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3.35k reviews for:
The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing
Lara Love Hardin
4.42 AVERAGE
3.35k reviews for:
The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing
Lara Love Hardin
4.42 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This book deserves all the stars. What an incredible memoir about an incredibly resilient & badass woman. I am just so amazed by Lara Love Hardin & cannot put into words how much I loved this book!
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Brutally honest memoir with the rawness of lived experience - The Many Lives of Mama Love charts Lara Love Hardin’s dramatic descent from suburban SUV-driving soccer mum to incarcerated opioid addict - and her slow and fragile climb back into a life of meaning. What starts as an insidious fall from grace evolves into something far more layered: a reckoning with shame, identity, and systemic injustice. The story is eye-opening, heart-breaking, raw and ultimately hopeful, told with the kind of vulnerability that lets you peer into her soul.
What struck me most was Hardin’s clear-eyed account of the post-jail labyrinth - rehab, probation, CPS, plea deals - an entanglement so complex it feels impossible by design. Her explanation of how county jails feed the larger prison system with 'human capital' to staff internal operations (cooking, cleaning, maintenance etc) is so devastating. Recidivism isn’t a failure of the system - it’s really the fuel.
She writes with a grace that elevates her pain into purpose, unafraid to acknowledge her privilege, while also shining light on the machinery of punishment that benefits from those who are reoffending.
Although her story was not so directly relatable to me - she’s a white, middle-class American woman - it’s deeply worthy of being told and heard. I came to understand how a soccer mum ends up in such a catastrophic unraveling, but I stayed for the soul-searching honesty and sharp social commentary. Hardin doesn’t just survive - she rebuilds with fierce intention, and it’s impossible not to root for her. Reflective, redemptive, and radical, The Many Lives of Mama Love is a memoir that leaves a mark.
You’ll love this if… you like your systems exposed, your memoirs raw and your prison systems rigged.
What struck me most was Hardin’s clear-eyed account of the post-jail labyrinth - rehab, probation, CPS, plea deals - an entanglement so complex it feels impossible by design. Her explanation of how county jails feed the larger prison system with 'human capital' to staff internal operations (cooking, cleaning, maintenance etc) is so devastating. Recidivism isn’t a failure of the system - it’s really the fuel.
She writes with a grace that elevates her pain into purpose, unafraid to acknowledge her privilege, while also shining light on the machinery of punishment that benefits from those who are reoffending.
Although her story was not so directly relatable to me - she’s a white, middle-class American woman - it’s deeply worthy of being told and heard. I came to understand how a soccer mum ends up in such a catastrophic unraveling, but I stayed for the soul-searching honesty and sharp social commentary. Hardin doesn’t just survive - she rebuilds with fierce intention, and it’s impossible not to root for her. Reflective, redemptive, and radical, The Many Lives of Mama Love is a memoir that leaves a mark.
You’ll love this if… you like your systems exposed, your memoirs raw and your prison systems rigged.
I have always had mixed feelings when I read a memoir or autobiographical novel. Things often feel convenient and predictable, and I am sure a certain amount of embellishment takes place (that's why I prefer biographical novels; yes this still occurs, but I do not feel as much.). That is not to take away from the fact that The Many Lives of Mama Love was an interesting story of redemption, whilst sharing personal accounts of the devastating effects of drugs and addiction. And because I am biased with my love of books, I also took out of this book, the transformative power of reading and writing books. Lara Love Hardin's experience with writing was evident on every page, which made reading an engaging experience.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
I did not think this was particularly well written which is interesting because this girl is a writer and ghostwriter. I am happy for her that she could tell her story.