A Piece of Cake

April 3, 2006
Brown reads her own horrific memoir of childhood paradise lost, sexual degradation and drug-fueled bad times with a surprising twinkle in her eye. Having made it through to the other side and a stable life, Brown revisits the ugliest places in her past, her matter-of-fact voice refusing to shy away from any of the brutal details. Brown does not milk her story for sympathy (although that is implicit in its very telling); she merely chronicles its twists and turns, its tragic losses and terrible indignities, choosing to honor her past by exposing it in its entirety. Brown's voice is measured and wry, exposing the foibles of her own stunted good sense at the same time as she documents the heinous callousness of the adults who by turns mistreat and neglect her after the untimely death of her mother. Her reading lacks something in emotion and professionalism, but its no-nonsense quality is the mark of an unhurried, self-taught storyteller. Simultaneous release with the Crown hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 21, 2005).

Starred review from November 21, 2005
Cupcake Brown (that's her real name) was 11 in 1976 when her mother died. Custody of Brown and her brother was given to a stranger—their birth father—who only wanted their social security checks. He then left them with an abusive foster mother who encouraged her nephew to rape Brown repeatedly. Brown got better and better at running away. A prostitute taught her to drink, smoke marijuana and charge for sex. Her next foster father traded her LSD and cocaine for oral sex. Eventually she went to live with a great-aunt in South Central L.A., where she joined a gang. Almost 16, having barely survived a shooting, she decided to quit gangbanging. Drugs were her new best friends. A boyfriend taught her to freebase, but then there was crack, which was easier. Before long she was a "trash-can junkie," taking anything and everything. It wasn't until she woke up behind a Dumpster one morning, half-dressed and more than half-dead, that she admitted she needed help. Brown conveys this all in gritty detail, and her struggle to come clean and develop her potential—she's now an attorney with a leading California firm and a motivational speaker—ends her story on a high note. Booksellers, watch out—Cupcake's gonna sell like hotcakes.

February 15, 2006
This memoir of an African American woman's youth chronicles 14 years of stomach-turning abuse at the hands of a foster family, drug addiction, a life of prostitution, and the narrator's requisite recovery. Brown, now a lawyer and a motivational speaker, has been through nothing short of the worst life has to offer "ghetto" youth, to use her phrase. While she implicates herself in some aspects of this nightmare, her determination and humor alleviate the often microscopically close-up view of these horrors. The humor is sometimes misplaced, however, as the book lurches from joke cracking and nonchalance to vehement resentment of all who neglected her plight, from social workers to judges, without any reflective passages to put events into context. The opportunity for the narrator to discuss her current view, as a lawyer, of people in law enforcement professions versus her former hateful opinion of them, for example, is lost. No matter, Brown's chronicle will pull in readers. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/05.]Elizabeth Brinkley, Seattle

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2006
Cupcake (La'Vette) Brown went from the relative security of life in a working-class neighborhood of San Diego to hardship and uncertainty when, at the age of 11, her mother died. Her estranged biological father lost interest when an expected insurance payout didn't materialize, and Cupcake and her brother were left with a merciless foster mother and her abusive son. Unable to take the mistreatment, Cupcake drifted into a life of prostitution, drug addiction, gang affiliation, stealing, homelessness, and any available means of survival. Her salvation comes in an unlikely group of fellow addicts who encourage her to change. Brown takes the same fortitude it took to survive the streets and uses it to become a lawyer. Her story of survival and triumph is incredible and often rough. Readers who like gritty, urban nonfiction will enjoy this book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)