Rita Zoey Chin

Let the Tornado Come: A Memoir Rita Zoey Chin

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.; From an award-winning poet comes this riveting, gorgeous memoir about a young runaway, the trauma that haunted her as an adult, and the friendship with a horse that finally set her free. When she was eleven years old, Rita began to run away. Her father's violence and her mother's hostility drove her out of the house and into the streets in search of a better life. This soon led her into a dangerous world of drugs, predatory older men, and the occasional kindness of strangers, but despite the dangers, Rita kept running. One day she came upon a field of horses galloping along a roadside fence, and the sight of them gave her hope. The memory of their hoofbeats stayed with her. Rita survives her harrowing childhood to become a prize-winning writer and the wife of a promising surgeon. But when she is suddenly besieged by terrifying panic attacks, her past trauma threatens her hard-won happiness and the stable, comfortable life she's built with her husband. Within weeks, she is incapacitated with fear--literally afraid of her own shadow. Realizing that she is facing a life of psychological imprisonment, Rita undertakes a journey to find help through a variety of treatments. It is ultimately through chasing her childhood passion for horses that she meets a spirited, endearing horse named Claret--with his own troubled history--and together they surmount daunting odds as they move toward fear and learn to trust, and ultimately save, each other--; Provided by publisher. Review Quotes: "Let the Tornado Come" is as riveting as it sounds. In lyrical yet clear-eyed prose, with a gentleness and humility that belie a fierce inner strength, Rita Zoey Chin illuminates the debilitating consequences of childhood abuse and her search for its antidote. At once heartbreaking and heartening, compassionate and wise, "Let the Tornado Come" is a story about love--its unmatched enormity, its curative power, its reverberating force that, though not dissimilar to the tremors of fear in our heart, can carry us to a place where we are cherished, and in turn, learn to cherish the life in our care.--Vaddey Ratner, bestselling author of In the Shadow of the BanyanReview Quotes: "Unbearably beautiful and unflinching, Rita Zoey Chin's Let the Tornado Come is a brilliant portrait of a life skirting the precipice. She has captured masterfully the maelstrom of her years as a runaway, a wife, a sister, a rider, a searcher. But what shines, page after page, is her resilience, in how every day is built. This is a story full of lightning--sudden, intimate, radiant."--Paul Yoon, author of Snow HuntersReview Quotes: At the heart of this brave, beautiful memoir is an extraordinary tale of hard-earned compassion and love. Despite all odds, some of the most broken down souls, human and animal alike, can not only heal but can take wing and soar. Rita Zoey Chin offers us herunforgettable story with richly textured, luminous prose--I fell in love withher book from the very first line.--Mira Bartok, bestselling author of The Memory Palace"Publisher Marketing: Hailed as a "clear-eyed book written with poetry and compassion" by "The" "Boston Globe," "Let the Tornado Come "is the "lyrical debut memoir" ("Kirkus Reviews") of a runaway child, the woman she became, and the horse that set her free. When Rita Zoey Chin was eleven years old, she began running away from home. Her parents' violence and neglect drove her onto the streets in search of a better life, but what she found instead was a dangerous world of drugs and predatory men--as well as the occasional kindness of strangers. As she hits bottom and then learns to forge a new life for herself, all of her dreams of freedom and beauty pivot on a single, precious memory: a herd of horses running along a roadside fence. A few years later, Rita--now a prizewinning poet and wife of a successful neurosurgeon--appears to have triumphed over her harrowing childhood, until she is struck with a series of debilitating panic attacks that threaten her comfortable new life. Ultimately, it is the memory of those hoofbeats, and the chance arrival of a spirited, endearing horse named Claret who has a difficult history himself, that will finally save her. "A near euphoric ode to the human spirit" ("Huffington Post"), "Let the Tornado Come" is about pulling yourself up out of the dark and discovering that the greatest escape lies not in running from, but turning towards, those things that frighten you the most; it is "luminous... A haunting yet hopeful saga that shows how trauma and fear can transform themselves into enduring strength" ("Publishers Weekly"). Review Citations: Booklist 06/01/2014 pg. 5 (EAN 9781476734880, Open Ebook) Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2014 (EAN 9781476734866, Hardcover) Booklist 06/01/2014 pg. 5 (EAN 9781476734866, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 08/04/2014 (EAN 9781476734866, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Chin, Rita Zoey Rita Zoey Chin's writing has appeared in "Tin House", " Guernica", "The Rumpus", " Freerange Nonfiction", and elsewhere. She received her MFA from the University of Maryland and now lives in Boston, where she teaches at Grub Street, mentors teenage girls, and rides her mischievous horse.