Interviews and Reviews

Body Leaping Backward

Powerful and probing, Stanton's book offers a sharp portrait of a wayward girl 'leaping backward' into disaster. Along the way, she reveals the way individuals are as much a product of time and place as they are of the families to which they belong. A compellingly honest coming-of-age memoir. ~ Kirkus

Body Leaping Backward, bursting with radiant storytelling seamlessly sets Maureen Stanton's childhood struggles against the unraveling social tapestry that was American in the 1970s. This is a page-turning narrative that illuminates so much about her personal and our cultural darkest moments." ~ Michael Patrick MacDonaldd, author of All Souls: A Family Story from Southie

Stanton negotiates beautifully the space between revelation, acceptance and forgiveness...an honest and brave book that has the potential to hep those struggling today with addiction, substance abuse or mental-health issues. ~ Lowell Sun

F*&k the cult of the bad boy, Maureen Stanton's book makes my skin shiver and my heart pound out a hell yes. Set in the 1970s up against a maximum security prison and the coming wave of drugs, a family falls to pieces. The mother descends inot delinquency and soon Maureen follows--but this story reminds us how mothers and daughters clawing their way back to life is an epic journey of courage and guts and heart. A triumph. ~ Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Chronology of Water and Book of Joan

Stanton's engaging memoir has a strong sense of place and time, transporting readers to the tumultuous 1970s as experienced in suburbia...Great choice for memoir readers and anyone interested in the '70s. ~ Booklist

Eloquent...mesmerizing... an intelligent and informative read for anyone, young or old, trying to make sense of teenage rebellion. Body leaping Backward is a well-told, insightful memoir that could hardly be more relevant today.~ BookPage

The miracle isn't how Maureen Stanton survived her harrowing adolescence, but how she can write about it with such beauty and clarity. I read this in one heart-in-my-throat sitting. ~ Monica Wood, author of When We Were the Kennedys