Domenica Ruta - With or Without You

Domenica "Nikki" Ruta tells us of her brutal childhood in Danvers, raised by her cultured, intelligent yet self-absorbed addict mother. A love/hate relationship from the start, Nikki deals with her mother's neglect by finding solace in words. After gathering the courage to leave, Nikki slips into the same problem her mother has dealt with: addiction.  In a memoir Gary Shteyngart calls "freakishly brilliant, brilliantly freakish," Ruta tells her story of her fall and eventually, her redemption.