"Hollywood Park" [A Memoir] (2020) - Book Review

MY REVIEW

Hardcover: 384 pages

Publisher: Celadon Books (May 26, 2020)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1250621569

ISBN-13: 978-1250621566

Click Picture for Purchase Information

“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.”

Thank you in advance to the publisher, Celadon Books, for providing a complimentary UNCORRECTED advanced review copy. A positive review was not required. All words are my own.

Some “trigger” or content warnings might include:

* Cult Living

* Heavy Drug Use

* Alcoholism

* Foul and questionable language

* Underage drinking, drug use, and smoking

* Physical Abuse

Anyone who is disturbed by the content should probably avoid this book.

The premise of the book was interesting – a child who was in a cult/commune escapes with his mother and brother, lives in poverty, tries to figure out his role as a son and his mother’s role in his life, and recounts his life experiences as a result of that life – delinquency, living with his father, and making a choice not to head to prison like his father did. This is a brutally honest, jarring memoir with raw and realistic language.

I had never heard of the Indie Band “The Toxic Airborne Event” and I hadn’t I heard of Mikel Jollett prior to reading this either.

Despite being born in the mid-late 1970’s (about two years after the author), I had never heard of Synanon. Nor did I know that at one point the courts referred drug offenders to the group for rehab.

At one point for his movie, THX 1138, George Lucas needed a large group of people with shaved heads, and so he hired some of his extras from Synanon. In addition, for the movie California Split, Director Robert Altman hired members of Synanon to be extras.

There was also the 1965 movie, Synanon, starring Edmond O'Brien as Chuck Dederich, as well as Chuck Connors, Stella Stevens, Richard Conte, Eartha Kitt, and Alex Cord (Airwolf 1984-1987).

In addition; the 1968 season 1, episode 22 [“Delayed Action”] of Mannix featured Synanon.

Synopsis: “The first clue in a mysterious hit-and-run leads Mannix to a rehab center where discovers that the case is connected to a 20-year-old crime”. [Richard Bull (Night Court), Ned Glass, Walter Koenig (Star Trek), Ronald Long, and Louise Sorel guest star].

Those facts show that this cult was definitely prominent for quite a while.

So, there was a lot about this cult I didn’t even know, and so much that could’ve been explored. What is surprising is the memoir only covers Mikel’s escape from the cult and his life going forward, and is told over four parts:

** Escape

** Oregon

** California (where he goes to live with his dad and “step-mom”)

** Hollywood Park

To be honest, I was very disappointed with the book. And, I say that with a lot of reluctance. I know that memoirs, biographies, auto-biographies are often hit or miss with some people. For those who enjoy memoirs or books of this time, it will not be an easy read. I found it difficult to read and get through. It definitely was not as I thought it would be.

It starts with Mikel’s point of view as a child and a limited perspective of what is going on, which is to be expected. After all a child has a limited vocabulary and sense of the world around them. However, it probably would’ve worked better if he would’ve written it as an adult looking back as a child with “as a child, this was …” rather than writing it as if the child was telling the story.

Some of the other issues with this memoir:

** “That a$$hole Reagan” became like a mantra. We get it, the author and his family were not fans of Reagan or his policies regarding mental health. Since it isn’t a political debate, such criticism can’t be constructive.

** FAR too much dialogue, almost like recounting entire conversations rather than trying to summarize what they were about and in what context they were about or for. It was also like this was a cross between a fiction story and memoir. It became nearly monotonous and boring. Which I am very sorry to say.

** Lack of emphasis on Jollett’s published works before starting the band. Why did he choose the publications he did, why did he choose the topics he wrote abou. Also, why did he choose the major he did in college.

** The lack of a timeline to sort out the events and when they occurred, ie: what year did they leave, when did he move in with his dad, what year was his nephew born? While this is an UNCORRECTED ARC, I believe the inclusion of a timeline would have been beneficial. It might also help the reader identify better to the time period.

Most of the book featured the delinquency between him and his brother, as well the never-ending issues with his narcissistic mother. The reader doesn’t find the true nature of his mother’s “illness” until the very end. I had a feeling there wasn’t something right about her as I was reading it. In addition what was more disturbing was the fact that she was working at a mental hospital and with patients.

His “step-mom”, Bonnie, was at one time one of his “care-takers” at Synanon and due to the nature of the children being taken away from their parents at six (6) months old, Mikel bonded more with Bonnie than he did his own mother. This is understandable. However, despite Bonnie’s involvement in the cult, after her escape, she seemed to fair better mentally than Mikel’s mother did.

Interestingly enough, the kids were spared a custody battle between their parents. Instead, both their mother and father agreed to let the kids live where they thrived. However, Mikel’s mother was closer to him than she was to his older brother. This does cause some issues when Mikel wants to remain with his father and his mother’s behavior grows disturbing, as if it wasn’t already.

It isn’t until around chapter 32 that the story gets a bit more interesting, and seemingly more in-depth. By chapter 35 Jollett’s father starts what I’d call “maturing”. It is clear that after Mikel’s accident something has changed in the dynamic between the two and his father “stepped up”.

In chapter 36 (incidentally where the HOLLYWOOD PARK section begins), Jollett does spend a brief amount of time on the history of the cult. This is as a result of being in college and doing a paper on the psychology of it. But it is only a tiny portion.

So much of the history is left out as I said. And, while this is his memoir, I think the reader could benefit from having more of the history of the cult to truly see how kids like him were affected. Without research, I wouldn’t have been able to figure out what kind of a cult this was. The book wasn’t informative there.  

One interesting fact is that Charles Dederich (the head of the cult) was able to utilize the media along with Hollywood associates to promote Synanon. Again, a lot of the cult’s history that could’ve made this a richer memoir was left out. It is understandable if the situation was uncomfortable, but why go this far without going the entire way? It seems like this was supposed to be therapeutic. At least, I would’ve considered it such given how much depth Jollett went to with such vivid conversations at times. 

Five chapters later (chapter 41), when Mikel is now in the band – he talks about the tours they’re doing. The reason I mention this is a phrase that is used well over 40 times – “and the next” in reference to the touring. It is repetitious and unnecessary in my opinion. I get it, I am sure other readers get the point – the band toured from town to town (as do MANY in the music industry). I get that it was done for emphasis, but it didn’t need to be done quite so much. To me it looked like there was a push for a word count to be met and that was the only way of meeting it.

This is listed as “The 30 Most Anticipated Books of 2020 (so Far)” by Oprah Magazine [https://www.oprahmag.com/entertainment/books/g30107265/best-books-2020/], and thankfully I don’t use that as a recommendation tool, so I wasn’t disappointed in that respect.

I feel this could’ve had more of an impact without the foul language, with a more in-depth history of the cult, perhaps more of the psychological trauma and healing, as well as a chronological guide.

I didn’t find it uplifting, inspiring, or even motivational in anyway. It was a depressing read for the most part, and I couldn’t finish it fast enough. It just fell flat for me, and while memoirs are not usually riveting reads – this one was a bit boring. I feel bad that I just couldn’t connect to it.

It had a potential to perhaps tell about the author’s past while being a bit educational. And, it was, a way of trying to understand human behavior – whether or not they were influenced by a cult, criminal parent, or narcissistic parent.

I am sure that fans of the band (or author) might find this an interesting read, as well as those who have or had relatives/friends in a cult; or know of ones in one. Perhaps anyone dealing with a similar scenario might find this interesting.

At the bottom of this review, I have some notes about Synanon as well as links to additional reading.

This is something I probably would recommend as a library read first to test it out or borrow a friend’s copy if the reader is interested.

RATING:

2 ⭐⭐ /5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads  (It was ok)

2 ⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Bookbub (Disappointing)

2 ⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Personal Rating (see rating explanation in this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html) (this would align with the Goodreads rating)

History of Synanon:

The Synanon organization was a violent cult, initially a drug rehabilitation program, founded by Charles E. "Chuck" Dederich Sr., (1913–1997) in 1958 in Santa Monica, California. By the early 1960s, Synanon had also become an alternative community, attracting people with its emphasis on living a self-examined life, as aided by group truth-telling sessions that came to be known as the “Synanon Game.” Synanon ultimately became the Church of Synanon in the 1970s, and disbanded permanently in 1991 due to many criminal activities, including attempted murder, of which members were convicted, and legal problems, including losing its tax free status retroactively with the Internal Revenue Service due to financial misdeeds, destruction of evidence and terrorism. It has been called one of the "most dangerous and violent cults America had ever seen.” [Summary taken from Wikipedia; you can find the sources there].

Beginning in 1964, the legal authorities began to investigate Synanon's practices. The concept of “lifetime rehabilitation” did not agree with therapeutic norms, and it was alleged that the Synanon group was running an unauthorized medical clinic.

A state Grand Jury in Marin County issued a scathing report in 1978 that attacked Synanon for the very strong evidence of its child abuse, and also for the monetary profits that flowed to Dederich. The Grand Jury report also rebuked the governmental authorities involved for their lack of oversight, although it stopped short of directly interceding in the Synanon situation.

Synanon is purported to have been involved in several criminal activities, such as the disappearance of Rose Lena Cole around late-1972 or early-1973. Cole had received a court order to enroll in Synanon before she disappeared. She has not been seen or heard from since. [http://charleyproject.org/case/rose-lena-cole].

From The Charley Project Website: 

“It is worth noting that the Synanon Foundation has often been labeled as a cult. It was founded as a drug rehabilitation program in 1958 and became an alternative community by the 1960s and a church by the 1970s.

Participants were expected to turn all of their assets over to the group and join the community for life. Those who left the group were often persecuted and even beaten as a result. The IRS shut the Synanon Foundation down in 1989.”

During the summer of 1978, the NBC Nightly News produced a news segment on the controversies surrounding Synanon. Following this broadcast, several executives of the NBC network and its corporate chairman allegedly received hundreds of threats from Synanon members and supporters. However, NBC continued with a series of reports on the Synanon situation on the NBC Nightly News. The Point Reyes Light, a small-circulation weekly newspaper in Marin County, would later receive the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their covering Synanon at a time when other news agencies avoided reporting. Several weeks after NBC began receiving threats, on October 10, 1978, two Synanon members placed a de-rattled rattlesnake in the mailbox of attorney Paul Morantz of Pacific Palisades, California.

Morantz had successfully brought suit on behalf of people who were being held against their will by Synanon. The snake bit him, and he was hospitalized for six days. This incident, along with the press coverage, prompted an investigation by the police and government into Synanon.

Read More About Synanon Here:

“The Story of This Drug Rehab-Turned-Violent Cult Is Wild, Wild Country-Caliber Bizarre” – Hillel Aron; April 23, 2018 (LA Mag)
https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/synanon-cult/

Wikipedia Synanon References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synanon#References

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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.