This Week I are mostly reading (contd)

Just finished "Hollywood Park" - A Memoir by Mikel Jollett.

Jollett is the front man of US band The Airborne Toxic Event. When I first heard he'd written a memoir I assumed it would be about his journey to music, forming the band, touring, the highs and lows of the rock and roll lifestyle etc. And while it does eventually lead to music and the band, it starts with him, aged 5, his older brother, and their mother, escaping from the infamous Synanon cult, which he was born into, and had lived with all the other children, separate from their parents from the age of 6 months, in what was essentially an orphanage within the cult compound. The bulk of the book is Jollett recounting their life after this point, on the run initially from the now violent cult, then his long road to understanding, accepting and dealing with the long lasting damage of those early years, and his relationships with his parents and brother, who were all dealing with the same things in very different ways.

It's a really good read, and despite dealing with some really dark stuff it's ultimately a love letter to his dad and to music and to family.