Book Review: Come Back by Mia and Claire Fontaine

A Beautifully Written, Astonishingly Honest Mother-Daughter Memoir.

Oct 29, 2008

" It is its own religion, this love. Uncontainable, savage, and without end, it is what I feel for my child." --- Claire Fontaine; Come Back

Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back is a captivating read to say the least. A Mother; Claire Fontaine, and her daughter Mia, tell all in this heart-wrenching, no-nonsense memoir about their nightmare through the abuses, denials, and shocking detours that threatened to tear their relationship apart, and almost ended both of their lives.

In this riveting journey, the Fontaines take the reader into the Underworld of drugs and deep-seeded secrets and allow them to both suffer, and rejoice with them.

Come Back is a powerful work of Art in which the authors bare their very souls and deepest vulnerabilities to the reader. The book chronicles the downward spiral of a "seemingly" normal teenage girl who starts off a preppy private academy student in L.A., and ends up in a rehab boarding school across the globe in the Czech Republic.

With brutal honesty and clarity, the Mother and Daughter explain their points of view about the events that led up to the astonishing conclusion that ultimately saved both of their lives. Although they are, in essence, on both sides of the same coin, in the end they are able to unite and embrace one another.

The tone of Come Back is deeply conversational. Claire and Mia Fontaine describe their thoughts, emotions, and reactions so vividly that the reader feels like they are inside the head's of the pair. This up-in-your-face look into their lives lends them a likability, respect, and immediate connection to their audience.

The book is broken into four parts with each building upon the previous. Coupled with the first-person, informal dialogue, is the fluidity of the writing itself. Mia's points of view are written in italics and are alternated with Claire's in order to give the reader a total sense of situation.

Part One

Part one sheds light upon the lives of a younger Mia and Claire, each trying to find their own paths, growing stronger, and discovering more about themselves with everyday. The reader is introduced to the background of traumatic events that contributed to Mia's delinquincy and learns of her "alternate personality", if you will, while Mia is introduced to a psychiatric ward. The pair demonstrates how easy it is to avoid the realities of your own life.

Part Two

Part two opens with Mia's transfer from the hospital to Larkin, Indiana in an attempt to live with her Aunt Vivian. Mia shows us the drug-fueled world of speedballs, cocaine, herion, and abuse; while her mother, Claire, shows how it feels to try and save a loved-one from themselves. Once again caught, Mia escapes from a holding cell in Utah and eventually gets arrested with her accomplices.

Part Three

Part three finds Mia shipped, against her will, to Morava; a boot camp in the Czech Republic. She is put in a strict, structured environment involving silence, peer mentors, and self-correction, amongst other techniques.

Part Four

In part four Mia has adapted to her new rules and is slowly getting better. Then, in a hectic scene, Morava is closed down due to media exaggerations and Mia is forced to apply all the things she has learned there to her present woeful situation. The loss of Morava, which becomes iconic to the pair, allows both women to really analyze their behaviors and feelings, thus permitting tremendous growth. In a final series of tests at Spring Creek Lodge in Montana, Mia comes away with the confidence she once had as a child, with grateful thanks to Mike Linderman "teen whisperer."

Come Back is a remarkable book in the fact that not only is it a good read, but it pushes its' readers to look in their own mirrors as well. In a letter to the readers, the author's write they wish to give a "greater awareness of who you are and what you can do." Claire and Mia Fontaine do just that and also encourage people to reach out for help and challenge stereotypes.

The book has received the Dr. Richard Carmona 2007 Doorway of Hope Award, for work that inspires youth to leave the streets. It was also chosen by Target as a Bookmarked Club Pick.

The copyright of the article Book Review: Come Back by Mia and Claire Fontaine in Biographies/Memoirs is owned by Nichole Richardson. Permission to republish Book Review: Come Back by Mia and Claire Fontaine in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.