REFINED

A victim of childhood abuse recounts tracing the roots of her father’s violence in this debut memoir.

This candid book’s fraught opening describes Breaux at 15 years old being chased through a forest by two men with a rope. She had recently fled her home, a decision made following years of abuse at the hands of her father. Born in Louisiana in 1971, the author describes how, as a young child, she witnessed him break her mother’s arm with a crack that “echoed across the room.” The violence was also directed at her siblings, with her brother, Bubba, being “smashed” into drywall at 10. Starting at 7, Breaux recalls, she was sexually abused, and her father would threaten her with a gun. The author explains the abandonment she felt when her mother failed to stand up for her. The volume tells of Breaux’s being placed in foster care and, in adulthood, deciding to take a DNA test, which led her to research her newly discovered relatives. The author unearthed a pattern of violence that ran through her family. This is a memoir about understanding how people are shaped by their predecessors and about finding liberation from the past. Breaux’s book opens with an acute sense of urgency, showcasing the author’s viscerally descriptive use of prose: “Behind me, the footpath was intense, and thundering, as two men pursued me. Blood pulsed through my head so fast it was like a wrecking ball banging around in my skull.” Thoughtfully structured, the opening describes a girl desperate to outrun both her pursuers and her past. The account’s arc leads to a contrasting moment of closure and catharsis, with the author levelheadedly reflecting on her past from the perspective of “a strong woman who wants to spotlight and lay bare the evils of the world.” Some readers will recoil at Breaux’s detailed recollections of domestic violence directed at her mother: “Her face was distorted and bent in an odd way, and blood streamed from her nose and mouth.” But such descriptions serve to accurately communicate the unbearable horror of the author’s home life. This is a courageous, affecting, and cleverly conceived memoir that will have specific resonance with those who have suffered similar abuse.

A frank, sharply written account of hope and survival.