Have You Found Her... Janice Erlbaum?
I just finished reading Janice Erlbaum's fine, new book, Have You Found Her A Memoir. It's a sequel of sorts to her excellent first offering, Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir. I qualify the use of the word, "sequel" because the story picks up twenty years after the first one ends. I am hoping that this may be condsidered the "poquel" or "post sequel" of the yet to be written sequel so we find out what happened during the void in between. If possible, I found the current release to be even more engaging and riveting than the first book, hence my greed for a book that would bridge the time gap.
The premise is simple: Erlbaum goes back to the homeless shelter she once lived in to volunteer. The directive from the higher ups is to "listen and believe." She brings beads with her as an activity for the young women. No one could have ever anticipated what would follow...
Have You Found Her comes off as gritty, honest and real. I loved and believed every word. I was touched by the title, the meaning of which was revealed, quite poignantly, early on. It was also a funnier read than I would have imagined:
...I'd been spending four hours a week volunteering, for ten months now. I should have cured homelessness already. Instead, I had decorated it.
Oddly, I kept thinking that Steven Spielberg should make this book into a movie...
For more info, please check out Janice Erlbaum's outstanding blog: girlbomb.com
posted by Florence Yoo | 5:32 PM
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