Synopsis:

“Hollywood Park is a triumph.” ~O, The Oprah Magazine

Hollywood Park is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country’s most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.

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.

“A story of fierce love and family loyalty. This moving and profound memoir is for anyone who loves a good redemption story.” – Good Morning America, 20 Books We’re Excited for in 2020

When a copy of Hollywood Park showed up in my mailbox, I’d never heard of it or its author. I read the blurb on the back and was quickly intrigued. I’ve always found cults–and what allures people to them–fascinating. Then I flipped open the cover and found the author’s picture and bio. While I didn’t know the author’s name, I did know his band, The Airborne Toxic Event. 

As I read Hollywood Park, the one word that kept repeating in my head was powerful. Mikel’s description of his fractured childhood is powerful. His relationships are powerful–whether it’s the tumultuous relationship he has with his brother; the moments of kindness he receives from his stepfather; the uncomfortable, abusive relationship he has with his mother; or his father’s steadfast devotion to his sons.

The story begins with Mikel’s earliest memories of Synanon, told in the way that Mikel the child remembered it. As he grew older, the story grew with him, making his pain and confusion even more powerful as the reader grows up alongside him. His journey of self-discovery and peace is hard-fought, but rewarding and told beautifully. I found myself marking passages, moved by his words, understanding how he ended up as a songwriter. And I will never listen to his music in the same way, now that I know the story behind it.

Hollywood Park is a powerful love story from a son to his father and a message of hope and perseverance that I will not soon forget.