HAVE YOU FOUND HER

Author: Janice Erlbaum ISBN: 9780812974577 2/2008 MEMOIR Publisher: VILLARD (RANDOM HOUSE)

And every week, there was the unspoken question, the one I didn’t know enough to ask myself : Have you found her yet? The one who reminds you of you? Twenty years after she lived at a homeless shelter for teens, Janice Erlbaum went back to volunteer. Now thirty-four years old and a successful writer, she’d changed her life for the better; now she wanted to help someone else—someone like the girl she’d once been. Then she met Sam. A brilliant nineteen-year-old junkie savant, the product of a horrifically abusive home, Sam had been surviving alone on the streets since she was twelve and was now struggling for sobriety against the adverse health effects of long-term drug abuse. Soon Janice found herself caring deeply for Sam, following her through detoxes and psych wards, halfway houses and hospitals, becoming ever more manically driven to save her from the sickness and sadness leftover from Sam’s terrible past. But just as Janice was on the verge of becoming the girl’s legal guardian, she made a shocking discovery: Sam was sicker than anyone knew, in ways nobody could have imagined.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

HAVE YOU FOUND HER by Janice Erlbaum is a gritty, realistic look life beyond the New York shelter system. The author, twenty years after she's lived at a shelter for teens, goes back and volunteers. She meets girls who remind her of herself, young women who could use any extra attention or guidance she can give. One young girl stands out from the crowd, touches the author's heart. That girl is Sam, and this is their story.

While HAVE YOU FOUND HER isn't always easy to read, it's honest. I have never "seen" inside the shelters Ms. Erlbaum speaks of so easily, so this was a real eye-opener for me. The writing is stellar, the accounts are both heart-breaking and heartwarming, and the story is enlightening. It shows that even those who have been on the other side of a system, seen it firsthand, can still be shocked by the discoveries they make. Too, it allows us to peek into the author's ongoing journey toward finding happiness, despite her less-than-ideal background.

WHILE YOU FOUND HER is unforgettable. If the whole, unvarnished truth is something you enjoy, I highly recommend this one!

Kay James