Hold Me Close, Let Me Go: A Mother, a Daughter and an Adolescence Survived

I absolutely loved this book. I bought it a few days ago and haven't been able to put it down. I loved Adair Lara's honesty. I felt that she and Morgan had become my friends. I have two teenage sons and this book touched me. I loved Morgan's spirit and felt Adair's love and fear for her. I love the final message that through it all, the consistent love that Morgan felt from her mom pulled her through. Basically we all make mistakes but if we keep on trying, our kids will feel our love for them. I am so sad that I am through with this book, I miss Morgan and Adair.

I don't think I have ever read a memoir that read more like a novel. I kept checking the cover to make sure. It's honest and very stirring, especially if you have ever raised a child to reach these years. I hated to see it end but I known the mom was grateful for some closure. This is well worth your time. I laughed and nodded my head many times. Sometimes in simple amazement and sometimes in agreement.

Hold Me Close, Let Me Go by Adair Lara is a wonderful, terrible, funny, devastating book that took me by surprise and held me in thrall from the first page. I didn't mean to read it. As a 63 year old childless gay man, I had little investment in a book (regretfully) being marketed as a mother-daughter self-help manual. But since I read only nonfiction, when browsing I'll pick up books on any subject, just to see how well the author writes, and so it was with Lara's book. Also, I was struck by the photo on the cover. Anyway I picked it up, began to read, then found I had to buy it. Gay, straight, childless, parent, this book is a staggering read for anyone who loves stories and admires those who can get out of the way and tell them true, even when artful lies are used. Though teenage/family dysfunction is at the center of Hold Me Close, Lara writes of universal experience--one of family, friends, and wrestling demons to the ground to find grace. Suddenly, I am in love with Adair Lara, though my partner of 26 years is not threatened. Read this book. You will be better for it.

Adair Lara brings a refreshingly honest voice to the frustrations of raising a teenager. She wonders how she went wrong while at the same time struggling to do whatever the "right" thing is that will turn her daughter's behavior around. Lara is a witty observer of her own circumstances, even the most dire.

I loved this book. I felt as if the author and I were close friends. Lara tells the truth--the funny, sad, scarey, touching truth--about what she went through raising a teenager. It's a gem!