Book Review: Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett

This program is read by the author and includes original music from the Airborne Toxic Event album Hollywood Park.

Hollywood Park is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country’s most infamous cults and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.

We were never young. We were just too afraid of ourselves. No one told us who we were or what we were or where all our parents went. They would arrive like ghosts, visiting us for a morning, an afternoon. They would sit with us or walk around the grounds, to laugh or cry or toss us in the air while we screamed. Then they’d disappear again, for weeks, for months, for years, leaving us alone with our memories and dreams, our questions and confusion.

So begins Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollett’s remarkable memoir. His story opens in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country’s most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader’s mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult’s “School.” After spending years in what was essentially an orphanage, Mikel escaped the cult one morning with his mother and older brother. But in many ways, life outside Synanon was even harder and more erratic.

In his raw, poetic and powerful voice, Jollett portrays a childhood filled with abject poverty, trauma, emotional abuse, delinquency and the lure of drugs and alcohol. Raised by a clinically depressed mother, tormented by his angry older brother, subjected to the unpredictability of troubled step-fathers and longing for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con, Jollett slowly, often painfully, builds a life that leads him to Stanford University and, eventually, to finding his voice as a writer and musician.

Hollywood Park is told at first through the limited perspective of a child, and then broadens as Jollett begins to understand the world around him. Although Mikel Jollett’s story is filled with heartbreak, it is ultimately an unforgettable portrayal of love at its fiercest and most loyal.

Review 

I’m not really a fan of memoirs but I was sent a copy of this book by Celadon Books and I decided to check it out based on the blurb. The author was in a cult called Synanon. I never heard of that cult before so I looked it up and talk about intense.

The the story starts off with the author leaving the cult and adjusting to life on the outside. If I’m being honest I would have preferred what his life was like during the cult so I could get a better understanding. The chapters are written from a child’s perspective and that was tough for me to get into reading wise. I eventually switched over to the audio version and was able to continue with the story this way.

I must say this memoir was rather on the depressing side. It dealt with a lot of heavy topics and issues. Mikel and his brother, Tony needed some therapy, love and support that they didn’t seem to get from his mother. From what I read I liked Bonnie (his dad’s girlfriend/wife) and she seemed to really care for the boys. I had reservations if I wanted to continue with this memoir but I’m happy I did. There was definitely a light at the end of the tunnel. The author Mikel Jollett narrates this audio book and he did a great job. I liked the musical touches as well. Makes me want to check out his band.

Triggers:
Drug Use
Abuse