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The Elissas: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia
Amazon's Best Nonfiction Book of the Month for June 2023
Nylon's "June 2023's Must-Read Book Releases"
Pure Wow’s “11 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in June”
The Skimm’s “17 of Our Favorite Books Coming Out This Summer”
Glamour’s “15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023, So Far”
Bustle’s “Most Anticipated Books Of Spring & Summer 2023”
Harper’s Bazaar’s “23 Best Summer Beach Reads of 2023”
Zibby Mag’s “Most Anticipated Spring and Summer Books”
A New York Post Best Books of the Week selection
Three suburban girls meet at a boarding school for troubled teens.
Eight years later, they were dead.
Bustle editor Samantha Leach and her childhood best friend, Elissa, met as infants in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island, where they attended nursery, elementary school, and temple together. As seventh graders, they would steal drinks from bar mitzvahs and have boys over in Samantha’s basement—innocent, early acts of rebellion. But after one of their shared acts, Samantha was given a disciplinary warning by their private school while Elissa was dismissed altogether, and later sent away. Samantha did not know then, but Elissa had just become one of the fifty-thousand-plus kids per year who enter the Troubled Teen a network of unregulated programs meant to reform wealthy, wayward youth.
Less than a year after graduation from Ponca Pines Academy, Elissa died at eighteen years old. In Samantha’s grief, she fixated on Elissa’s last years at the therapeutic boarding school, eager to understand why their paths diverged. As she spoke to mutual friends and scoured social media pages, Samantha learned of Alyssa and Alissa, Elissa’s closest friends at the school who shared both her name and penchant for partying, where drugs and alcohol became their norm. The matching Save Our Souls tattoo all three girls also had further fueled Samantha’s fixation, as she watched their lives play out online. Four years after Elissa’s death, Alyssa died, then Alissa at twenty-six.
In The Elissas, Samantha endeavors to understand why they ultimately met a shared, tragic fate that she was spared, in turn, offering a chilling account of the secret lives of young suburban women.
Nylon's "June 2023's Must-Read Book Releases"
Pure Wow’s “11 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in June”
The Skimm’s “17 of Our Favorite Books Coming Out This Summer”
Glamour’s “15 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023, So Far”
Bustle’s “Most Anticipated Books Of Spring & Summer 2023”
Harper’s Bazaar’s “23 Best Summer Beach Reads of 2023”
Zibby Mag’s “Most Anticipated Spring and Summer Books”
A New York Post Best Books of the Week selection
Three suburban girls meet at a boarding school for troubled teens.
Eight years later, they were dead.
Bustle editor Samantha Leach and her childhood best friend, Elissa, met as infants in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island, where they attended nursery, elementary school, and temple together. As seventh graders, they would steal drinks from bar mitzvahs and have boys over in Samantha’s basement—innocent, early acts of rebellion. But after one of their shared acts, Samantha was given a disciplinary warning by their private school while Elissa was dismissed altogether, and later sent away. Samantha did not know then, but Elissa had just become one of the fifty-thousand-plus kids per year who enter the Troubled Teen a network of unregulated programs meant to reform wealthy, wayward youth.
Less than a year after graduation from Ponca Pines Academy, Elissa died at eighteen years old. In Samantha’s grief, she fixated on Elissa’s last years at the therapeutic boarding school, eager to understand why their paths diverged. As she spoke to mutual friends and scoured social media pages, Samantha learned of Alyssa and Alissa, Elissa’s closest friends at the school who shared both her name and penchant for partying, where drugs and alcohol became their norm. The matching Save Our Souls tattoo all three girls also had further fueled Samantha’s fixation, as she watched their lives play out online. Four years after Elissa’s death, Alyssa died, then Alissa at twenty-six.
In The Elissas, Samantha endeavors to understand why they ultimately met a shared, tragic fate that she was spared, in turn, offering a chilling account of the secret lives of young suburban women.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 6, 2023
139 people are currently reading
8128 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 344 reviews
June 11, 2023
this was a super fast read and well written but i'll be honest the longer i think about the concept of this book the more bizarre it feels especially considering the lack of depth you really get on any of the topics it felt like it was going to tackle. Since none of the girls spoken about in this are able to tell their own story you rely on Leach's research through speaking with family and friends (the boarding school that they all went to has also since shut down so you don't get much insight on the facility beyond hindsight observations). All the information collected is presented in that friend-telling-you-a-story-about-someone-they-know type of way which makes it really easy to get sucked into but I found myself noticing that the observations were quite surface level and there were frequent points where the book would suddenly throw itself into talking about massively general topics out of nowhere. I'm assuming it was to bridge the gap considering the author wasn't close with any of the girls during the time that she documented in the book but that's why it felt even weirder to me that the author's own reflections on how different her life was from her childhood friend were a lot more sparse than i thought they would be. I think I was just expecting either more detail on the girls' story or the author's to act as support for the lack of first hand perspective from the elissas but it kind of felt like you got a glass half full look on both ends.
July 14, 2023
I think the the troubled teen industry, with the various unregulated and abusive “therapeutic” boarding schools and other types of programs it spawns (they can take many forms aside from boarding schools for only the rich) is a very worthy and important topic. However, the unnecessary degree of detail with which the behavior (and somehow the exact conversations they had with others?) of these three now-deceased young women is recounted is very inappropriate, seemed unnecessary, and made me super uncomfortable, especially given that the author did not even know two of the young women at all. I don’t know, it had a gossipy vibe, and I was just imagining how I would feel if someone I didn’t know well or at all spoke of me with great familiarity and shared all my really personal teenage and young adult information, through their own lens, with the world, after I had died tragically and with mental health concerns in my teens or 20s. It felt exploitative and I wish the author had stuck to a more straightforward reportage on the topic rather than trying to force a hybrid memoir type of thing and insert herself into it. I don’t know that these girls would have wanted someone else to speak for them (literally put words in their mouths) in this way and to appropriate or lay claim to their stories. These girls also don’t deserve to be lumped together and generalized because they happen to have the same (very generationally popular at the time) name - this felt gimmicky and disrespectful, and also made it hard to differentiate them, especially on audio.
December 30, 2023
EDIT 12/30/23: down to one star. just horrendous ain't it.
Leach is clearly a very talented writer, so it’s a real shame that this book was so deeply sinister.
In 2020, I stumbled across a web comic that someone who survived a therapeutic boarding school wrote. It had like 80 chapters, and I must have closed out around Chapter 30 because I was significantly unnerved. It wasn’t until I was reading this book that I understood what I had read then in full. So clearly, I did not know much about the Troubled Teen Industry going into this if it took me a solid number of pages to clock that. And after reading Leach’s exploration, it’s clear she left a lot to be desired. Because I struggle to see how this book is an acceptable work of investigative journalism, memoir, non-fiction, whatever, in any form (I shudder to see this shelved as true crime by some).
Obsession is an inherent part of girlhood, in my opinion, but where this book could have been a) a genuine deep-dive into a hidden industry that has wreaked havoc on generations or b) a tale of girlhood obsession and the simultaneous hunger and fear that feeds it, Leach instead delivered a hollow shell of a text that took advantage of its core characters (yes, characters — not individuals, not women) and genuinely belittled and degraded their memories. The only girl in this novel that Leach knew was the titular Elissa. Calling this “The Elissas” already blurs Elissa, Alissa and Alyssa together, but that’s just the beginning of the problem considering the only way I could distinguish the others was by Alissa’s anorexia and Alyssa’s big boobs. The ultimate problem is that Leach doesn’t know shit about these women. She hardly knows shit about Elissa. She is spinning myths in this book. Your childhood best friend will be unrecognizable to you by college if you have not stayed in touch, and even then still unrecognizable from their former self. Piecing Elissa’s life back together by picking apart the lives of two other women does every single girl involved a disservice. I knew what drugs they liked, what dicks they sucked, what they thought looked fat in the mirror, and how they died, but I did not know what their moms loved about them the most, what their friends hold as key to their memories. Only one person interviewed ever look Leach to task with her inquiries, and what did Leach do in response? Write her off as a “troubled teen.”
My major, massive problem hit from the beginning: creating literal dialogue for these women’s conversations that she cannot even begin to guess at. It is nothing but fiction. What makes it unbelievably stranger is what she chose to put into dialogue: their sex lives? She had them all talking about boys, boobs, asses, grinding, music, and using what can literally only be called AAVE for it. I know the early 2000s were rife with white women approbating that vernacular (and white women still do it en masse) but lord, if you’re going to, just acknowledge it. Then again, I struggle to see how this was supposed to teach me anything or Leach learned anything considering that two of the topics I know the most about, firsthand, were approached here and just. Wrong? Not completely incorrect, but deeply misinformed. At one point, Leach talks about how DBT has become the leading suggestion for helping teenagers struggling with severe mental health issues and addiction. This is true, and as someone who did DBT for 10 months, I think I know a lot about it. So it was fucked up, then, that Leach suggests that “parent management training” is a core tenet of DBT treatment when it absolutely is not. I even went and looked at what DBT guidelines are for adolescents, and PMT is an addition that therapist, patient, and family willingly decide to add. It is not an inherent part of treatment because DBT is a therapeutic form that teenagers can benefit from, and children can learn from its general outline and skills, but they are not really the target, and parents are sure as shit not an active part of it. Also, Leach armchair diagnosed one of the girls with bipolar disorder then quickly suggested it may have been what drove her violent impulses. It’s never brought up again. This is ridiculous and cruel. She undertook very little learning.
I don’t have my book in front of me, but I littered it with color-coded highlights and notes and concerns and I wish I could pull all the statements I hated. But I’ll attempt to wrap this up by saying a lot of people are seemingly praising this novel for being one about the cruel force of addiction and how ill-equipped we are to support addicts, but I never once got the sense that Leach saw addicts as anything other than inevitable corpses. The insane undercurrent of jealousy that ran through this novel and her consistent reminders of how she was a party girl, too, but she never went that far, poor Elissa couldn’t do the same… was just fully offensive. I know she spoke to some families and some of the people referenced here, but I can’t help but think that many of them would find this disingenuous and a real mark against the objectively rich, full, and yes, troubled, lives their friends and daughters and lovers lived. Fictionalizing their deaths left a horrid taste in my mouth, and each of them got the space of about 2 pages to deal with both their deaths and the wakes of them.
When I was 16 I hated The Virgin Suicides. THE BOOK, CRUCIALLY! Because on the second to last page, our little Greek Chorus of boys says It’s a shame all these girls died by suicide. Oh well, guess they were selfish! A lot to unpack there, but when I was 16 myself, it just pissed me off — a book dealing in the ambiguity of the reasoning behind teenage girls’ suicides and how girlhood is perceived and created did the exact thing it was rejecting before, and offered a Reason. The same thing pissed me off here. Leach brings this home by saying I couldn’t figure out why they all died after their years of therapeutic boarding schools and abuse………..all I can say is I think it was the label of “troubled teen” that did them in. While that is a genuinely interesting point to make, she doesn’t investigate the act of labeling girls from a young age enough for that to hold more weight, and it tasted sour. It tasted like blame and excuse, and a quick attempt to be Done with this. She involved herself so much in the lives of these girls, wrapped herself into their pain and trauma and experiences, that it is clear she genuinely believes she suffered greatly to some of the same extent as these literal dead girls did. I was thrown off and, again, pissed.
Someone should take her to serious task for this. Or do I have to do everything by myself.
This review is subject to change and edits once I get my hands back on my book and revisit what revolted me. At this point, it's gonna be a Substack post. Thanks.
Leach is clearly a very talented writer, so it’s a real shame that this book was so deeply sinister.
In 2020, I stumbled across a web comic that someone who survived a therapeutic boarding school wrote. It had like 80 chapters, and I must have closed out around Chapter 30 because I was significantly unnerved. It wasn’t until I was reading this book that I understood what I had read then in full. So clearly, I did not know much about the Troubled Teen Industry going into this if it took me a solid number of pages to clock that. And after reading Leach’s exploration, it’s clear she left a lot to be desired. Because I struggle to see how this book is an acceptable work of investigative journalism, memoir, non-fiction, whatever, in any form (I shudder to see this shelved as true crime by some).
Obsession is an inherent part of girlhood, in my opinion, but where this book could have been a) a genuine deep-dive into a hidden industry that has wreaked havoc on generations or b) a tale of girlhood obsession and the simultaneous hunger and fear that feeds it, Leach instead delivered a hollow shell of a text that took advantage of its core characters (yes, characters — not individuals, not women) and genuinely belittled and degraded their memories. The only girl in this novel that Leach knew was the titular Elissa. Calling this “The Elissas” already blurs Elissa, Alissa and Alyssa together, but that’s just the beginning of the problem considering the only way I could distinguish the others was by Alissa’s anorexia and Alyssa’s big boobs. The ultimate problem is that Leach doesn’t know shit about these women. She hardly knows shit about Elissa. She is spinning myths in this book. Your childhood best friend will be unrecognizable to you by college if you have not stayed in touch, and even then still unrecognizable from their former self. Piecing Elissa’s life back together by picking apart the lives of two other women does every single girl involved a disservice. I knew what drugs they liked, what dicks they sucked, what they thought looked fat in the mirror, and how they died, but I did not know what their moms loved about them the most, what their friends hold as key to their memories. Only one person interviewed ever look Leach to task with her inquiries, and what did Leach do in response? Write her off as a “troubled teen.”
My major, massive problem hit from the beginning: creating literal dialogue for these women’s conversations that she cannot even begin to guess at. It is nothing but fiction. What makes it unbelievably stranger is what she chose to put into dialogue: their sex lives? She had them all talking about boys, boobs, asses, grinding, music, and using what can literally only be called AAVE for it. I know the early 2000s were rife with white women approbating that vernacular (and white women still do it en masse) but lord, if you’re going to, just acknowledge it. Then again, I struggle to see how this was supposed to teach me anything or Leach learned anything considering that two of the topics I know the most about, firsthand, were approached here and just. Wrong? Not completely incorrect, but deeply misinformed. At one point, Leach talks about how DBT has become the leading suggestion for helping teenagers struggling with severe mental health issues and addiction. This is true, and as someone who did DBT for 10 months, I think I know a lot about it. So it was fucked up, then, that Leach suggests that “parent management training” is a core tenet of DBT treatment when it absolutely is not. I even went and looked at what DBT guidelines are for adolescents, and PMT is an addition that therapist, patient, and family willingly decide to add. It is not an inherent part of treatment because DBT is a therapeutic form that teenagers can benefit from, and children can learn from its general outline and skills, but they are not really the target, and parents are sure as shit not an active part of it. Also, Leach armchair diagnosed one of the girls with bipolar disorder then quickly suggested it may have been what drove her violent impulses. It’s never brought up again. This is ridiculous and cruel. She undertook very little learning.
I don’t have my book in front of me, but I littered it with color-coded highlights and notes and concerns and I wish I could pull all the statements I hated. But I’ll attempt to wrap this up by saying a lot of people are seemingly praising this novel for being one about the cruel force of addiction and how ill-equipped we are to support addicts, but I never once got the sense that Leach saw addicts as anything other than inevitable corpses. The insane undercurrent of jealousy that ran through this novel and her consistent reminders of how she was a party girl, too, but she never went that far, poor Elissa couldn’t do the same… was just fully offensive. I know she spoke to some families and some of the people referenced here, but I can’t help but think that many of them would find this disingenuous and a real mark against the objectively rich, full, and yes, troubled, lives their friends and daughters and lovers lived. Fictionalizing their deaths left a horrid taste in my mouth, and each of them got the space of about 2 pages to deal with both their deaths and the wakes of them.
When I was 16 I hated The Virgin Suicides. THE BOOK, CRUCIALLY! Because on the second to last page, our little Greek Chorus of boys says It’s a shame all these girls died by suicide. Oh well, guess they were selfish! A lot to unpack there, but when I was 16 myself, it just pissed me off — a book dealing in the ambiguity of the reasoning behind teenage girls’ suicides and how girlhood is perceived and created did the exact thing it was rejecting before, and offered a Reason. The same thing pissed me off here. Leach brings this home by saying I couldn’t figure out why they all died after their years of therapeutic boarding schools and abuse………..all I can say is I think it was the label of “troubled teen” that did them in. While that is a genuinely interesting point to make, she doesn’t investigate the act of labeling girls from a young age enough for that to hold more weight, and it tasted sour. It tasted like blame and excuse, and a quick attempt to be Done with this. She involved herself so much in the lives of these girls, wrapped herself into their pain and trauma and experiences, that it is clear she genuinely believes she suffered greatly to some of the same extent as these literal dead girls did. I was thrown off and, again, pissed.
Someone should take her to serious task for this. Or do I have to do everything by myself.
This review is subject to change and edits once I get my hands back on my book and revisit what revolted me. At this point, it's gonna be a Substack post. Thanks.
June 11, 2023
"While being a rebellious teenage girl is an inherently romantic experience—one that's fetishized by the stories I grew up on ... the romance doesn't last very long."
That quote from this memoir sums up what I feel about the book. The author in some ways perpetuated that cycle of fetishization with this memoir, picking over the lives of three young women, only one of whom she actually knew, and even then, for a relatively limited time and in relatively limited ways. While I was in some ways educated about the "troubled teen industry" the book didn't sit well because it felt like a taking of other people's tragedies and trying to own them, because they were 'romantic' and evocative of the stories that she found compelling when she was younger. It almost felt at times like she envied these young women the drama of their lives, particularly when she luxuriated in the details of their descent from "nice, white middle-class girls" to addicts, spiraling toward destruction, occasionally succumbing to the trap of centering her own emotional reaction to the tragedy rather than the tragedies themselves.
The Elissas, despite her best efforts (and I do believe she tried) are not so much humanized as made object lessons. But of what? The fate of affluent white "troubled teens" as different but no less tragic than their Black and brown, not-so-affluent counterparts (racial disparities are mentioned several times and well-cited)? Of the failure of the addiction industry? Illustrations of the need for regulations of unlicensed 'treatment' facilities? Or just another sad story, made sadder because these are not the kinds of girls this was supposed to happen to?
Since the author was not present for almost any of what happened to these young women, there was very little dialogue and what little there was, appeared at the most insignificant moments. A boyfriend who wants to leave to go hang out and use instead of spending time with his also addicted girlfriend says, "All right. I'm gonna head out." She says "What the fuck? Where are you going?" He says "Just meeting up with some people." She says, "Are you serious right now?" He says, "...Yes?" She says, "Fuck you." He says, "Fuck me?" She says, "Yes." He says, "Wow. Fuck this. I'm out of here." That kind of exchange was typical of the dialogue—inane exchanges that offer little insight about the interiors of the young women, but sound like something in a movie like, 'Less Than Zero', or 'Candy' (a Heath Ledger movie she cites, as an example of how popular culture romanticizes love intertwined with addiction).
Though some of the writing was insightful and incisive, and there were copious citations to support most of her assertions, I never could get a handle on what this book was trying to accomplish. The one Elissa the author actually knew, she successfully disentangled herself from long before the most acute phases of her addiction began, but upon Elissa's death, the author's preoccupation resumes and expands, now encompassing two other young women she didn't even know, and finally manifesting itself in this book, which at times seems less an examination of their unique but similar tragedies than an expression of the author's own continuing desire to consume other people's pain and repurpose it for herself.
In the Afterword, the author mentions that a friend suggested that she check out Al-Anon and my first thought was, "Oh, thank God". And I felt similarly when she acknowledges that she's "always felt more comfortable in the chaos of others' lives than the monotony of [her] own." After reading this book, part of me was like, "ya think?"
That quote from this memoir sums up what I feel about the book. The author in some ways perpetuated that cycle of fetishization with this memoir, picking over the lives of three young women, only one of whom she actually knew, and even then, for a relatively limited time and in relatively limited ways. While I was in some ways educated about the "troubled teen industry" the book didn't sit well because it felt like a taking of other people's tragedies and trying to own them, because they were 'romantic' and evocative of the stories that she found compelling when she was younger. It almost felt at times like she envied these young women the drama of their lives, particularly when she luxuriated in the details of their descent from "nice, white middle-class girls" to addicts, spiraling toward destruction, occasionally succumbing to the trap of centering her own emotional reaction to the tragedy rather than the tragedies themselves.
The Elissas, despite her best efforts (and I do believe she tried) are not so much humanized as made object lessons. But of what? The fate of affluent white "troubled teens" as different but no less tragic than their Black and brown, not-so-affluent counterparts (racial disparities are mentioned several times and well-cited)? Of the failure of the addiction industry? Illustrations of the need for regulations of unlicensed 'treatment' facilities? Or just another sad story, made sadder because these are not the kinds of girls this was supposed to happen to?
Since the author was not present for almost any of what happened to these young women, there was very little dialogue and what little there was, appeared at the most insignificant moments. A boyfriend who wants to leave to go hang out and use instead of spending time with his also addicted girlfriend says, "All right. I'm gonna head out." She says "What the fuck? Where are you going?" He says "Just meeting up with some people." She says, "Are you serious right now?" He says, "...Yes?" She says, "Fuck you." He says, "Fuck me?" She says, "Yes." He says, "Wow. Fuck this. I'm out of here." That kind of exchange was typical of the dialogue—inane exchanges that offer little insight about the interiors of the young women, but sound like something in a movie like, 'Less Than Zero', or 'Candy' (a Heath Ledger movie she cites, as an example of how popular culture romanticizes love intertwined with addiction).
Though some of the writing was insightful and incisive, and there were copious citations to support most of her assertions, I never could get a handle on what this book was trying to accomplish. The one Elissa the author actually knew, she successfully disentangled herself from long before the most acute phases of her addiction began, but upon Elissa's death, the author's preoccupation resumes and expands, now encompassing two other young women she didn't even know, and finally manifesting itself in this book, which at times seems less an examination of their unique but similar tragedies than an expression of the author's own continuing desire to consume other people's pain and repurpose it for herself.
In the Afterword, the author mentions that a friend suggested that she check out Al-Anon and my first thought was, "Oh, thank God". And I felt similarly when she acknowledges that she's "always felt more comfortable in the chaos of others' lives than the monotony of [her] own." After reading this book, part of me was like, "ya think?"
July 5, 2023
This possibly the worst book I have ever read. When I requested this arc I went in there with the assumption that the story would focus on three victims of a specific institution: the troubled teen industry. However, this book was everything but what I was led to believe. The book is not about the three girls but about the author themselves, the number of “I” is outstanding. It’s about the author’s own grief. It also felt very weird that the author was airing their dead best friend’s deepest darkest secrets. It felt so inappropriate, I understand that the families were okay with this book but still if I was Elissa I would haunt someone if you get what what I mean. Everything in me is against this book and I cannot recommend it.
June 15, 2025
Really interesting book that I had been interested in for awhile. The author was best friends with Elissa when they were younger, but the two grew apart during high school as Elissa became more of a party girl and Samantha did not. Elissa was eventually sent to one of those “troubled teen” boarding school programs, where she met two other girls her age, Alyssa and Alissa. All three women were dead before they were thirty, likely due to their addictions.
The author seems to do a good job tracing each woman’s life, while showing that the widely derided wilderness schools and troubled teen programs are likely not the best methods for dealing with addiction behaviors (but there could have been more detail. I honestly think that the school got off a bit easy.) The stories are sad, but I thought the author missed the boat a bit in not showing how the addictions and deaths affected those around the women (other than the author herself.)
Overall, I liked the book. The author does a good job showing the young women themselves, especially Elissa.
The author seems to do a good job tracing each woman’s life, while showing that the widely derided wilderness schools and troubled teen programs are likely not the best methods for dealing with addiction behaviors (but there could have been more detail. I honestly think that the school got off a bit easy.) The stories are sad, but I thought the author missed the boat a bit in not showing how the addictions and deaths affected those around the women (other than the author herself.)
Overall, I liked the book. The author does a good job showing the young women themselves, especially Elissa.
July 10, 2023
This book, to be honest, is really poorly written. There are several serious flaws with it. First, the writing itself — there are so many sentence fragments for no apparent reason that they become distracting. Like, why couldn’t these just be complete sentences? It feels a bit like the book was a voice-dictated version that somehow got published. (I’m really not sure how this got published.) Second, it’s just confusing. There are so many names and events that are thrown in without explanation. I kept looking back to see if I missed something and then finding that I had not. Third, the book is positioned as the author investigating the death of her best friend. But as you read further, it turns out that the author had actually not been very much in touch with the primary Elissa for five or six years before she died. Essentially, it seems like a book about the drug problems of some extremely privileged white young women, who eventually died, coincidentally, at young ages, and also coincidentally, had the same name. It is an interesting concept, but the execution is just very disappointing.
July 7, 2023
i was trying to write a scathing review but the goodreads app crashed so here’s what i remember: i don’t like that this book attempts to draw a straight line between the troubled teen industry and the deaths of 3 girls, 2 of whom the author never met and only knew from stalking on facebook. it doesn’t seem like she wrote this book with love for her dead friend elissa at the forefront. resentment and jealousy ooze through the cracks and i found myself wondering if this was a love letter to her friend and an attempt to understand and celebrate her, or a way to conquer her, post-mortem. there was just…..too much of the author’s very complicated psychology in this for a book that was, on its face, not supposed to be about the author
December 6, 2023
imagine you died and one of your friend's weirdo hanger-on friends wrote a whole book about you, and made your death somehow all about her.
August 14, 2023
Elissa, Alyssa, and Alissa met at a "therapeutic" boarding school for troubled teens. Within eight years of leaving the program, all three girls would be dead.
The author, Samantha Leach, grew up in the suburbs with Elissa - they attended the same schools, had crushes on similar boys, and broke a lot of the same rules. Leach made it through their early teen rebellion pretty much unscathed, but Elissa was sent away to become a cog in the Troubled Teen Industry and died when she was only eighteen. To cope with her feelings, Leach spends years investigating what exactly happened to Elissa and learns more about her bond with Alyssa and Alissa and the factors that lead to their tragic deaths.
This was a memoir about friendship, addiction, and grief that talks about the seamy underbelly of the for-profit "troubled teen industry” but doesn’t really break any new ground. The author wasn’t with the three girls when they were in the school and wasn’t close friends with Elissa once she started getting into serious trouble, so the book is mainly anecdotal and felt like the author was stretching to insert herself into someone else’s tragedy.
* thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the NetGalley review copy. The Elissas publishes June 6th.
The author, Samantha Leach, grew up in the suburbs with Elissa - they attended the same schools, had crushes on similar boys, and broke a lot of the same rules. Leach made it through their early teen rebellion pretty much unscathed, but Elissa was sent away to become a cog in the Troubled Teen Industry and died when she was only eighteen. To cope with her feelings, Leach spends years investigating what exactly happened to Elissa and learns more about her bond with Alyssa and Alissa and the factors that lead to their tragic deaths.
This was a memoir about friendship, addiction, and grief that talks about the seamy underbelly of the for-profit "troubled teen industry” but doesn’t really break any new ground. The author wasn’t with the three girls when they were in the school and wasn’t close friends with Elissa once she started getting into serious trouble, so the book is mainly anecdotal and felt like the author was stretching to insert herself into someone else’s tragedy.
* thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the NetGalley review copy. The Elissas publishes June 6th.
Read
May 24, 2023Read, but no rating
(I don't feel right rating someone's true story/memoir, etc)
While this was 100% binge-able (I read in less than 24 hours). Overall, I was expecting the story to be a little more about the 3 girls time at Ponca Pines Academy. I didn't realize until I dove in, that the author, Samantha Leach, childhood best friends of Elissa, didn't actually go to Ponca Pines Academy - only her childhood best friend Elissa, who then went on to meet Alyssa, and Alissa there. Therefore, MOST of this book was early memories - middle school, their time prior to Elissa leaving. I thought this would be more focused on what went on at this Academy (that is now shut down). It was a lot of retellings of all 3 girls being "troubled teens" and how they got sent away; not as much as to what happened WHILE they were away. (It was also marketed as "true crime" but I don't feel as though that genre's fitting).
I would like to read an in depth look from the perspective of someone who was actually sent away to one of these boarding school (almost cult-like camps).
Thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy - THIS IS OUT 6/6! I do highly recommend this for a bingeworthy nonfiction read!
(I don't feel right rating someone's true story/memoir, etc)
While this was 100% binge-able (I read in less than 24 hours). Overall, I was expecting the story to be a little more about the 3 girls time at Ponca Pines Academy. I didn't realize until I dove in, that the author, Samantha Leach, childhood best friends of Elissa, didn't actually go to Ponca Pines Academy - only her childhood best friend Elissa, who then went on to meet Alyssa, and Alissa there. Therefore, MOST of this book was early memories - middle school, their time prior to Elissa leaving. I thought this would be more focused on what went on at this Academy (that is now shut down). It was a lot of retellings of all 3 girls being "troubled teens" and how they got sent away; not as much as to what happened WHILE they were away. (It was also marketed as "true crime" but I don't feel as though that genre's fitting).
I would like to read an in depth look from the perspective of someone who was actually sent away to one of these boarding school (almost cult-like camps).
Thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy - THIS IS OUT 6/6! I do highly recommend this for a bingeworthy nonfiction read!
June 2, 2023
Elissa, Alyssa, Alissa: One by one they were sent to "therapeutic" boarding schools, where they crossed paths and became friends. One by one they left those programs. And one by one they died.
For as long as I knew Elissa, her life was defined by her desire to burn the brightest. A hunger to experience it all, despite the consequences, that made her destined to burn fast, and then burn out. (loc. 2150*)
In The Elissas, Leach traces what happened to her childhood best friend—Elissa—and then, too, what happened to Alyssa and Alissa. And what's there is disturbing: all the messiness of the troubled teen industry, which seems largely designed to empty wealthy parents' bank accounts and keep teens under as strict a control as possible, with little regard for the consequences.
I've read a lot of troubled teen industry books—a number have come out recently, including Paris Hilton's memoir (that one I have not read, and Leach does not reference it, but she does talk about the recent documentary about Paris Hilton, which to my understanding covers some of the same material). What this reminds me of most, though, is The Forgotten Girls, which is similarly by a woman who "got out" and is tracing the life of one who didn't. Where The Forgotten Girls is about small-town poverty, though, The Elissas is set against a backdrop of wealth and privilege—the kind that keeps girls in boarding schools rather than jail cells, but not a kind that can save them from addiction and trauma.
Leach was not immune to the things that pulled Elissa under, but while Elissa sunk deeper and deeper, Leach managed to tread water. She doesn't ask as many of the hard questions as Potts does, and the more memoir (vs. researched) sections about her own life don't draw as sharp a contrast or make so strong a point, but it's clear that this book was a labor of love—something to memorialize three girls who would otherwise by forgotten by history.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
*I read an ARC, so quotes may not be final.
For as long as I knew Elissa, her life was defined by her desire to burn the brightest. A hunger to experience it all, despite the consequences, that made her destined to burn fast, and then burn out. (loc. 2150*)
In The Elissas, Leach traces what happened to her childhood best friend—Elissa—and then, too, what happened to Alyssa and Alissa. And what's there is disturbing: all the messiness of the troubled teen industry, which seems largely designed to empty wealthy parents' bank accounts and keep teens under as strict a control as possible, with little regard for the consequences.
I've read a lot of troubled teen industry books—a number have come out recently, including Paris Hilton's memoir (that one I have not read, and Leach does not reference it, but she does talk about the recent documentary about Paris Hilton, which to my understanding covers some of the same material). What this reminds me of most, though, is The Forgotten Girls, which is similarly by a woman who "got out" and is tracing the life of one who didn't. Where The Forgotten Girls is about small-town poverty, though, The Elissas is set against a backdrop of wealth and privilege—the kind that keeps girls in boarding schools rather than jail cells, but not a kind that can save them from addiction and trauma.
Leach was not immune to the things that pulled Elissa under, but while Elissa sunk deeper and deeper, Leach managed to tread water. She doesn't ask as many of the hard questions as Potts does, and the more memoir (vs. researched) sections about her own life don't draw as sharp a contrast or make so strong a point, but it's clear that this book was a labor of love—something to memorialize three girls who would otherwise by forgotten by history.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
*I read an ARC, so quotes may not be final.
July 14, 2023
2.5? The premise of the book is interesting and I think it could have been done really well. However the author came across as both judgy of the girls but also jealous of their relationship and self inserted more than necessary. I think this story should have been told by someone who knew all the Elissa’s not just one.
June 16, 2023
Samantha and Elissa were best friends since diapers. Growing up in the wealthy suburbs of Rhode Island, they wanted for nothing. With wealthy parents and access to a fancy life, the girls fell into rebellious socialite behavior. With stars like party girls Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, whose drunken escapades, rehab stints, and romantic trysts taught a whole generation of younger rich girls what was cool and “hot”—these behaviors were fairly normal, right or wrong. Remember what it was like being a younger teen and wanting to be cool? Samantha was always more reserved than Elissa and when Elissa gets sent away to a different school, they girls lose their close connection. Elissa continues to spiral and eventually gets sent away to be “reformed” by the Trouble Teen industry. There, she meets Alyssa and Alissa. “The Elissas” form a close bond and none of them would wind up living past the age of 26.
If you are around my age you will have a special appreciation for some of the things mentioned by Samantha Leach. I related to the thoughts, references and even the suburban sex urban legends! Hell, I even related to a lot of the troubles. But unlike Elissa, I fortunately did not find myself in the Trouble Teen industry. I was fascinated by the stories of these three girls and feel very fortunate that I was able to pull myself out of my own darkness. It was honestly very sad; these three beautiful lives that ended early. Samantha did a lot of research, as well as interviewed people who knew the girls in order to tell their stories. I feel like this book is a mix of memoir, social commentary and maybe even some self-healing on Samantha’s part. I enjoyed reading this book and I think it was brave of Samantha to dive into this when it clearly still causes her so much pain. I hope she feels proud of getting their stories out there. There were a few articles and such mentioned I definitely want to go read in full now. If this sounds interesting to you, definitely give it a go!
If you are around my age you will have a special appreciation for some of the things mentioned by Samantha Leach. I related to the thoughts, references and even the suburban sex urban legends! Hell, I even related to a lot of the troubles. But unlike Elissa, I fortunately did not find myself in the Trouble Teen industry. I was fascinated by the stories of these three girls and feel very fortunate that I was able to pull myself out of my own darkness. It was honestly very sad; these three beautiful lives that ended early. Samantha did a lot of research, as well as interviewed people who knew the girls in order to tell their stories. I feel like this book is a mix of memoir, social commentary and maybe even some self-healing on Samantha’s part. I enjoyed reading this book and I think it was brave of Samantha to dive into this when it clearly still causes her so much pain. I hope she feels proud of getting their stories out there. There were a few articles and such mentioned I definitely want to go read in full now. If this sounds interesting to you, definitely give it a go!
June 20, 2023
Perhaps what makes it so compelling and readable is inextricably tied to what makes it problematic.
The cons: Major issues include the author’s use of inherently judgmental terms (“drugging,” “addict,” “junkie”; if she was modeling her language after the words used by the Elissas when they were alive, that could have used a disclaimer), and more importantly the way the author divorces her story from Elissa’s not in a “that could’ve been me” way but a “that wasn’t me because I’m different.”
The pros: Having grown up in a town adjacent to Alissa N (not sure which spelling she used because I listened to the audiobook), this book brought back for me the remembering of girls I went to school with being fed into the troubled teen industry. Further, I appreciated the context of coming of age in the late 2000s/early 2010s; I found the description of the societal norms being impressed on the Elissas to be accurate and relevant.
The cons: Major issues include the author’s use of inherently judgmental terms (“drugging,” “addict,” “junkie”; if she was modeling her language after the words used by the Elissas when they were alive, that could have used a disclaimer), and more importantly the way the author divorces her story from Elissa’s not in a “that could’ve been me” way but a “that wasn’t me because I’m different.”
The pros: Having grown up in a town adjacent to Alissa N (not sure which spelling she used because I listened to the audiobook), this book brought back for me the remembering of girls I went to school with being fed into the troubled teen industry. Further, I appreciated the context of coming of age in the late 2000s/early 2010s; I found the description of the societal norms being impressed on the Elissas to be accurate and relevant.
July 12, 2023
On the first page of chapter 14, the author wrote, "...my new best friend, Gretchen...Gretchen was an emotionally sturdy friend, serious about her desire to study medicine in college, but just as serious about her desire to party. My equal in our ability to juggle academics with revelry." The author's attitude of "I could make it work. but they (the Elissas) couldn't" was overwhelming. Perhaps if the author avoided bragging about her own drug use, I would have found this book more enjoyable. A slap in the face to Elissa, Alyssa, and Alissa....
November 21, 2024
Back 9 months later to add - if you liked/really wanted to like/are considering reading this and haven't already - SPRINT to go read Penance.
June 21, 2023
It wasn’t necessarily bad, but something didn’t sit right.
May 8, 2025
The vibes of this book were rancid, on so many levels. This should have stayed between you and your therapist, girl.
June 8, 2023
I’m not usually a fan of nonfiction, but I was drawn to this book. The synopsis is a little misleading, it wants you to think the three girls deaths are all connected, ( and they are, only by them being friends). So I thought I was getting a boarding school, reveal all, type book that investigates shady circumstances behind their deaths. This is not at all what the book is about. It’s about the girls battle with addiction, and how society shut them out.
I’m so glad I continued to read it, even after I figured out it wasn’t what I expected.
The Elissas is Samantha Leach’s way of coming to terms with her friends death. What starts off as a trip down memory lane, becomes a deep dive into the Troubled Teen Industry. It’s eye opening and heartbreaking. Most of these “troubled teens” that get sent off to the correction camps or boarding schools, are just teens figuring out who they are. What they needed was therapy. Girls that are dealing with eating disorders and the beginnings of addictions, are sent away and punished. Most of the time the punishments are cruel, and result in more acting up. It is really all pointless and harmful. So damn sad.
Women have been tortured and sent away for centuries, for misbehaving. Because they don’t fit into society the right way, there must be something wrong with them. It has always bothered me that asylums once held women, giving them shock treatment, just for inappropriate thoughts. Now, those girls are sent away even younger, with the hopes of correcting them earlier. They are sent to pricey boarding schools that, may not use shock therapy anymore, but definitely emotionally torture them.
Can you tell this book got me all jazzed up? Lol I could dissect this topic for hours, but Samantha Leach does it very well in this book. She did the research, talked to the right people, and included personal experiences in this powerful book.
I’m so glad I continued to read it, even after I figured out it wasn’t what I expected.
The Elissas is Samantha Leach’s way of coming to terms with her friends death. What starts off as a trip down memory lane, becomes a deep dive into the Troubled Teen Industry. It’s eye opening and heartbreaking. Most of these “troubled teens” that get sent off to the correction camps or boarding schools, are just teens figuring out who they are. What they needed was therapy. Girls that are dealing with eating disorders and the beginnings of addictions, are sent away and punished. Most of the time the punishments are cruel, and result in more acting up. It is really all pointless and harmful. So damn sad.
Women have been tortured and sent away for centuries, for misbehaving. Because they don’t fit into society the right way, there must be something wrong with them. It has always bothered me that asylums once held women, giving them shock treatment, just for inappropriate thoughts. Now, those girls are sent away even younger, with the hopes of correcting them earlier. They are sent to pricey boarding schools that, may not use shock therapy anymore, but definitely emotionally torture them.
Can you tell this book got me all jazzed up? Lol I could dissect this topic for hours, but Samantha Leach does it very well in this book. She did the research, talked to the right people, and included personal experiences in this powerful book.
September 30, 2023
This was... weird. I expected something more in-depth, I expected more of an exposé on how unqualified some of these troubled teen centers and schools are... What I got was self-therapy on the part of the author who seemed to want to absolve herself of guilt over her best friend dying by blaming society as a whole and these institutions for lack of support. Which isn't incorrect but... She didn't know two of the girls, and she wasn't really in touch with her best friend for a stretch of time, so everything is hearsay/secondhand info. It was also really confusing trying to keep all of them straight, not only because of their similar names, but because it jumped around. She maybe would have been better off following each one of them individually first? Drug addiction in this country is a huge problem, mental health access is scarce but it's even sadder when it happens to teenagers who should have parents and teachers looking out for them.
July 8, 2023
Somewhat interesting but nothing conclusive about the "Troubled Teen Industry." What were the "deadly secrets of suburbia"? The rich white teens do drugs? 2.5?
September 24, 2023
A really interesting book in some ways, but not without its flaws.
Author Samantha Leach had a childhood best friend: Elissa P. After an incident at school, Elissa P's parents ship her off to a troubled teen boarding school in Nebraska (Ponca Pines) -- which is now closed, thank God, though there are plenty more like it.
While there, Elissa P befriends two other "Elissas": Alyssa N and Alissa O. The three of them spend their high school years getting into trouble, and honing their budding addictions to drugs and alcohol. They each get mysterious matching tattoos which are eerily prescient: "Save Our Souls."
Throughout high school, Elissa P maintains her friendship with Samantha, but it's clear Elissa is going down a very different path from her best friend. Samantha still feels very close to Elissa, though she is a bit jealous of her closeness with her Elissa friends.
Within a few years, all three Elissas would be dead.
Elissa P dies at 18, of encephalitis brought on by infection, likely related to her constant drug use.
Alyssa N dies at age 23. She's found dead in a bathtub of a heroin overdose.
Alissa O dies at age 26. She dies of sepsis (unclear if this is related to her history of drug addiction, but presumably).
Samantha Leach, mesmerized by the strange tattoo shared by the three Elissas, and by the ways in which they - who started out with a similarly privileged life like Leach herself - were failed by the systems set up to support them, in ways that ultimately led to their very young deaths. Leach delves into the world of the trouble teen industry to try to find answers.
Unfortunately, that's kind of where this ends. I thought the narratives focused on each of the three Elissas were fascinating, and important to show how the trouble teen industry (and other industries like it - e.g. wilderness therapy, certain kinds of addiction rehab for adults) really failed them, and ultimately did far more harm than good. However, I think Leach needed to probe this point more and really articulate the specific ways in which this happened for the Elissas, and "troubled teens" in general. More general critique of the industries, and why they are ineffective, and what alternatives are viable, would have left me feeling more satisfied at the end.
Author Samantha Leach had a childhood best friend: Elissa P. After an incident at school, Elissa P's parents ship her off to a troubled teen boarding school in Nebraska (Ponca Pines) -- which is now closed, thank God, though there are plenty more like it.
While there, Elissa P befriends two other "Elissas": Alyssa N and Alissa O. The three of them spend their high school years getting into trouble, and honing their budding addictions to drugs and alcohol. They each get mysterious matching tattoos which are eerily prescient: "Save Our Souls."
Throughout high school, Elissa P maintains her friendship with Samantha, but it's clear Elissa is going down a very different path from her best friend. Samantha still feels very close to Elissa, though she is a bit jealous of her closeness with her Elissa friends.
Within a few years, all three Elissas would be dead.
Elissa P dies at 18, of encephalitis brought on by infection, likely related to her constant drug use.
Alyssa N dies at age 23. She's found dead in a bathtub of a heroin overdose.
Alissa O dies at age 26. She dies of sepsis (unclear if this is related to her history of drug addiction, but presumably).
Samantha Leach, mesmerized by the strange tattoo shared by the three Elissas, and by the ways in which they - who started out with a similarly privileged life like Leach herself - were failed by the systems set up to support them, in ways that ultimately led to their very young deaths. Leach delves into the world of the trouble teen industry to try to find answers.
Unfortunately, that's kind of where this ends. I thought the narratives focused on each of the three Elissas were fascinating, and important to show how the trouble teen industry (and other industries like it - e.g. wilderness therapy, certain kinds of addiction rehab for adults) really failed them, and ultimately did far more harm than good. However, I think Leach needed to probe this point more and really articulate the specific ways in which this happened for the Elissas, and "troubled teens" in general. More general critique of the industries, and why they are ineffective, and what alternatives are viable, would have left me feeling more satisfied at the end.
March 27, 2023
This felt only a little deeper than surface-level storytelling with a clear agenda - anti-troubled teen industry- but not enough research into it. It's more a narrative about these girls who happened to experience the industry for a few years maybe, but there's not much substance from their stays other than that they were generally bad and possibly abusive. Also, while I'm not supporting these programs at all, it's important to note that these girls weren't sent for no reason. They were self-destructive and even committing crimes like theft for fun. And this is important bc the author seems to link these programs to their deaths, but it seems clear to me that regardless of their stays at various boarding programs, they could have still died in those exact same ways. It seems even more likely actually bc they would have continued in their self-destructive behaviors and various drugs without anyone keeping them in check and with all the privilege that came with being wealthy young white women.
**Received a free copy from Netgalley
My main takeaway from this is less about the troubled teen industry, and more about her obsession with her childhood friend. She says this story is about three girls, but she only knew one of them up to maybe 12-13 years old. And she talks about herself about as much as she talks about them, which leads me to believe this is just as much about her and how she was "just as bad." Which felt weird. I think this is good look into the privileged lives of rich white girls, and nothing more.
**Received a free copy from Netgalley
My main takeaway from this is less about the troubled teen industry, and more about her obsession with her childhood friend. She says this story is about three girls, but she only knew one of them up to maybe 12-13 years old. And she talks about herself about as much as she talks about them, which leads me to believe this is just as much about her and how she was "just as bad." Which felt weird. I think this is good look into the privileged lives of rich white girls, and nothing more.
June 4, 2023
I received a copy of this book from the publisher
The cover and title of this book would be right at home on the list of the latest summer thrillers, but this is definitely a case of true life being more shocking than fiction. Bustle editor Samantha Leach's exposé of the Troubled Teen Industry reads as both a warning and a regretful love letter to her lost friends. Prior to Paris Hilton recently opening up about her times at such institutions I had never given them much thought, let alone considered all the moving parts that created the industry, despite an estimated 50,000 teens being sent to troubled teen programs each year, with many coming from the suburbs.
🚩HOW THE INDUSTRY WORKS🚩
Parents concerned about their teenagers "acting out" tend to head to their computers in search of answers, where they often make a connection to a college counselor-type consultant, unaware that these consultants "are often receiving financial kickbacks from these programs, earning a fee each time they place someone in their care." These desperate parents often agree to a short-term wilderness program for their teen. Next, it is usually suggested to parents that they have their teen stay on for another few weeks, months, etc., and then recommended that they transition to a therapeutic boarding school (a recommendation that persuades 40 to 45 percent of parents) like Ponca Pines (located in Nebraska, where teens are considered minors until the age of nineteen.) The initial short-term wilderness programs are essentially "preparation for later selling [parents] on a long-term stay at a boarding school. All of which contributes to the $1.2 billion profit the industry turns annually."
I was outraged to learn the intricacies of this system that inflicts more damage on teens while preying on wealthy parents looking to get their rebellious teenagers in line. Hopefully, books such as this, outspoken advocates, and work done by the nonprofit Breaking Code Silence will not only expose the horrors of this unregulated industry but lead to a full reformation or dismantling.
Come chat with me about books here, too:
Blog | Instagram
The cover and title of this book would be right at home on the list of the latest summer thrillers, but this is definitely a case of true life being more shocking than fiction. Bustle editor Samantha Leach's exposé of the Troubled Teen Industry reads as both a warning and a regretful love letter to her lost friends. Prior to Paris Hilton recently opening up about her times at such institutions I had never given them much thought, let alone considered all the moving parts that created the industry, despite an estimated 50,000 teens being sent to troubled teen programs each year, with many coming from the suburbs.
🚩HOW THE INDUSTRY WORKS🚩
Parents concerned about their teenagers "acting out" tend to head to their computers in search of answers, where they often make a connection to a college counselor-type consultant, unaware that these consultants "are often receiving financial kickbacks from these programs, earning a fee each time they place someone in their care." These desperate parents often agree to a short-term wilderness program for their teen. Next, it is usually suggested to parents that they have their teen stay on for another few weeks, months, etc., and then recommended that they transition to a therapeutic boarding school (a recommendation that persuades 40 to 45 percent of parents) like Ponca Pines (located in Nebraska, where teens are considered minors until the age of nineteen.) The initial short-term wilderness programs are essentially "preparation for later selling [parents] on a long-term stay at a boarding school. All of which contributes to the $1.2 billion profit the industry turns annually."
I was outraged to learn the intricacies of this system that inflicts more damage on teens while preying on wealthy parents looking to get their rebellious teenagers in line. Hopefully, books such as this, outspoken advocates, and work done by the nonprofit Breaking Code Silence will not only expose the horrors of this unregulated industry but lead to a full reformation or dismantling.
Come chat with me about books here, too:
Blog | Instagram
August 1, 2023
I heard a podcast about this industry that takes troubled teens and isolates them to work on their problems. It is unregulated by any entity so many boundaries are blurred and abuses abound. In a country that claims to value the lives of children, we do little to ensure their safety.
This focuses are the three young ladies named Elissa, Alyssa and Alissa. All three meet while at Ponca Pines Acadrmy where the young ladies tried to overcome their demons in order to graduate from the program. The rules are arbitrary and the people running the school have no training in counseling or dealing with addiction.
The claim the author makes is that the Troubled Teen machine is what led to the death of the three women. I’m not sure the through line is clear. All of these young adults dealt with abuse in various forms and with addiction. Behavior that is fueled by chasing a high. There needs to be more nuance when telling the stories of people dealing with addiction. This is skiing on the surface.
The author’s friendship with Elissa definitely causes her to mourn the loss, but the Troubled Teen industry doesn’t feature as prominently as I thought it would.
This focuses are the three young ladies named Elissa, Alyssa and Alissa. All three meet while at Ponca Pines Acadrmy where the young ladies tried to overcome their demons in order to graduate from the program. The rules are arbitrary and the people running the school have no training in counseling or dealing with addiction.
The claim the author makes is that the Troubled Teen machine is what led to the death of the three women. I’m not sure the through line is clear. All of these young adults dealt with abuse in various forms and with addiction. Behavior that is fueled by chasing a high. There needs to be more nuance when telling the stories of people dealing with addiction. This is skiing on the surface.
The author’s friendship with Elissa definitely causes her to mourn the loss, but the Troubled Teen industry doesn’t feature as prominently as I thought it would.
December 28, 2023
This was a very easy read about very difficult topics, told in an almost gossip-type way, as if you were catching up over coffee with the author. This was about young girls involved in the troubled teens industry and hit on issues like eating disorders, addiction, abuse, and mental health. I did find it odd how some parts of the story were so incredibly specific, yet insignificant to the story, while other major parts were just rushed through.
I can’t say I *enjoyed* this read, as a lot of the topics are not easy to sit with, but I recommend since it was very informative. I never knew about how horrible the teen wilderness camps were, both while the teens are enrolled and the lasting effects it has on kids.
I can’t say I *enjoyed* this read, as a lot of the topics are not easy to sit with, but I recommend since it was very informative. I never knew about how horrible the teen wilderness camps were, both while the teens are enrolled and the lasting effects it has on kids.
January 16, 2024
This book hit me like a ton of bricks and that’s all I have to say.
February 20, 2023
From the first page of The Elissas, I knew that I would speed read this book. Samantha Leach shares the stories of three teenagers who all met while at a Troubled Teen Industry school in Nebraska and introduces you to additional individuals who knew them at different points in their lives. Elissa, Alyssa, and Alissa were bonded during their time together, with similar partying habits and lifestyles. Within 8 years of leaving Ponca Pines, all three would be dead. Leach grew up with Elissa and felt haunted by her passing. Their lives and deaths left a lasting impact on Leach, which she explores in The Elissas.
I highlighted many excerpts from The Elissas, beginning with chapter 1. Leach writes, "Beauty as far as I could tell, didn't exempt you from any of life's hardships. But in Elissa's mind, beauty equaled absolution. That's what society had instructed her, anyway...Like many young women who grew up ingesting the detritus of our culture's obsession with attractive women, Elissa bought into the false promise that good looks would grant her immunity from her inner, unspoken pain." This criticism of pop culture's beauty standards and fixation stood out to me, as this had a negative impact on Elissa's life.
Leach pairs stories about Elissa, Alyssa, and Alissa with research and statistics to show readers how their stories connect to others across the US. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a deeper dive about the Troubled Teen Industry and how these environments affect individuals' paths differently.
Thank you to NetGalley, Samantha Leach and Legacy Lit Hachette Book Group for an eARC to read and review with my own opinion!
I highlighted many excerpts from The Elissas, beginning with chapter 1. Leach writes, "Beauty as far as I could tell, didn't exempt you from any of life's hardships. But in Elissa's mind, beauty equaled absolution. That's what society had instructed her, anyway...Like many young women who grew up ingesting the detritus of our culture's obsession with attractive women, Elissa bought into the false promise that good looks would grant her immunity from her inner, unspoken pain." This criticism of pop culture's beauty standards and fixation stood out to me, as this had a negative impact on Elissa's life.
Leach pairs stories about Elissa, Alyssa, and Alissa with research and statistics to show readers how their stories connect to others across the US. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a deeper dive about the Troubled Teen Industry and how these environments affect individuals' paths differently.
Thank you to NetGalley, Samantha Leach and Legacy Lit Hachette Book Group for an eARC to read and review with my own opinion!
July 8, 2023
Really disappointed in this book. The author was clearly trying to jump on the "troubled teen industry" trend that began with Paris Hilton's memoir and activism. However, I don't think she succeeded. The entire book blames Ponca Pines, the one facility all three girls attended concurrently in Omaha. She insinuates that Ponca Pines deployed methods of shame, “attack therapy” (subjecting students to severe criticism by their peers or superiors), solitary confinement and surveillance, even when the students shower and use the toilet. However, those who she does reference state that these experiences occurred at other facilities, none state that they experienced this at Ponca Pines. In addition, there are several items that are easily verified as untrue if someone were to simply google them. For example - counselors in the state of NE must be licensed. Any counselors employed would have had to follow state guidelines. Another example - the author states that NE is the only state where you are not considered an adult until 19. This is also the case in Alabama. I know that Samantha must feel a tremendous amount of grief having lost her good friend. But I think that if the purpose of this book was to tell their story - it did not succeed. These women were taken too soon. There is no argument there. But what this book doesn't do is accurately tell these women's stories and experiences. It tells her imagined version of their experiences.
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