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Material Type | Library | Call Number | Suggested Age | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Searching... Cabell County Public Library | 921 TRUJILLO T | Adult | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
By the first day of kindergarten, Olga Trujillo had already survived years of abuse and violent rape at the hands of her tyrannical father. Over the next ten years, she would develop the ability to numb herself to the constant abuse by splitting into distinct mental "parts." Dissociative identity disorder (DID) had begun to take hold, protecting Olga's mind from the tragic realities of her childhood.
In The Sum of My Parts, Olga reveals her life story for the first time, chronicling her heroic journey from survivor to advocate and her remarkable recovery from DID. Formerly known as multiple personality disorder, DID is defined by the presence of two or more identities. In this riveting story, Olga struggles to unearth memories from her childhood, and parallel identities--Olga at five years old, Olga at thirteen--come forth and demand to be healed. This brave, unforgettable memoir charts the author's triumph over the most devastating conditions and will inspire anyone whose life has been affected by trauma.
Author Notes
Olga R. Trujillo is an attorney who works with communities on issues involving domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and the impact of trauma. A nationally renowned speaker, she has appeared in several training videos on domestic violence, including Cut It Out and A Survivor's Story. She has received the Bud Cramer Leadership Award from the National Children's Alliance and the Sunshine Lady Foundation Peace Award. Olga lives with her partner Casey, dogs, and cats on a small farm in Wisconsin.
Reviews (1)
Library Journal Review
This disturbing memoir of an abusive childhood is a case study of the causes and characteristics of dissociative identity disorder. Trujillo, an attorney who works on domestic violence issues, spares few details about family members' attacks on her. Despite such cruelty, she married and pursued a successful legal career. She admits to having little memory of her traumatic childhood until frequent panic attacks and other troubling symptoms led her to seek psychiatric help. Trujillo discusses her treatment, which included hypnosis and extensive face-to-face sessions. While her marriage flounders throughout this process, she builds new relationships and her career thrives as she employs her newly developed coping mechanisms and insights into victimization. The book's initial chapters are painfully graphic, and skeptical readers might question how much of these latent memories relied on the power of a therapist's suggestion (see Debbie Nathan's Sybil Exposed). Yet the rise of child abuse has been well documented, and this is a powerful story of resilience from a Latina perspective. Verdict A notable contribution to the genre of child abuse memoirs, this book is recommended for general readers.-Antoinette Brinkman, Evansville, IN (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
