing I most got out of the book, is the hours spent on the internet looking up Morova, Spring Creek and their sister schools. (I viewed a very interesting documentary by the Montana PBS station - Who's Watching the Kids.) Although you can't believe everything you read on the anti-wilderness school sites, I'm not sure you can believe everything you read in this book, either.
Eye Opening 2008-03-21
This book opened my ignorant eyes. I had no idea there were rehabilitation centers like the places in this book. These facilities blew me away, especially the teachers, counselors, psychologists, and social workers. Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant.
This is a story about a mother-daughter relationship, disgusting fathers who sexually abuse their daughters, daughters who become drug addicts, mothers who think they can make it all better, and in the end, realizing the only way out is to simply let go...allowing the victim to choose to heal themselves, survive themselves, transform themselves.... and live.
But letting go is like falling off a cliff or jumping off a ledge...the unknown can be unbearable. But the reader will realize, this is exactly what this mother must do to save her daughter. Sometimes letting go--- is the only way one can finally live. But what one never lets go of is LOVE.
A rude yet inspiring awakening of a mother and daughter's reality 2008-03-10
This book was a wake-up call for me because when things get bad, things are always worse for somebody else in the world. That is a very easy thing to forget and I once again realized I was guilty for taking my own reality for granted. A good recommedation for those who draw a line between fate and miracles.
Brought me out of my readers slump! 2008-03-07
An amazing true story of the love between a parent and a child who overcame every parents nightmare. After being in a reader's slump for quite a few months this book caught my attention while shopping (not for a book). From the first page on, I could not put this book down and wanted to know more.
I am now out of my slump! Thank you Fontaine ladies!
Alternate title could be "Outsource Your Parenting" 2008-02-24
For the first few chapters, I was interested in these people's struggle - a teenager spun out of control, what is a desperate family to do? Until the point when you realize the mother, Claire Fontaine, had simply refused to recognize, deal with, or otherwise acknowledge that her daughter Mia had issues, for over a decade. She'll have you believe the girl just woke up one day and started wearing black and using heroin. It is apparent Claire was so self-centered, self-absorbed or had her head in the sand as a parent for so long, one is not surprised her daughter went to such lengths to get her attention.
The 'school' Mia was sent to sounded like a place where they brainwash you how to talk constantly about how you feel, every waking second of the day, as if you are the only person on the planet. Kind of like a place to learn to be just as self-centered and self-absorbed as your Mother.
I hate to stereotype, but the book is such the quintessential "LA screenwriter" therapy-speak spew it is painful to read.
I did finish it, as I felt I should in order to write a fair review. In Fontaine speak..."My experience of this book is that the author owes me about 5 hours of my life back."
