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Family
I have always been broken. I could have died. And maybe it would have been better if i had.
It is a day like any other when seventeen-year-old Melinda hits the road for San Francisco, leaving behind her fractured home life and a constant assault on her self-esteem. Henry is the handsome, charismatic man who comes upon her, collapsed on a park bench, and offers love, a bright new consciousness, and―best of all―a family. One that will embrace her and give her love. Because family is what Mel has never really had. And this new family, Henry's family, shares everything. They share the chores, their bodies, and their beliefs. And if Mel truly wants to belong, she will share in everything they do. No matter what the family does, or how far they go.
Told in episodic verse, Family is a fictionalized exploration of cult dynamics, loosely based on the Manson Family murders of 1969. It is an unflinching look at people who are born broken, and the lengths they'll go to to make themselves "whole" again.
It is a day like any other when seventeen-year-old Melinda hits the road for San Francisco, leaving behind her fractured home life and a constant assault on her self-esteem. Henry is the handsome, charismatic man who comes upon her, collapsed on a park bench, and offers love, a bright new consciousness, and―best of all―a family. One that will embrace her and give her love. Because family is what Mel has never really had. And this new family, Henry's family, shares everything. They share the chores, their bodies, and their beliefs. And if Mel truly wants to belong, she will share in everything they do. No matter what the family does, or how far they go.
Told in episodic verse, Family is a fictionalized exploration of cult dynamics, loosely based on the Manson Family murders of 1969. It is an unflinching look at people who are born broken, and the lengths they'll go to to make themselves "whole" again.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2011
23 people are currently reading
2015 people want to read
About the author
Micol Ostow
78 books392 followersMicol Ostow has been writing professionally since 2004, and in that time has written and/or ghostwritten over 40 published works for young readers. She started her reign of terror with Egmont with her novel FAMILY, which Elizabeth Burns named a favorite of 2012 on her School Library Journal-syndicated blog, A Chair, a Fireplace, a Tea Cozy. Micol's graphic novel, SO PUNK ROCK (and Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother), was named a 2009 Booklist Top Ten Arts Books for Youth Selection, a Booklist Top Ten Religion Books for Youth Selection, and a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Teens. She received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Her young adult horror novel, AMITY, will release from Egmont in August 2014, and her first chapter book series, LOUISE TRAPEZE, will debut in Spring 2015 from Random House.
She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, alongside her Emmy Award-winning husband, their daughter, and a finicky French bulldog. Visit her at www.micolostow.com.
Her young adult horror novel, AMITY, will release from Egmont in August 2014, and her first chapter book series, LOUISE TRAPEZE, will debut in Spring 2015 from Random House.
She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, alongside her Emmy Award-winning husband, their daughter, and a finicky French bulldog. Visit her at www.micolostow.com.
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April 28, 2021
dear book, WHY ARE YOU POETRY??
yeah, this one is all on me. some wise customer had abandoned this book on one of my shelves at the store, and as i was walking it over the the resort cart, i read the flap, and i said to myself, "teen fiction about charles manson?? from a manson girl's perspective?? sign me up!!"
however.
it is not teen fiction about charles manson.
it is teen poetry about charles manson.
and even the most casual glance through the pages would have told me that. but i got ahead of myself. and that is what happened. who would write poetry about charles manson?? teenagers and lunatics.
why why why?? i honestly do not know what makes people write novels in verse. what is the point? it just seems lazy to me. because these aren't villanelles, here.
these are just
sentences
broken up to demonstrate
the fractured nature
of a personality enmeshed in
cult dynamics
maybe
or maybe this just takes up more space
so less has to
actually
be
written.
but it is infuriating! nothing is more boring than listening to the ramblings of someone who has been brainwashed. unless it is reading their bad poetry about it. so much repetition and nonsense. and yet it doesn't ring true - the end is just absurd. this is not any manson girl i know. because, yes, i went through a manson family fascination in my youth. not to the extent of joining a cult, but certainly to try to understand how anyone could have followed along with any of it, hippie dropouts or no, plentiful drugs or no, addictive charisma or no.
this is ouisch:
she was my favorite manson girl.
and even though my true-crime days are long behind me, i would have loved to have read a gritty teen fiction story that realistically depicted what it must have been like to have been in the head of someone who allowed themselves to get to the point where their own desires had been absorbed into someone else's will. you know, like twilight. but with more rich people killin'.
but dear god, not in poetry.
never in poetry.
Sold was bad enough - why could that story not be told straight? why use gimmicks? and i am not anti-poetry. poetry is fine. there is just no need to tell a prolonged narrative in poetry; you're not homer, ftlog.
so maybe this book is great for some people, but i felt betrayed, even though it was my own damn fault.
come to my blog!
yeah, this one is all on me. some wise customer had abandoned this book on one of my shelves at the store, and as i was walking it over the the resort cart, i read the flap, and i said to myself, "teen fiction about charles manson?? from a manson girl's perspective?? sign me up!!"
however.
it is not teen fiction about charles manson.
it is teen poetry about charles manson.
and even the most casual glance through the pages would have told me that. but i got ahead of myself. and that is what happened. who would write poetry about charles manson?? teenagers and lunatics.
why why why?? i honestly do not know what makes people write novels in verse. what is the point? it just seems lazy to me. because these aren't villanelles, here.
these are just
sentences
broken up to demonstrate
the fractured nature
of a personality enmeshed in
cult dynamics
maybe
or maybe this just takes up more space
so less has to
actually
be
written.
but it is infuriating! nothing is more boring than listening to the ramblings of someone who has been brainwashed. unless it is reading their bad poetry about it. so much repetition and nonsense. and yet it doesn't ring true - the end is just absurd. this is not any manson girl i know. because, yes, i went through a manson family fascination in my youth. not to the extent of joining a cult, but certainly to try to understand how anyone could have followed along with any of it, hippie dropouts or no, plentiful drugs or no, addictive charisma or no.
this is ouisch:
she was my favorite manson girl.
and even though my true-crime days are long behind me, i would have loved to have read a gritty teen fiction story that realistically depicted what it must have been like to have been in the head of someone who allowed themselves to get to the point where their own desires had been absorbed into someone else's will. you know, like twilight. but with more rich people killin'.
but dear god, not in poetry.
never in poetry.
Sold was bad enough - why could that story not be told straight? why use gimmicks? and i am not anti-poetry. poetry is fine. there is just no need to tell a prolonged narrative in poetry; you're not homer, ftlog.
so maybe this book is great for some people, but i felt betrayed, even though it was my own damn fault.
come to my blog!
May 1, 2011
The dust jacket says this was "loosely" based on the Manson family murders, but if you've read Helter Skelter or versed yourself in the grim tale of the murders, as I have, then you know this is nearly identical in detail to that frightening patch of sixties history.
In family, teenaged Mel runs away from her absuive family--the stepfather who rapes her and the disconnected mother who turns a blind eye--and straight into the arms of the charimsatic "Henry," who encourages Mel to join his family of hippies living on a ranch that used to be a Western movie set in Death Valley (exactly what the Manson family did.) Mel is swept into Henry's orbit; she is ripe for him--a broken, lost girl looking for love. And at first it's love she finds, communal caring. But the women aren't allowed to eat until the dogs do. The women sleep with all the men, and some of the women, if ordered. And everyone must turn over their IDs and money when they first enter the grounds. The signs are there, but Mel misses them, so obsessed is she with the man who promises to save her and be the father she never had. Father and lover, but so many boundaries begin to blur (and have already been blurred thanks to her stepfather) that Mel thinks little of the discrepancy in roles. She will do whatever Henry says, whenever he wants, and the reader knows from the beginning that Henry has ordered something dark and terrible. Mel says, "My hands are streaked with blood that is not my own. My hands are streaked with blood, and there is screaming." The rest of the novel tells of the downward spiral into helter-skelter, a night of blood and terror. Micol Ostow's gorgeous writing leads the reader there along with Mel, in free verse sinous and compelling, like Henry himself.
I almost gave this five stars, but the verse does tend to get ever-so-slightly repetitive. Often this is a tactic the author uses--certain phrases are repeated to underscore their importance, or conversely, to show how the meaning of those phrases twists as the story goes on. The repetition is also a kind of reinforcement of the cult mentality, the repetition of ideas drilled into the heads of the acolytes so many times that those acolytes can no longer remember any words but those they've heard again and again. I saw the purpose of the repetition, but it still began to grate on me, and in parts I wished the story would move a little faster. But mostly I loved this novel. Even those who tend to shy away from novels in verse will find themselves drawn into this story. Ostow's writing really is very engaging; she finds the perfect descriptions to make the reader understand how someone could fall so soundly under the influence of one charismatic man, especially if that person, and all her "sisters," are the broken, damaged people of this tale. The result is a novel both frightening and beautiful.
I'd like to say something about the end, but I can't without giving away important plot points, in fact, probably the most important plot point. If you have an interest in the Manson murders, cults, dark fiction, and broken people, this is the novel for you.
In family, teenaged Mel runs away from her absuive family--the stepfather who rapes her and the disconnected mother who turns a blind eye--and straight into the arms of the charimsatic "Henry," who encourages Mel to join his family of hippies living on a ranch that used to be a Western movie set in Death Valley (exactly what the Manson family did.) Mel is swept into Henry's orbit; she is ripe for him--a broken, lost girl looking for love. And at first it's love she finds, communal caring. But the women aren't allowed to eat until the dogs do. The women sleep with all the men, and some of the women, if ordered. And everyone must turn over their IDs and money when they first enter the grounds. The signs are there, but Mel misses them, so obsessed is she with the man who promises to save her and be the father she never had. Father and lover, but so many boundaries begin to blur (and have already been blurred thanks to her stepfather) that Mel thinks little of the discrepancy in roles. She will do whatever Henry says, whenever he wants, and the reader knows from the beginning that Henry has ordered something dark and terrible. Mel says, "My hands are streaked with blood that is not my own. My hands are streaked with blood, and there is screaming." The rest of the novel tells of the downward spiral into helter-skelter, a night of blood and terror. Micol Ostow's gorgeous writing leads the reader there along with Mel, in free verse sinous and compelling, like Henry himself.
I almost gave this five stars, but the verse does tend to get ever-so-slightly repetitive. Often this is a tactic the author uses--certain phrases are repeated to underscore their importance, or conversely, to show how the meaning of those phrases twists as the story goes on. The repetition is also a kind of reinforcement of the cult mentality, the repetition of ideas drilled into the heads of the acolytes so many times that those acolytes can no longer remember any words but those they've heard again and again. I saw the purpose of the repetition, but it still began to grate on me, and in parts I wished the story would move a little faster. But mostly I loved this novel. Even those who tend to shy away from novels in verse will find themselves drawn into this story. Ostow's writing really is very engaging; she finds the perfect descriptions to make the reader understand how someone could fall so soundly under the influence of one charismatic man, especially if that person, and all her "sisters," are the broken, damaged people of this tale. The result is a novel both frightening and beautiful.
I'd like to say something about the end, but I can't without giving away important plot points, in fact, probably the most important plot point. If you have an interest in the Manson murders, cults, dark fiction, and broken people, this is the novel for you.
October 22, 2022
I always love reading novels in verse and this one was no exception. The writing style might be my favourite part about this novel. I also enjoyed the plot, yet I wished there was a bit more to it. I wished there would have been a little more character interactions.
May 25, 2011
As someone who's read Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, I was interested in the idea of a YA book "loosely based" on the Manson family. Seeing that it was written in poetry form made me pick this up, thinking it would be a quick read.
Mel has run away from home (and her sexually abusive "Uncle Jack") and is living on the streets in Haight-Ashbury when she meets "Henry" (aka Charles Manson). Henry feeds her and gives her drugs and has sex with her in his van for three days, then brings Mel back to the ranch Henry and his "family" call home. After a life where Mel has often felt adrift and alone, she welcomes the idea of family, even if it means sharing "free love" with all the male members of this "family" whether she wants to or not. Mel worships Henry, although she's a little unsure when he starts carrying a knife around and talking about "helter skelter."
There is the "before" and the "now" and the "after" - all jumbled together, but if the reader knows anything about the Manson family murders they will be able to figure out that the "after" is the infamous killing spree. I'm not sure exactly why the names of the characters were changed, but nothing - and I mean NOTHING - else was, except the END! This strange altering of the truth made no sense to me. Either make it all true, or all false, but none of this halfway crap. It's ridiculous to call the cult leader "Henry" and still give him Charles Manson's philosophy of "helter skelter." Hence all the quotation marks in my summary...
For that matter, there is very little about the Helter Skelter here. I would have liked for there to be some Beatles reference, but instead Mel just says, Okay, Helter Skelter, don't know what it means but I'll go along with it. Also, a lot of what I found fascinating about Helter Skelter was the craziness of the trial, with the girls shaving their heads and carving X's on their foreheads, etc. I barely got to know "Henry" at all except through Mel's rosy-colored worship glasses. I would have preferred the author to have taken this character of Mel and instead of redeeming her, showed her descent into full-on cult worshipper.
Mel has run away from home (and her sexually abusive "Uncle Jack") and is living on the streets in Haight-Ashbury when she meets "Henry" (aka Charles Manson). Henry feeds her and gives her drugs and has sex with her in his van for three days, then brings Mel back to the ranch Henry and his "family" call home. After a life where Mel has often felt adrift and alone, she welcomes the idea of family, even if it means sharing "free love" with all the male members of this "family" whether she wants to or not. Mel worships Henry, although she's a little unsure when he starts carrying a knife around and talking about "helter skelter."
There is the "before" and the "now" and the "after" - all jumbled together, but if the reader knows anything about the Manson family murders they will be able to figure out that the "after" is the infamous killing spree. I'm not sure exactly why the names of the characters were changed, but nothing - and I mean NOTHING - else was, except the END! This strange altering of the truth made no sense to me. Either make it all true, or all false, but none of this halfway crap. It's ridiculous to call the cult leader "Henry" and still give him Charles Manson's philosophy of "helter skelter." Hence all the quotation marks in my summary...
For that matter, there is very little about the Helter Skelter here. I would have liked for there to be some Beatles reference, but instead Mel just says, Okay, Helter Skelter, don't know what it means but I'll go along with it. Also, a lot of what I found fascinating about Helter Skelter was the craziness of the trial, with the girls shaving their heads and carving X's on their foreheads, etc. I barely got to know "Henry" at all except through Mel's rosy-colored worship glasses. I would have preferred the author to have taken this character of Mel and instead of redeeming her, showed her descent into full-on cult worshipper.
April 16, 2011
Me and this book did not get along. I was intrigued because it uses the Manson murders as a basis for the story. The main character, Mel, is one of Henry's girls (Henry is Charles Manson). Mel comes from a broken home, where she suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her mom's boyfriend, an "Uncle" Jack. She longs for a family, so naturally when Henry plucks her off of a dirty bench in San Francisco after Mel has run away from home, Mel goes to him very willingly. The book is told in verse and filled with violence, adoration for the character of Henry, and stories of life on the family's ranch. I got tired of the repetitiveness really quickly and Mel never gets to a better place. The book is depressing and dark, and honestly, it was lackluster and boring for me. I'm fascinated by crime stuff and I'll watch a special on the Manson murders in a heartbeat, but this book does nothing to add to the fascination. By the twentieth time the author wrote "inescapable" and "undertow" I was pretty much done with the book.
October 27, 2011
Please don't ask me why I read this book. I saw it on Goodreads and it looked like it had some potential and upon opening the book I saw that it was written in episodic verse which I thought was pretty cool and I also thought that it would be a quick and easy read, in which it was, but all-in-all it is just a book. Simply a book. I am not sure if I hated it or if I liked it. I know that I did not love it. The whole repetitiveness was just mind boggling and quite annoying at times.
Family is set in 1969 during the Manson Murders and everyone pretty much in the entire book are hippies and lived on free love and mind control and drugs and blah and blah. I felt sorry for many of the young girls who got caught up in the all mighty Henry. That name was mentioned so much so that I can never look at a Henry again without thinking strange things....
Oh well, I really won't recommend the book but if you must then go on but don't blame me when you are done!
Family is set in 1969 during the Manson Murders and everyone pretty much in the entire book are hippies and lived on free love and mind control and drugs and blah and blah. I felt sorry for many of the young girls who got caught up in the all mighty Henry. That name was mentioned so much so that I can never look at a Henry again without thinking strange things....
Oh well, I really won't recommend the book but if you must then go on but don't blame me when you are done!
June 15, 2011
Several years ago I went to a performance of MacBeth at my alma mater, an all-women's college. The cast was composed entirely of women. As the director noted in the program, this was a deliberate choice, harking back to the Celtic matriarchal tradition, in which women used storytelling to pass on the culture's morals and values.
I imagine Family by Micol Ostow being read by a chorus of women for just such a purpose.
If you're younger than me, you may have read a book called Out Of The Dust, by Karen Hesse, in school. It's a novel in episodic verse, a series of linked poems that tell the story of a teenager named Billie Joe living through the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Family is written in a similar style.
Like Billie Joe, the 17-year-old narrator of Family is a young woman. Her name is Mel. Mel is one of those tragic young adult characters, the likes of which inspired Meghan Cox Gurdon to write her controversial Wall Street Journal essay "Darkness Too Visible." Mel lives with her mother and her mother's boyfriend, whom Mel calls Uncle Jack. "Uncle" Jack is an alcoholic who sexually abuses Mel. Mel's mother knows about the abuse and does nothing. In Mel's mind, her mother offers her up as a sacrifice.
Mel decides to run away from home. Now the historical context becomes important: the book is set in the late 1960s, the era of free love, hippies, beautiful people and Haight-Ashbury. With the vague sense that she'll be able to survive there, Mel heads for San Francisco. Instead of a utopia, she finds a park bench, where Mel sits down and is overcome with inertia. She doesn't have a clue what to do or how to take care of herself.
Along comes Henry. Henry is loosely based on Charles Manson, and as Mel as drawn into his inner circle there is a terrible sense of foreboding. Younger readers may not be aware of the historical events on which the book is based, but will probably not find them terribly shocking compared to crimes that routinely play on the evening news. Still, readers young and not-so-much, those familiar with the Manson Family and those just learning of the crimes, must wonder the same thing: what causes a seemingly "normal" young woman to participate in something like that? This is precisely the territory Ostow's poetry explores.
It's all very well done. The reader is aware of Mel's "brokeness," as Mel frequently calls it. She often refers to being full of empty, hollow places, places inside her she longs to fill, fears to have filled. She always feels as if she's drowning, treading water, caught in the undertow. Henry offers her a lifeline, though Mel soon comes to realize that not even Henry can hold back the tide. Henry, who at first seems so godlike, has his own broken, hollow, empty and drowning places, places that will have terrible consequences for an innocent couple.
The subject matter is chilling. Yet the ending, remarkably, is a hopeful one. It's enough to keep the reader from drowning in the book's darkness, enough to keep Mel from descending into utter despair. There is a spark at the end that makes this narrative-in-verse seem redemptive, a cautionary tale, a morality play that makes it ideal to be read as poetry traditionally was, by a chorus in front of a large audience.
Family is told in the first person, entirely from Mel's point of view. It seems like a tale told collectively because of the historical aspect, the sense that Mel speaks for an important time and place in American culture. It seems like a collective tale because of the way the "family" absorbs Mel and makes her part of it. It seems like a collective tale because there are at least two versions of Mel, including one who seems trapped in a mirror, helpless. I'm sure it will be absolutely stunning to hear as an audiobook, even without a chorus of women's voices.
Still, read the print version first. Micol Ostow's writing style includes short words and phrases set apart from the rest of the text by italics and braces. Some of the words that appear set apart like this are "static" and "white noise." In my head, the words that are set apart, sometimes complementing and other times contradicting Mel's narrative, sound like they're coming from a radio, not quite tuned to the right frequency. I imagine them as the words of mirror-Mel, the other, left-behind self who struggles to break through to Henry's Mel, but can't.
All in all, it's a remarkable achievement for Micol Ostow, one that's sure to be much talked about and debated among fans of young adults books, parents, librarians and book bloggers.
I imagine Family by Micol Ostow being read by a chorus of women for just such a purpose.
If you're younger than me, you may have read a book called Out Of The Dust, by Karen Hesse, in school. It's a novel in episodic verse, a series of linked poems that tell the story of a teenager named Billie Joe living through the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Family is written in a similar style.
Like Billie Joe, the 17-year-old narrator of Family is a young woman. Her name is Mel. Mel is one of those tragic young adult characters, the likes of which inspired Meghan Cox Gurdon to write her controversial Wall Street Journal essay "Darkness Too Visible." Mel lives with her mother and her mother's boyfriend, whom Mel calls Uncle Jack. "Uncle" Jack is an alcoholic who sexually abuses Mel. Mel's mother knows about the abuse and does nothing. In Mel's mind, her mother offers her up as a sacrifice.
Mel decides to run away from home. Now the historical context becomes important: the book is set in the late 1960s, the era of free love, hippies, beautiful people and Haight-Ashbury. With the vague sense that she'll be able to survive there, Mel heads for San Francisco. Instead of a utopia, she finds a park bench, where Mel sits down and is overcome with inertia. She doesn't have a clue what to do or how to take care of herself.
Along comes Henry. Henry is loosely based on Charles Manson, and as Mel as drawn into his inner circle there is a terrible sense of foreboding. Younger readers may not be aware of the historical events on which the book is based, but will probably not find them terribly shocking compared to crimes that routinely play on the evening news. Still, readers young and not-so-much, those familiar with the Manson Family and those just learning of the crimes, must wonder the same thing: what causes a seemingly "normal" young woman to participate in something like that? This is precisely the territory Ostow's poetry explores.
It's all very well done. The reader is aware of Mel's "brokeness," as Mel frequently calls it. She often refers to being full of empty, hollow places, places inside her she longs to fill, fears to have filled. She always feels as if she's drowning, treading water, caught in the undertow. Henry offers her a lifeline, though Mel soon comes to realize that not even Henry can hold back the tide. Henry, who at first seems so godlike, has his own broken, hollow, empty and drowning places, places that will have terrible consequences for an innocent couple.
The subject matter is chilling. Yet the ending, remarkably, is a hopeful one. It's enough to keep the reader from drowning in the book's darkness, enough to keep Mel from descending into utter despair. There is a spark at the end that makes this narrative-in-verse seem redemptive, a cautionary tale, a morality play that makes it ideal to be read as poetry traditionally was, by a chorus in front of a large audience.
Family is told in the first person, entirely from Mel's point of view. It seems like a tale told collectively because of the historical aspect, the sense that Mel speaks for an important time and place in American culture. It seems like a collective tale because of the way the "family" absorbs Mel and makes her part of it. It seems like a collective tale because there are at least two versions of Mel, including one who seems trapped in a mirror, helpless. I'm sure it will be absolutely stunning to hear as an audiobook, even without a chorus of women's voices.
Still, read the print version first. Micol Ostow's writing style includes short words and phrases set apart from the rest of the text by italics and braces. Some of the words that appear set apart like this are "static" and "white noise." In my head, the words that are set apart, sometimes complementing and other times contradicting Mel's narrative, sound like they're coming from a radio, not quite tuned to the right frequency. I imagine them as the words of mirror-Mel, the other, left-behind self who struggles to break through to Henry's Mel, but can't.
All in all, it's a remarkable achievement for Micol Ostow, one that's sure to be much talked about and debated among fans of young adults books, parents, librarians and book bloggers.
September 11, 2017
So apparently this book was supposed to be about (or a fictional version) of the Manson family. But for several reasons I just didn't care about the main character. And maybe that was because she was supposed to be so lost that joining a cult made her soulless or something.....I couldn't bring myself to care about her background either.
July 26, 2019
There are lots of reasons to read Family by Micol Ostow. One of them is not to see an accurate description or retelling of the infamous Manson murders. Yes, there is a quotation from Manson: “At my will, I walk your streets and am right out there among you.” (location 34). After the middle of the novel, the phrase “helter-skelter” appears frequently. There is no doubt what the basis for this “episodic verse” novel is. One reason to read the story is for those unfamiliar with the form; readers can learn something new about structure. The structure of this story is a combination of prose and poetry. Readers will love it or hate it. I found it interesting, but I won’t look for more books written in this form.
Readers might be surprised when I claim a novel of 384 pages is a fast read. Usually, that would be unusual. The story is a quick read because of the form in which many lines may contain only two or three words. I read the entire novel in four hours while on a moving bus going to a beach for a company team-building exercise. Two hours on a twisting, steep road going to a beach and two hours for the return was more than enough time to complete the novel.
Regarding episodic verse, the “episodic” part comes in because of chapter titles such as “before,” “after,” and one-word titles that refer to a principal action related to Melanie, who appears as two characters. In the real world, Melanie is a young girl who experienced very adult activities at the age of five. Melanie’s mother knew what “Uncle Jack,” also known as a stepfather, was doing, but decided Melanie was an acceptable sacrifice. Unsurprisingly, Melanie adopted a coping strategy, whether consciously or not. Character two appears in a mirror, Mel-me (Melanie in the Mirror). The two co-exist until Melanie runs away from “home.”
Living on the street and hungry, Melanie joins a familiar scenario. A predator, Henry, observes a vulnerable person and assesses how to manipulate Melanie into becoming a willing member of his family, a family group that believes “Henry” is just another pseudonym for Jesus Christ. All members of the family share everything; resources, daily tasks, and bodies. There is no coercion. Occasionally Henry might misjudge someone. It seems that those not expressing the correct doctrine of total adoration are permitted to leave.
Henry and family live on a farm owned by an aged, near-death, and blind Emmett. Still, money is required. Members of the family can beg for money and food. Presumably, nothing is out of bounds as far as what family members might do to meet daily needs. Henry constantly iterates that there is no past, no future, everything is “now,” and everything is allowed. To experience is to live, the more extreme experiences provide the most realistic experiences. Through it all, it is vital that everyone acknowledge Henry as a deity.
But Henry is human. He is an artist sure that if he can share his music with the world, both the world and Henry will be better off. When a music industry agent fails to meet with Henry as agreed, Henry goes off his deified rails and directs his followers to educate the agent. Henry will not accompany Melanie, Junior, Leila, and Shelly to the agent’s home, but he will give instructions and imply what must be done to his followers.
It can be uncomfortable to read this story. There is the abuse of Melanie, but all members of Henry’s family have been damaged in some way. Readers may be uncomfortable with the content. Other readers will not like the seemingly endless repetition of the same core elements presented in only slightly different ways. I do not know how to assess this because I tend to accept a poet’s right to interpret actions in any way they want. It is like when I ask a person’s opinion. The answer cannot be wrong. The person replying is expressing an opinion. I don’t have to like or agree with the answer. If I don’t like Ostow’s method of dramatic presentation, I don’t have to read it.
The way Ostow presented Melanie’s thoughts invites the reader to join Melanie and consider what they, readers, might do in similar extreme circumstances. Readers who want to enjoy a linear story (let’s get on with it) won’t like this story. I felt this story had too much repetition. Constant restatements reminded me of Ayn Rand. I like Ayn Rand, but it can be too much.
I rated this at four stars and will read more by Micol Ostow to see how the writing style changes.
Readers might be surprised when I claim a novel of 384 pages is a fast read. Usually, that would be unusual. The story is a quick read because of the form in which many lines may contain only two or three words. I read the entire novel in four hours while on a moving bus going to a beach for a company team-building exercise. Two hours on a twisting, steep road going to a beach and two hours for the return was more than enough time to complete the novel.
Regarding episodic verse, the “episodic” part comes in because of chapter titles such as “before,” “after,” and one-word titles that refer to a principal action related to Melanie, who appears as two characters. In the real world, Melanie is a young girl who experienced very adult activities at the age of five. Melanie’s mother knew what “Uncle Jack,” also known as a stepfather, was doing, but decided Melanie was an acceptable sacrifice. Unsurprisingly, Melanie adopted a coping strategy, whether consciously or not. Character two appears in a mirror, Mel-me (Melanie in the Mirror). The two co-exist until Melanie runs away from “home.”
Living on the street and hungry, Melanie joins a familiar scenario. A predator, Henry, observes a vulnerable person and assesses how to manipulate Melanie into becoming a willing member of his family, a family group that believes “Henry” is just another pseudonym for Jesus Christ. All members of the family share everything; resources, daily tasks, and bodies. There is no coercion. Occasionally Henry might misjudge someone. It seems that those not expressing the correct doctrine of total adoration are permitted to leave.
Henry and family live on a farm owned by an aged, near-death, and blind Emmett. Still, money is required. Members of the family can beg for money and food. Presumably, nothing is out of bounds as far as what family members might do to meet daily needs. Henry constantly iterates that there is no past, no future, everything is “now,” and everything is allowed. To experience is to live, the more extreme experiences provide the most realistic experiences. Through it all, it is vital that everyone acknowledge Henry as a deity.
But Henry is human. He is an artist sure that if he can share his music with the world, both the world and Henry will be better off. When a music industry agent fails to meet with Henry as agreed, Henry goes off his deified rails and directs his followers to educate the agent. Henry will not accompany Melanie, Junior, Leila, and Shelly to the agent’s home, but he will give instructions and imply what must be done to his followers.
It can be uncomfortable to read this story. There is the abuse of Melanie, but all members of Henry’s family have been damaged in some way. Readers may be uncomfortable with the content. Other readers will not like the seemingly endless repetition of the same core elements presented in only slightly different ways. I do not know how to assess this because I tend to accept a poet’s right to interpret actions in any way they want. It is like when I ask a person’s opinion. The answer cannot be wrong. The person replying is expressing an opinion. I don’t have to like or agree with the answer. If I don’t like Ostow’s method of dramatic presentation, I don’t have to read it.
The way Ostow presented Melanie’s thoughts invites the reader to join Melanie and consider what they, readers, might do in similar extreme circumstances. Readers who want to enjoy a linear story (let’s get on with it) won’t like this story. I felt this story had too much repetition. Constant restatements reminded me of Ayn Rand. I like Ayn Rand, but it can be too much.
I rated this at four stars and will read more by Micol Ostow to see how the writing style changes.
May 16, 2018
This is work of historical fiction in verse. It is a re-telling of the story of the Manson family and the murders they committed in California in 1969. The book follows an abused teenage runaway who flees to San Francisco and is picked up "Henry." Henry introduces her to his "family" living at an old ranch where Westerns used to be filmed. He manipulates everyone in the "family" and eventually sends four of them out to kill, to spread his message. The story loosely follows the real version, with some changes that will be obvious to anyone familiar with the real events. Readers of this book might be tempted to explore the true story, which is vastly more chilling.
April 17, 2014
It pains me to have to write this review because for so long I have pined after this book, and all I feel is let down. When I first heard that there was a YA novel about the Manson family murders, I was totally intrigues. I’ve read Helter Skelter many, many times, and I’ve watched countless documentaries on Manson himself, and his ‘family.’ I even have a favorite Manson girl:
These murders were vicious and brutal and scary. Really, really scary. The cult dynamics of the Manson family were intriguing at best, and horrifying at their worst. I’ve always wondered what kind of person you’d have to be to be so brainwashed, so wrapped up in another person that you would commit heinous acts of violence and call it ‘love.’ This has eluded me ever since I heard of Charles Manson, and with FAMILY, I thought I could gain some insights. I was wrong.
When I found out that FAMILY was written in verse, I hesitated. And I’m glad I did. The only books written in verse that I’ve read are by Francesca Lia Block, but we all know that she is the name in that style, the best at what she does. So I guess either I’ve go really high standards, or I haven’t read enough books like this to totally grasp the why of writing in verse. It seemed so… stupid. It literally took two pages to tell the reader how much Mel loved doing laundry. I am not making this shit up. And – this happened more than once – I would turn the page only to read something literally copied and pasted from a previous chapter. Also, the wording was so, so, so repetitive and freaking redundant. I skipped so many pages of “always, never, His message, Henry, no ego” OVER AND OVER again. Seriously? I freaking get it.
I couldn’t really connect well with any of the characters either. Mel is just a husk of a person by the time the book starts, so I don’t really think there is anything to connect or relate to. I mean, I don’t even know what she or Henry (aka Charlie) look like. I never figured out exactly what Henry did to make Mel believe in him so much. I mean, I could guess a bunch of theories as to why Mel fell for it all, but none of them would be concrete correct, because it was never touched on in the book. One day Mel runs away from home, and the next day she is sleeping with Henry in his van doing acid. There was so much disconnect between me and Mel that I just couldn’t accept that she wanted to be there.
The only character that I really liked – loved – was Shelly. She was Mel’s closest confidant, best friend, sister in the compound. She felt wholly real to me, entirely fleshed out. A story (even told in verse) from Shelly’s point of view would have been dynamic and entertaining and captivating. Shelly actually goes through some character arcs throughout the novel that really made me feel something for her, made me feel close to her. Mel never actually changes or even makes decisions during the novel, so it was hard to tell if she grew or not. But Shelly was fascinating, and broken, and just plain old crazy. I loved her.
There were a few passages that were well written towards the end. When the climax hit, that is, the murders, I was frantically turning the page. But fuck did it take long to actually describe what was happening. The murders only took place for like five minutes, but it took a grand total of 120 pages to describe them. And THERE IS NO DETAIL at all. All it is is Mel having a heart attack over what she’s doing. There is no gore, no violence, no chaos. Nothing. Just Mel saying “no never always infinity Henry His message shaking drowning premise promise” for fucking 120 pages.
The ending was a total letdown for me. It really sealed the deal for me as far as NOT buying into Mel’s brainwashing and devotion to Henry. It was dumb. The synopsis says that this novel is ‘loosely’ based on the Manson murders, but it follows the entire story to a fault. So I really, really didn’t understand why Ostow chose this ending.
In all, this book could have been something special. It could have really shown the violence and the horror of the Manson family freak show. It could have given us a glimpse inside the head of a brainwashed victim of a cult. With a better ending, and NOT being written in freaking verse, this book could have been phenomenal, but instead it was a let down.
These murders were vicious and brutal and scary. Really, really scary. The cult dynamics of the Manson family were intriguing at best, and horrifying at their worst. I’ve always wondered what kind of person you’d have to be to be so brainwashed, so wrapped up in another person that you would commit heinous acts of violence and call it ‘love.’ This has eluded me ever since I heard of Charles Manson, and with FAMILY, I thought I could gain some insights. I was wrong.
When I found out that FAMILY was written in verse, I hesitated. And I’m glad I did. The only books written in verse that I’ve read are by Francesca Lia Block, but we all know that she is the name in that style, the best at what she does. So I guess either I’ve go really high standards, or I haven’t read enough books like this to totally grasp the why of writing in verse. It seemed so… stupid. It literally took two pages to tell the reader how much Mel loved doing laundry. I am not making this shit up. And – this happened more than once – I would turn the page only to read something literally copied and pasted from a previous chapter. Also, the wording was so, so, so repetitive and freaking redundant. I skipped so many pages of “always, never, His message, Henry, no ego” OVER AND OVER again. Seriously? I freaking get it.
I couldn’t really connect well with any of the characters either. Mel is just a husk of a person by the time the book starts, so I don’t really think there is anything to connect or relate to. I mean, I don’t even know what she or Henry (aka Charlie) look like. I never figured out exactly what Henry did to make Mel believe in him so much. I mean, I could guess a bunch of theories as to why Mel fell for it all, but none of them would be concrete correct, because it was never touched on in the book. One day Mel runs away from home, and the next day she is sleeping with Henry in his van doing acid. There was so much disconnect between me and Mel that I just couldn’t accept that she wanted to be there.
The only character that I really liked – loved – was Shelly. She was Mel’s closest confidant, best friend, sister in the compound. She felt wholly real to me, entirely fleshed out. A story (even told in verse) from Shelly’s point of view would have been dynamic and entertaining and captivating. Shelly actually goes through some character arcs throughout the novel that really made me feel something for her, made me feel close to her. Mel never actually changes or even makes decisions during the novel, so it was hard to tell if she grew or not. But Shelly was fascinating, and broken, and just plain old crazy. I loved her.
There were a few passages that were well written towards the end. When the climax hit, that is, the murders, I was frantically turning the page. But fuck did it take long to actually describe what was happening. The murders only took place for like five minutes, but it took a grand total of 120 pages to describe them. And THERE IS NO DETAIL at all. All it is is Mel having a heart attack over what she’s doing. There is no gore, no violence, no chaos. Nothing. Just Mel saying “no never always infinity Henry His message shaking drowning premise promise” for fucking 120 pages.
The ending was a total letdown for me. It really sealed the deal for me as far as NOT buying into Mel’s brainwashing and devotion to Henry. It was dumb. The synopsis says that this novel is ‘loosely’ based on the Manson murders, but it follows the entire story to a fault. So I really, really didn’t understand why Ostow chose this ending.
In all, this book could have been something special. It could have really shown the violence and the horror of the Manson family freak show. It could have given us a glimpse inside the head of a brainwashed victim of a cult. With a better ending, and NOT being written in freaking verse, this book could have been phenomenal, but instead it was a let down.
July 6, 2011
Intense and startling yet compelling, Micol Ostow’s Family is one of kind. It is dark and dreary yet that did not stop me from turning the pages in rapid speed, as this one book that you cannot put down once you have started it.
Melinda Jensen has never had an easy life. From a touchy “uncle” Jack to a mother who never cared enough, Melinda has had nearly no one to turn to in her past seventeen years of life. Lost beyond control, Melinda sets out to San Francisco with little to nothing, hoping that this time she will be able to find herself, or at least a part of herself. In San Francisco, she meets Henry, a man not that much older than her. He promises her a family, something she’s always desired, and in an instant she agrees, not knowing this new path will test her in ways unimaginable, because this family not only shares everything, but they also contain some intense people. However, when she is faced with an ultimate dilemma, will Melinda be able to save herself before it’s too late, or will she become yet another one of Henry’s girls, brainwashed with little to nothing to call their own?
Prior to reading Family, I had only read two books by Ostow, Golden Girl and 30 Guys in 30 Days, two books that were the definition of light, fluffy reads, so to say this book, her newest one, was different would be a serious understatement. However, it was an interesting change to say the least.
For one, the characters in this are crazy, but in a way that is realistic given that they are part of a cult. As mentioned above, Melinda is a girl lost beyond repair. She has been hurt in countless ways, and for her, Henry’s promise was a solution to it all. In some ways I can see why she would stay, why she and the all others involved would let themselves become victim to Henry as well as each other, because the characters in this are all “misfits” lost to themselves and the world. So while all I wanted to throughout the novel was yell “run!” to Melinda, I understood, and more importantly, I rooted for her to see the light, to see that she could find help, that she still at the world at her fingertips.
However, what made this read the compelling read it was the fact that it was told in episodic verse. Every page was sparse yet it completely presented the world contained in a three dimensional way. Most importantly, Ostow didn’t shy away from the gritty details that are usual associated with these type of things, and while it made Family a heard read at times, it made the novel all the more realistic and eye-opening so to say.
The only aspect of this novel that I was not big on was the last portion of the novel. It moved an extremely fast paced and when everything was finally said and done, I felt like it was missing something, more closure perhaps. Nonetheless, I can understand why it was that way.
Intense and unique, Micol Ostow’s Family is not for the faint-hearted. It is a crazy novel, and the ending is even crazier, but I am sure fans of gritty fiction, such as Ellen Hopkins’s books, will surely like this one.
Grade: B+
Melinda Jensen has never had an easy life. From a touchy “uncle” Jack to a mother who never cared enough, Melinda has had nearly no one to turn to in her past seventeen years of life. Lost beyond control, Melinda sets out to San Francisco with little to nothing, hoping that this time she will be able to find herself, or at least a part of herself. In San Francisco, she meets Henry, a man not that much older than her. He promises her a family, something she’s always desired, and in an instant she agrees, not knowing this new path will test her in ways unimaginable, because this family not only shares everything, but they also contain some intense people. However, when she is faced with an ultimate dilemma, will Melinda be able to save herself before it’s too late, or will she become yet another one of Henry’s girls, brainwashed with little to nothing to call their own?
Prior to reading Family, I had only read two books by Ostow, Golden Girl and 30 Guys in 30 Days, two books that were the definition of light, fluffy reads, so to say this book, her newest one, was different would be a serious understatement. However, it was an interesting change to say the least.
For one, the characters in this are crazy, but in a way that is realistic given that they are part of a cult. As mentioned above, Melinda is a girl lost beyond repair. She has been hurt in countless ways, and for her, Henry’s promise was a solution to it all. In some ways I can see why she would stay, why she and the all others involved would let themselves become victim to Henry as well as each other, because the characters in this are all “misfits” lost to themselves and the world. So while all I wanted to throughout the novel was yell “run!” to Melinda, I understood, and more importantly, I rooted for her to see the light, to see that she could find help, that she still at the world at her fingertips.
However, what made this read the compelling read it was the fact that it was told in episodic verse. Every page was sparse yet it completely presented the world contained in a three dimensional way. Most importantly, Ostow didn’t shy away from the gritty details that are usual associated with these type of things, and while it made Family a heard read at times, it made the novel all the more realistic and eye-opening so to say.
The only aspect of this novel that I was not big on was the last portion of the novel. It moved an extremely fast paced and when everything was finally said and done, I felt like it was missing something, more closure perhaps. Nonetheless, I can understand why it was that way.
Intense and unique, Micol Ostow’s Family is not for the faint-hearted. It is a crazy novel, and the ending is even crazier, but I am sure fans of gritty fiction, such as Ellen Hopkins’s books, will surely like this one.
Grade: B+
September 3, 2011
Based loosely on the Manson family who committed brutal murders in 1969, this novel in verse uses vivid descriptive language to explain how one teen, Mel, joins the cult. Fleeing from an abusive stepfather, her "uncle" Jack, and a mother who looked the other way during the abuse, Mel heads for the streets seeking love, freedom, and acceptance. She happens to meet Henry, a charismatic man who fills her head with drugs and dreams, and takes her back to his compound. There are rules at the compound, and Mel surrenders her driver's license and her will, beginnng her slow orbit around the sun that that Henry becomes for her. The author does a wonderful job of getting inside Mel's head as she describes how she finds comfort in the family that Henry has cobbled together. When family members must do degrading things such as begging or scavenging in the trash for food, she comforts herself by telling herself it's for the good of the family and at Henry's behest. Although she is drawn to one of the cult members, there are others who fill her with fear. Eventually, Henry's anger toward a man who promised him a recording contract rises, and some family members set out to wreak vengeance on the man. Here's where things went awry in my enjoyment of the book. Mel resists participating in the murders, even setting free one victim. While it's hard to understand how the victim could have managed to escape, given all the blood described in the book, it's even harder to understand how Mel could have summoned the courage or motivation to resist the commands of Henry. While the author provides passages that show her starting to question life on the compound, there is nothing to indicate that she would actually try to stop the brutality. The book left me with mixed feelings, stunned at some of the exquisite language, amazed at the author's ability to see into the heart of someone as broken as Mel, but ultimately disappointed by the ending. Still, this book certainly is worth reading and discussing, plumbing as it does the depths of loneliness of some and the predatory nature of others. It's certainly not for the faint-hearted.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
October 31, 2016Melinda (Mel), is a teenager who was born into a broken family. Her father abuses her, and her mother knows- but does nothing to stop him. Mel runs away, and is found half-conscious on a park bench by a man who goes by the name Henry. After staying in his van for 3 days, he finally takes her to the ranch. There, she meets Shelly, Leila, Junior, and all the other “broken” people who stay there. Family. That’s what they are to her now. The only thing she wants is a family, a place to belong. Almost the entire story is about how Mel tries to become “whole” again. How she floats around time trying to make people happy with her, make them love her. How she is willing to give up her choice, her decisions, if only she could have a family. Until she is no longer willing, floating, following. Until she decides to make her own choices. This book shows how she changes, even goes against the tide for once. Even just for a fraction of time. I liked the way this book was written. It had a very deep and intense sort of poetic flow to it. It has a sad sort of elegance to it, the way that she fell into belief that this family was the answer, only to realize that they too were tearing apart or “fraying at the edges”. Also, I liked the new girl, Angela. She was not a part of the story for long at all, but I liked how she was able to say no to Henry. It did have a lot of repetition, which got tiring after a while. It made it difficult to distinguish whether or not the event was happening again, or being remembered. I would recommend this to people who enjoy poetry.
September 25, 2013
Family by Micol Ostow
-This book was written for people who like creepy and scary books.
-I give this book 4 stars.
-I thought this book was really good, it kept me on my feet and it was super creepy. The main character Mel, got treated super bad growing up so she left her old family behind and was basically homeless until the handsome Henry found her on a city bus and offered her life, a family, and love. Something Mel has always wanted but never got. The only thing i would change about this book is to not make the book so complicated and by that i mean the author changes the setting in the book a bunch like one minute you'll be reading "before" and the next page you'll be reading "after" it gets confusing, other then that the book is good.
-The main character Mel is very nonsocial shes very to herself and by that i mean she doesn't open up which i completely understand judging from the family she came from and i used to be very closed up a few years ago and after a while i came to realize that i need to open up to people and i need to say how im feeling sometimes because if i don't it will eventually get all bottled up and i wont be able to take it anymore. Mel finally realizes that when shes introduced and welcomed into Henry's family.
-This book was written for people who like creepy and scary books.
-I give this book 4 stars.
-I thought this book was really good, it kept me on my feet and it was super creepy. The main character Mel, got treated super bad growing up so she left her old family behind and was basically homeless until the handsome Henry found her on a city bus and offered her life, a family, and love. Something Mel has always wanted but never got. The only thing i would change about this book is to not make the book so complicated and by that i mean the author changes the setting in the book a bunch like one minute you'll be reading "before" and the next page you'll be reading "after" it gets confusing, other then that the book is good.
-The main character Mel is very nonsocial shes very to herself and by that i mean she doesn't open up which i completely understand judging from the family she came from and i used to be very closed up a few years ago and after a while i came to realize that i need to open up to people and i need to say how im feeling sometimes because if i don't it will eventually get all bottled up and i wont be able to take it anymore. Mel finally realizes that when shes introduced and welcomed into Henry's family.
March 13, 2015
Family liest sich wie der Gedankenstrudel einer psychisch-labilen, teilweise unter Drogeneinfluss stehenden Person. Liest sich so und beschreibt ziemlich gut die Erzählerin. Durch die zahlreichen Wiederholungen ganzer Wortgruppen und inhaltlicher Fakten habe ich mich allerdings schnell gelangweilt. Das Buch ist in freier Versform verfasst und spiegelt so wirklich gut das Chaos der Protagonistin wieder, aber von einem Buch, das die Morde Charles Mansons fiktionalisiert, habe ich mir mehr Einblick versprochen. Wie tickt diese kranke Psyche? Was ist so charismatisch an ihm, dass er ganze Menschengruppen dazu bewegt mit ihm zu morden? Stattdessen ist Mel innerlich einfach kaputt und schwärmt für Henry (Manson), weil er eben charismatisch ist. Kein schlechtes Buch, aber zu wenig von dem Horror, den ich erwartet hatte.
January 5, 2022
noppppppe! I almost DNFed this book a few times, but I pushed through and finished it. I was so excited to have a book based on the Manson Family cult, since I love true crime and all that, but this was just not for me. I found the writing style a bit weird and it didn’t really flow for me. Also it felt a little repetitive with the MC just saying how mush she loved Henry so much. I just thought that you really didn’t get to see the ways that the cult manipulated its members. She just kind of got invited into the cult and then she was completely devoted for no reason. There was one subtle writing technique that I did like, but I could see it getting on some peoples’ nerves. The whole book was written in lowercase letters, except for when the MC was talking about Henry. I liked how that in her mind he was the only person deserving of capitalization.
December 21, 2019
being in verse didn't seem to add to the story and it ended up being this book's downfall
January 16, 2021
**There will be some minor-ish spoilers for the climax in this review.
Well... it was a book all right.
I picked up Family many years ago and added it to my TBR pile because I'm a fan of fucked up things, generally, so an exploration into cult dynamics seemed right up my alley. Over the years that it's sat at the bottom of my pile, I forgot (or never realized) that this was a verse novel, which is not something I usually partake in. Regardless, I did find myself enjoying the verse style at times, especially because it allowed the author to touch on some poetic emotions that might have been considered superfluous in a traditional narrative. As a fan of purplier prose, I did enjoy this, but quickly found the style tiresome in its repetition. A lot of the book felt like the same lines over and over, and I honestly wonder how much book would be left if all the repetition was removed. Some of this repetition worked to reinforce ideas, and other times it just became annoying.
The verse style also focused more on the main character's emotions than communicating details of the plot, which gave the impression of an unreliable (if not just freakin' clueless) narrator. Because of this, what actually happens isn't the focus, leaving a thin plot that bordered on boring and stereotypical. Part of my interest in this book, and what the back cover bragged it was, was an exploration of someone pulled into a cult. I was under the impression that the book would showcase the transformation: how someone from an ordinary life could turn into a cult member willing to commit murder. However, that was not what I got. I can't blame the verse for this either, this was just plain poor writing. The book presented Mel, the main character, as born broken, a concept that is highly problematic. Mel lived in an abusive home, with her mother emotionally neglecting her while her step-father sexually abused her. This is a fairly stereotypical set-up for a runaway situation, but not a death knell, if only the author put some development into Mel herself. Instead, Mel is the perfect cult member before she even joins the cult. The first time Mel meets Henry, the cult leader, she describes him as if she's already a devoted member: talking as if he's god, with abstract descriptions that give me no sense of who Henry is, aside from perfect. There is no attempt to show how a stranger on the street could become someone so important to Mel that she would willingly surrender her identity without thinking about it. It gave the impression that Mel is just 'crazy,' leading into that premise of some people just being 'born broken.' We don't see how she loses herself to the cult, from page one, she just willingly submits, taking a lot of the power out of the novel. Instead of reading about someone's fall, I instead get a boring story about a family who commits a murder, without any interesting plot twists. If the author wanted to focus more on emotions and relationships, they still could have accomplished this while having the 'murder plot' still be fairly simple, but there's no effort put into the character dynamics, nor does the book dig into how these dynamics could influence the cult 'family,' which would have made for a far more interesting book. Instead, the cult members all seemed like a hive mind at times, with only hints that they might have their own thoughts and ideas.
Finally, that ending just pissed me right off. If you're going to commit to writing a novel about cult members who do bad things, and more so if you're creating a fall arc, don't chicken out at the last minute. During the climax where Mel and several other family members murder a fictionalized Sharon Tate and Alfred Hitchcock, Mel backs out and lets the 'singer' free, and runs away from the family herself, which not only made no sense for how Mel was written, but robs the story of its believability. How and why would the family let her go? We didn't see Mel's transformation into this person, so how do we know what pulled her out of it? Why the sudden change of heart when she was so freakin' devoted to Henry? Not to mention, way to cop out on the promise of the novel. Readers picked up the book because they wanted something dark and gritty, and instead of showing us a true fall arc, we get a crybaby who runs away when things get tough.
Ultimately? Boring, unimaginative, stays within the box, flat characters, NOTHING HAPPENS UGH, and a cop out ending. But, uh... at least there's some pretty writing?
All in all, 2/5 stars. It's a book, but probably not worth reading.
Well... it was a book all right.
I picked up Family many years ago and added it to my TBR pile because I'm a fan of fucked up things, generally, so an exploration into cult dynamics seemed right up my alley. Over the years that it's sat at the bottom of my pile, I forgot (or never realized) that this was a verse novel, which is not something I usually partake in. Regardless, I did find myself enjoying the verse style at times, especially because it allowed the author to touch on some poetic emotions that might have been considered superfluous in a traditional narrative. As a fan of purplier prose, I did enjoy this, but quickly found the style tiresome in its repetition. A lot of the book felt like the same lines over and over, and I honestly wonder how much book would be left if all the repetition was removed. Some of this repetition worked to reinforce ideas, and other times it just became annoying.
The verse style also focused more on the main character's emotions than communicating details of the plot, which gave the impression of an unreliable (if not just freakin' clueless) narrator. Because of this, what actually happens isn't the focus, leaving a thin plot that bordered on boring and stereotypical. Part of my interest in this book, and what the back cover bragged it was, was an exploration of someone pulled into a cult. I was under the impression that the book would showcase the transformation: how someone from an ordinary life could turn into a cult member willing to commit murder. However, that was not what I got. I can't blame the verse for this either, this was just plain poor writing. The book presented Mel, the main character, as born broken, a concept that is highly problematic. Mel lived in an abusive home, with her mother emotionally neglecting her while her step-father sexually abused her. This is a fairly stereotypical set-up for a runaway situation, but not a death knell, if only the author put some development into Mel herself. Instead, Mel is the perfect cult member before she even joins the cult. The first time Mel meets Henry, the cult leader, she describes him as if she's already a devoted member: talking as if he's god, with abstract descriptions that give me no sense of who Henry is, aside from perfect. There is no attempt to show how a stranger on the street could become someone so important to Mel that she would willingly surrender her identity without thinking about it. It gave the impression that Mel is just 'crazy,' leading into that premise of some people just being 'born broken.' We don't see how she loses herself to the cult, from page one, she just willingly submits, taking a lot of the power out of the novel. Instead of reading about someone's fall, I instead get a boring story about a family who commits a murder, without any interesting plot twists. If the author wanted to focus more on emotions and relationships, they still could have accomplished this while having the 'murder plot' still be fairly simple, but there's no effort put into the character dynamics, nor does the book dig into how these dynamics could influence the cult 'family,' which would have made for a far more interesting book. Instead, the cult members all seemed like a hive mind at times, with only hints that they might have their own thoughts and ideas.
Finally, that ending just pissed me right off. If you're going to commit to writing a novel about cult members who do bad things, and more so if you're creating a fall arc, don't chicken out at the last minute. During the climax where Mel and several other family members murder a fictionalized Sharon Tate and Alfred Hitchcock, Mel backs out and lets the 'singer' free, and runs away from the family herself, which not only made no sense for how Mel was written, but robs the story of its believability. How and why would the family let her go? We didn't see Mel's transformation into this person, so how do we know what pulled her out of it? Why the sudden change of heart when she was so freakin' devoted to Henry? Not to mention, way to cop out on the promise of the novel. Readers picked up the book because they wanted something dark and gritty, and instead of showing us a true fall arc, we get a crybaby who runs away when things get tough.
Ultimately? Boring, unimaginative, stays within the box, flat characters, NOTHING HAPPENS UGH, and a cop out ending. But, uh... at least there's some pretty writing?
All in all, 2/5 stars. It's a book, but probably not worth reading.
May 28, 2018
I can't really do a succinct review of why this book did not work, so we're going to do a random list:
1. It's written in verse
Sometimes.
And sometimes not. Sometimes it is almost a normal set of prose in paragraph form, describing the location or a moment like this is a normal book, if very stream-of-consciousness.
but then
it gets
repetitive
and repetitive
and says the word
family
2. Charles Manson is a musician first in this adaptation, and someone who is really great to have sex with second, and maybe a controlling monster in the narrators acid-soaked fog.
3. Charles Manson is not a horrible racist in this adaptation, which is skipping out on some important details.
4. It is one of those "look how horrible this can be" stories of a girl snapped up by the cruel jaws of a charismatic abuser, drugs, and cult behavior, and does so by having the POV character be an empty vessel that was abused in her past and has no personality other than broken and blank. There is no psychological "rewriting" that usually is part of the brainwashing. She shows up abundantly ready to play.
5. To signal some kind of "arc" POV character saves Sharon Tate Equivalent from her murder because she "wants to live" as if the other person they just murdered didn't want to. Changing the actual crimes of the family when doing a close adaptation of their story makes no goddamn sense because we aren't reading this to like and understand an empathetic drugged-out cult member.
6. The verse in this is so fucking repetitive you couldn't have just done like a 50-page set of poetry on it without constantly doing the verses on being a family that show up every other page.
7. Other than the protagonist needing this family because she has none back home, the book has nothing else to say, and it says that about the protagonist page one, and like, cool. Okay. Anything else? There was at least an element of general misanthropy shared by the Manson Family, that society was at fault, but there's little mention of that; just that because the family structure at home had failed for all the members. Again, this takes away some of the incredibly racist shit Charles Manson was saying about the apparent coming apocalypse.
8. I went through by serial killer phase, when I purchased this book years ago, and this doesn't appeal to me know and I fail to grasp what I would have liked about it back then. The setting of the sixties never takes form around the narrator because the text is so spacey, the juicy details (that I would have liked at one point but probably can live without now) are absent to any True Crime fans, and then the narrative splits from the reality of the situation so it's not even the full on cautionary tale it could be about brainwashing.
1. It's written in verse
Sometimes.
And sometimes not. Sometimes it is almost a normal set of prose in paragraph form, describing the location or a moment like this is a normal book, if very stream-of-consciousness.
but then
it gets
repetitive
and repetitive
and says the word
family
2. Charles Manson is a musician first in this adaptation, and someone who is really great to have sex with second, and maybe a controlling monster in the narrators acid-soaked fog.
3. Charles Manson is not a horrible racist in this adaptation, which is skipping out on some important details.
4. It is one of those "look how horrible this can be" stories of a girl snapped up by the cruel jaws of a charismatic abuser, drugs, and cult behavior, and does so by having the POV character be an empty vessel that was abused in her past and has no personality other than broken and blank. There is no psychological "rewriting" that usually is part of the brainwashing. She shows up abundantly ready to play.
5. To signal some kind of "arc" POV character saves Sharon Tate Equivalent from her murder because she "wants to live" as if the other person they just murdered didn't want to. Changing the actual crimes of the family when doing a close adaptation of their story makes no goddamn sense because we aren't reading this to like and understand an empathetic drugged-out cult member.
6. The verse in this is so fucking repetitive you couldn't have just done like a 50-page set of poetry on it without constantly doing the verses on being a family that show up every other page.
7. Other than the protagonist needing this family because she has none back home, the book has nothing else to say, and it says that about the protagonist page one, and like, cool. Okay. Anything else? There was at least an element of general misanthropy shared by the Manson Family, that society was at fault, but there's little mention of that; just that because the family structure at home had failed for all the members. Again, this takes away some of the incredibly racist shit Charles Manson was saying about the apparent coming apocalypse.
8. I went through by serial killer phase, when I purchased this book years ago, and this doesn't appeal to me know and I fail to grasp what I would have liked about it back then. The setting of the sixties never takes form around the narrator because the text is so spacey, the juicy details (that I would have liked at one point but probably can live without now) are absent to any True Crime fans, and then the narrative splits from the reality of the situation so it's not even the full on cautionary tale it could be about brainwashing.
August 18, 2021
In the summer of 1969, seven people in L.A. were murdered by people tied to Charles Manson. Manson was a wannabe singer and leader of a cult-like group. In 1974, Vincent Bugliosi’s (with help from Curt Gentry) account of the events, Helter Skelter, was published. When she was twelve, Micol Ostow’s father gave her a copy of the book and it is clearly the inspiration for her YA novel Family.
Family is the story of seventeen-year-old Melinda Jensen. She’s run away from home, leaving behind an emotionally distant mother and a sexually abusive “uncle jack.”
now meant “uncle jack” and whiskey breath and roaming hands and squeaking bedsprings.
it meant mother, treading water, understanding that jack was not your uncle, not your father, not your family. mother, watching you drown, doing nothing as you drifted, as the current pulled you to a place where whiskey breath and roaming hands couldn’t reach.
Melinda doesn’t use capitals for anything, unless she’s talking about Henry. He finds Melinda, “a heap of bones, a tangle of stringy hair, collapsed on a sticky park bench” and offers her what she seems to desperately need. He scoops Melinda up and whisks her back to the ranch, where he lives with a bunch of other misfits. The rules are simple: “everything belongs to everyone. there are no parents, no ownership, no ego. no “i”.”
For a time, Melinda finds relief from her life at the ranch. It’s all free love and shared meals and music. To be in Henry’s orbit is to be chosen, doused in his special light. Until, of course, it’s not. Until she is called upon to participate in a horrific crime.
Family is written in verse and this might, perhaps, be one of its problems. It’s a bit repetitive. I loved the idea of the book and anyone familiar with Manson and the Tate-LaBianca murders will certainly recognize the parallels. I wanted to empathize with Melinda, clearly she’s had a rough go, but it was hard to really care about any of these characters given that the prose was so fragmented. I have read other novels-in-verse and have found them satisfying, but this one just didn’t pack the emotional punch I was expecting. I think if you are at all interested in Manson, you should definitely give Helter Skelter a go. Like Ostow, I read it as a teenager and it really is quintessential true crime.
2.5 stars, really...because it's better than just "okay" but not quite a "like" for me.
Family is the story of seventeen-year-old Melinda Jensen. She’s run away from home, leaving behind an emotionally distant mother and a sexually abusive “uncle jack.”
now meant “uncle jack” and whiskey breath and roaming hands and squeaking bedsprings.
it meant mother, treading water, understanding that jack was not your uncle, not your father, not your family. mother, watching you drown, doing nothing as you drifted, as the current pulled you to a place where whiskey breath and roaming hands couldn’t reach.
Melinda doesn’t use capitals for anything, unless she’s talking about Henry. He finds Melinda, “a heap of bones, a tangle of stringy hair, collapsed on a sticky park bench” and offers her what she seems to desperately need. He scoops Melinda up and whisks her back to the ranch, where he lives with a bunch of other misfits. The rules are simple: “everything belongs to everyone. there are no parents, no ownership, no ego. no “i”.”
For a time, Melinda finds relief from her life at the ranch. It’s all free love and shared meals and music. To be in Henry’s orbit is to be chosen, doused in his special light. Until, of course, it’s not. Until she is called upon to participate in a horrific crime.
Family is written in verse and this might, perhaps, be one of its problems. It’s a bit repetitive. I loved the idea of the book and anyone familiar with Manson and the Tate-LaBianca murders will certainly recognize the parallels. I wanted to empathize with Melinda, clearly she’s had a rough go, but it was hard to really care about any of these characters given that the prose was so fragmented. I have read other novels-in-verse and have found them satisfying, but this one just didn’t pack the emotional punch I was expecting. I think if you are at all interested in Manson, you should definitely give Helter Skelter a go. Like Ostow, I read it as a teenager and it really is quintessential true crime.
2.5 stars, really...because it's better than just "okay" but not quite a "like" for me.
September 8, 2024
Ughhhh I’m so disappointed.
I loved the first 2 “acts” of this book. Even if it is literally Charles Manson’s story. I don’t even think you could say it’s “inspired by” because really the only thing they bothered to change was that Charles’s name was “Henry”.
But I was still really enjoying it!
I love a novel told in verse, and found Ostow’s writing style to be very beautiful.
I really enjoyed the fact that this didn’t feel like I was being told a story, it felt like I was reading Mel’s diary. I wasn’t drawn into it feeling like I was experiencing what happened the way most novels are and it was a refreshing take on a cult novel.
I could really Mel’s delusions about Henry and her belief in the family. And it was so cool. Getting that perspective from a cult member? I was eating it up.
And then we hit act 3. Which is just repeating previous chapters with a bit more information thrown in to clarify things. And maybe it’s because I read this in one sitting but I don’t want to read the same chapters over again 100 pages later. So that already knocked it down probably half a star for me.
And then the spoilery bits that knocked another half star off. This just wasn’t what I wanted from an ending. For Mel to suddenly find clarity and give up on Henry and the entire family? I hated it. I wish we would have kept the brainwashed perspective through until the end. I understand wanting your character to be reformed and gave a “happy ending” where the main character is free from the cult. But it really sucked for me!
I’m just bummed because the first half I was thinking this could be at least a high 3 star, and I didn’t understand the low average rating.
Well… the second half ruined it.
I’ve had this book on my shelves for like 8 years though and it’s survived countless unhauls so I’m glad I finally got to it and I’ll no longer be plagued by the mystery of “Family by Micol Ostow”.
I just wish I’d enjoyed it more than I did.
I loved the first 2 “acts” of this book. Even if it is literally Charles Manson’s story. I don’t even think you could say it’s “inspired by” because really the only thing they bothered to change was that Charles’s name was “Henry”.
But I was still really enjoying it!
I love a novel told in verse, and found Ostow’s writing style to be very beautiful.
I really enjoyed the fact that this didn’t feel like I was being told a story, it felt like I was reading Mel’s diary. I wasn’t drawn into it feeling like I was experiencing what happened the way most novels are and it was a refreshing take on a cult novel.
I could really Mel’s delusions about Henry and her belief in the family. And it was so cool. Getting that perspective from a cult member? I was eating it up.
And then we hit act 3. Which is just repeating previous chapters with a bit more information thrown in to clarify things. And maybe it’s because I read this in one sitting but I don’t want to read the same chapters over again 100 pages later. So that already knocked it down probably half a star for me.
And then the spoilery bits that knocked another half star off. This just wasn’t what I wanted from an ending. For Mel to suddenly find clarity and give up on Henry and the entire family? I hated it. I wish we would have kept the brainwashed perspective through until the end. I understand wanting your character to be reformed and gave a “happy ending” where the main character is free from the cult. But it really sucked for me!
I’m just bummed because the first half I was thinking this could be at least a high 3 star, and I didn’t understand the low average rating.
Well… the second half ruined it.
I’ve had this book on my shelves for like 8 years though and it’s survived countless unhauls so I’m glad I finally got to it and I’ll no longer be plagued by the mystery of “Family by Micol Ostow”.
I just wish I’d enjoyed it more than I did.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 14, 2018
For a book that was obviously based off the Manson murders, i enjoyed it. Ive always been one for dark, manipulative mysteries. The story takes place over what feels like a few weeks, starting with the main character, Mel, running away from home. She is found by the mysterious and compelling Henry and he asks her to join his "family" with promises or free love, drugs, an accepting family, and happiness. She meets the rest of her family and at first it seems a bit strange, but not violent. After time getting accustomed, Henry shows his true colors. Having Mel participate in brutal acts for his "cause"
Mel herself is not a very likable person. She doesn't have much of a personality and shes basically a shell of a person by the time the story even begins. She was abused as a child, leaving her empty and easily manipulated.
This story, as i said before, was loosely based off the manson murders. Dealing with cult activity, drugs, murder, and brainwashing. Henry never commits any murders himself.
This book overall was a very involved read, you have to be able to think about it for a while after. A fair warning; this book is written in verse and it gets much more confusing and general as the story goes on. Lots of personal interpretation is required to fully understand this story. I think anyone over the age of 13 would be able to understand or enjoy this book. you would also have to enjoy creepy novels.
Mel herself is not a very likable person. She doesn't have much of a personality and shes basically a shell of a person by the time the story even begins. She was abused as a child, leaving her empty and easily manipulated.
This story, as i said before, was loosely based off the manson murders. Dealing with cult activity, drugs, murder, and brainwashing. Henry never commits any murders himself.
This book overall was a very involved read, you have to be able to think about it for a while after. A fair warning; this book is written in verse and it gets much more confusing and general as the story goes on. Lots of personal interpretation is required to fully understand this story. I think anyone over the age of 13 would be able to understand or enjoy this book. you would also have to enjoy creepy novels.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2020
Book CW/TW: Sexual assault/abuse, rape
This book was a fictional take on the Manson family, written in verse, from the perspective of a 17 year old girl (named Mel) who joins The Family. Names and the conclusion were altered, but most of the details of life seem to be very similar to what life in the Manson Family supposedly was.
I went back and forth many times on the verse format- part of me thought it really stood in the way of the story, part of me thought it was exactly how a 17 year old would write (which is perfect, given the age/life of the narrator).
Most of the book would just wander back to Mel's childhood sexual abuse, which felt very realistic in terms of being in the brain of someone who has experienced trauma. At the same time, the thought and logic patterns expressed made Mel seem significantly younger than 17, which felt a bit odd and less realistic. It kinda felt Mel's character was very 2D: she was the first half of the PTSD wikipedia page and had no in depth cognitive function, which bothered me.
Overall, not really a book for me
This book was a fictional take on the Manson family, written in verse, from the perspective of a 17 year old girl (named Mel) who joins The Family. Names and the conclusion were altered, but most of the details of life seem to be very similar to what life in the Manson Family supposedly was.
I went back and forth many times on the verse format- part of me thought it really stood in the way of the story, part of me thought it was exactly how a 17 year old would write (which is perfect, given the age/life of the narrator).
Most of the book would just wander back to Mel's childhood sexual abuse, which felt very realistic in terms of being in the brain of someone who has experienced trauma. At the same time, the thought and logic patterns expressed made Mel seem significantly younger than 17, which felt a bit odd and less realistic. It kinda felt Mel's character was very 2D: she was the first half of the PTSD wikipedia page and had no in depth cognitive function, which bothered me.
Overall, not really a book for me
September 29, 2021
DNF after 143 pages.
I wish I loved this book. I love the concept, I love the atmosphere, I love the experimental writing style, but God almighty the vocabulary is so repetitive it nearly made me nauseous.
The words "infinite", "now", "forever", "undertow", "endless" and "orbit" could have been used a quarter as much and still gotten the message across; Mel is completely consumed by man with an indescribably strong presence and force of suggestion. His will is her command, and she loves him for it.
The technical experimentation with capital letters is very well done. Mel never capitalizes any words which are not referring to Him, Henry. Everything else in her world is small and insignificant, not just by comparison, but by nature. Everything was small and insignificant before Him.
I'll say it again; I wish I loved this book.
I wish I loved this book. I love the concept, I love the atmosphere, I love the experimental writing style, but God almighty the vocabulary is so repetitive it nearly made me nauseous.
The words "infinite", "now", "forever", "undertow", "endless" and "orbit" could have been used a quarter as much and still gotten the message across; Mel is completely consumed by man with an indescribably strong presence and force of suggestion. His will is her command, and she loves him for it.
The technical experimentation with capital letters is very well done. Mel never capitalizes any words which are not referring to Him, Henry. Everything else in her world is small and insignificant, not just by comparison, but by nature. Everything was small and insignificant before Him.
I'll say it again; I wish I loved this book.
May 18, 2021
Family by Micol Ostow brings insight into the manipulation of counterculture and the Tate-LaBianca Murders; however, this book struggles with addressing it properly. It dances around Mel's trauma, as well as the murders themselves. It is described as a "loosely" based depiction of the Manson cult, but it is a play-by-play retelling of the events with the names changed. It made the story slightly difficult to follow. While I understand Ostow wanted her own character to be placed in the cult, changing the rest of the family members, only slightly, blurs the story.
May 30, 2024
Read Family by Micol Ostow! This was straight-up Manson shit, straight down to "I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's work," but, you know, I've done the same thing with a different true crime case. Can't judge her too harshly. It made me feel smart, as someone who knows a lot about Manson, though I can't help but think I would've liked it more if I didn't know quite so much, because the ONE place this differed was with the victims and it bothered me something crazy.
March 24, 2019
Fast read.
VERY unique writing style.
Loosely based on Charles Manson and the Manson Family. It was interesting enough to make me look into the story of Charles Manson and his group that helped murder people in 1969.
As a person who finds people watching and others' motivations as fascinating as I do...I naturally read novels through that lens/perspective.
VERY unique writing style.
Loosely based on Charles Manson and the Manson Family. It was interesting enough to make me look into the story of Charles Manson and his group that helped murder people in 1969.
As a person who finds people watching and others' motivations as fascinating as I do...I naturally read novels through that lens/perspective.
September 1, 2020
It was alright, but I think it could have been executed much better.
I didn't really feel all that invested or shocked in any way.
I feel like the author took the easy way out with the MC's arc and didn't flesh out Henry as much as she could have.
That being said, I was a bit skeptical about having the book written in verse, but it did add to the immersion and kept me reading
I didn't really feel all that invested or shocked in any way.
I feel like the author took the easy way out with the MC's arc and didn't flesh out Henry as much as she could have.
That being said, I was a bit skeptical about having the book written in verse, but it did add to the immersion and kept me reading
November 4, 2023
I began this book not excepting much, but boy was I wrong. The way it was written added so much to the storytelling aspect. I couldn’t put the book down at some points. Overall, the story was nice, so was the plot, it just wasn’t fully my cup of tea
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