Aimee Dars asked Mikel Jollett:

How have your family and close friends included in the book responded to it?

Mikel Jollett Short answer is they’re extremely supportive. Everyone’s been very kind, my peers from Synanon, my mom Bonnie, what she would call “kvelling” over the book. People seem to understand that I was trying to give voice to a kid who didn’t have one and felt moved by it. It’s changed how some people in our immediate circle perceive some things, mostly because some things were unearthed.

The person I was most scared to read it was my brother. Tony didn’t know how much the book was about him. We’re close. We hang out. He knew I was writing a memoir, but I don’t think he knew how much of it was about his life, his journey, his struggle, the huge change that he went through. So, I called him when I was done and asked him to read it, and tell me what he thought. I was terrified because it goes into all this detail about his life. He read it in two days and called me over to the house. I went over, and we sat in the kitchen nook and he was just so generous, so warm and willing to share his story and so okay with it. He said, “Listen, I know I don’t always look good in all of this, but neither do you. You’re being honest. I mean, all this happened. I wouldn’t change a word. Maybe someone will read this and come to some new stuff in their lives, and that’s good.” He was as large-hearted a soul about it as he could be.

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