With or Without You

Voyeuristic tales of addiction and woe with all the literary value of a classified ad seem impossible to escape. This book is an exception. Trust us when we say that there is nothing trashy or gratuitous in Domenica Ruta's memoir. Her energetic, graceful voice transforms a train wreck of childhood abuse, addiction, and recovery into a stylish, glittering metal sculpture.

Raised in a working-class Italian neighborhood in Danvers, Mass., north of Boston, Ruta grew up knowing she was an outsider. "In an extended family where people stumbled--and stumbled proudly--over three-syllable words," Ruta discovered she alone had an insatiable hunger for the written word. In no hurry to enter the phase of womanhood that requires makeup and hot rollers, Ruta didn't make a splash with her peer group, either. Finally, above all, no one else had a mother like Kathi Ruta. To say that Kathi, a drug user and dealer, parented her young daughter irresponsibly is an understatement. On the other hand, Kathi also fervently nurtured Ruta's interest in the arts and culture, laying the foundation for her future career as a writer.

Follow Ruta as she walks down the dark trail her mother blazed for her and comes to the realization that if she is to survive, she must travel her own road. Though sometimes the subject matter makes reading difficult, Ruta's talent makes putting the book aside impossible. The story of a vulnerable young girl's misadventures will open readers' hearts, but it is her eventual transition from darkness to hope that will steal them. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager at Latah County Library District and blogger at Infinite Reads

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