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    Hollywood Park: A Memoir
    Hollywood Park: A Memoir
    Hollywood Park: A Memoir
    Audiobook11 hours

    Hollywood Park: A Memoir

    Written by Mikel Jollett

    Narrated by Mikel Jollett

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

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

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

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

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

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

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

    A Macmillan Audio production from Celadon Books

    Praise for Hollywood Park:

    "Musician Mikel Jollett is the tender voice of this harrowing memoir of a tumultuous coming-of-age...Listeners will hang on every word, especially in the early chapters, which take place during his childhood. Jollett is very giving as he presses on in a raspy voice, sharing details of poverty, deprivation and drugs. Fans of his music will appreciate the short bursts at the beginnings and ends of chapters. The musical interludes soften the harsh realities he recounts as listeners celebrate his resilience." — Audiofile Magazine

    "Mikel Jollett, the front man of indie band Airborne Toxic Event, chronicles his tumultuous life...What comes through the pages is a story of fierce love and family loyalty. This moving and profound memoir is for anyone who loves a good redemption story."— Good Morning America, 20 Books We're Excited for in 2020

    "The frontman of rock band Airborne Toxic Event chronicles, in gorgeous and exacting lyricism, his harrowing coming-of-age within (and eventual escape from) the Church of Synanon, a violent religious cult." — O, The Oprah Magazine, The 30 Most Anticipated Books of 2020 (so Far)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateMay 26, 2020
    ISBN9781250754592
    Author

    Mikel Jollett

    Mikel Jollett is the frontman of the indie band The Airborne Toxic Event. Prior to forming the band, Jollett graduated with honors from Stanford University. He was an on-air columnist for NPR's All Things Considered, an editor-at-large for Men's Health and an editor at Filter magazine. His fiction has been published in McSweeney's.

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    Reviews for Hollywood Park

    4.5/5

    78 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      You can feel the intensity and insanity that swallowed Mikel Jollett throughout his childhood, adolescence and adult years. His descriptions of home life with an unbalanced mother and free spirited but dependable dad had me laughing one minute and heartbroken the next. It makes sense that this sensitive child would grow into a creative artist. While unfamiliar with Mikel’s music I have become a fan of his enormous heart and artistic soul. The audio is lyrical and soothing.
      TW: addiction, emotional abuse, traumatic experiences, mental illness
      My one minor quibble: a bit long winded & repetitive at times

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I was also a “child of the universe“. I also lived in Synanon as a young child so this book had deep meaning for me. There were moments in Mikel’s book where I felt like I was living the exact same life as a child and experienced the exact same feelings he described. Powerful writing! I wish I could talk to him about his experiences. I am still recovering from the damage that Synanon caused. It molded me and shaped me in ways that I still deal with today.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book was so well written. The story has many layers and he unpacks a lot of trauma in such a beautiful way. If you’re a fan of his band or music, this will give you a greater appreciation for the lyrics.
    • 5/5
      I loved it. He told it very well. Kept me engaged. Finished in 24 hrs. Recommend for sure.
    • 5/5
      This was sooooo good! My first non- self-help audiobook and I was hooked!
    • 5/5
      A charming memoir. I love the references to the world from a child's eye. I was disappointed to see on Twitter that Mikel is anti-Trump. I would have thought no wars and peace deals would have been right up Mikel's alley. Ah well.
    • 5/5
      Mikel is such a poetic storyteller; I loved listening to him read his memoir. A fascinating and at times relatable recount of his formative years, various challenges and drives, beloved people who were apart of his life and a keen insight into how our perspectives change with maturity, exposure and experience. An encouraging novel of a boy who comes into their own after a chaotic and colourful childhood.
    • 5/5
      This book was do good. So very relatable to anyone who has childhood trauma.
    • 5/5
      Mikel, I have no doubt there are many stories left to tell. Please don’t stop writing. Beautiful listen.