The Harbinger

I was one of the suckers that fell for James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces” hook, line and sinker. I also fell for the sequel, “My Friend Leonard.” “A Million Little Pieces” was a difficult book for me to read; I had to, literally, turn away from the book on more than one occasion. So, needless to say, I was very sad when it turned out that the book wasn’t a true story. I didn’t feel cheated and angry, like Oprah, I just felt sad.

Well, the other day, I was walking through Barnes and Noble, looking for a book to read. A cover very similar to “A Million Pieces” caught my eye. It was brightly colored with sprinkles on it. It’s title was similar, too: “A Piece of Cake.” I read the back, it seemed interesting, so I bought it.

I couldn’t put the book down.

Cupcake Brown is my new hero.

When she was eleven years old, she woke up to a dead mother. The person she thought was her dad all her life really wasn’t and the judge left her with the stranger that was her “father.” He had no clue what to do with her and her brother, so he left them with a foster family. Big mistake. Needless to say, the foster mother didn’t treat any of her foster children with love or affection. She basically used them to collect a check and vent her frustrations, both orally and physically. Cupcake was also sexually assaulted for the first time at that house, prompting her to run away and sell herself to get by at the age of twelve.

Being shuttled from the streets, to the same crappy foster home gave Cupcake the perfect environment to get hooked on drugs of all kinds. Her favorite was crack. The first three quarters of the book is a horror story and the last quarter, you really have to read yourself. I still can’t believe what she accomplished.

Here are some quotes:

“I caught the bus to the clinic, had the abortion, and was home partying within the hour as if nothing had just happened.”

“Like a good drunk, I did as commanded.”

“Suddenly, it seemed I was sucking a lollipop in a sunny, daisy covered field!”

JackiOh is
Email this author | All posts by JackiOh