Cristina Utti

Breaking Infinity Cristina Utti

This memoir is set in the 1970s when divorce rates were at a historic all-time high in the United States, rising from 3.5 per 1000 in 1970 to 5.3 per 1000 divorces by 1979. Lina's world turned into a before and after when her parents divorced in 1978 and she was left to help her father raise the younger siblings. The guilt she felt and lack of control over her home environment internalized, developing into an eating disorder as Lina thought that food was the only thing she had control of in her life. Four years later, her father, at his wit's end, tells her, "Get the hell out of this house!" With only her backpack and guitar, she leaves home at the tender age of sixteen. She uses her beauty, wit, and charm to make it on the streets, thus becoming exposed to the darker side of existence. During this tumultuous time, Lina bounces from place to place, living where she can, and running away from herself. By the age of eighteen, she is living in Philadelphia alone and addicted to meth. She decides to transform her life upon awakening from a drug overdose coma in the hospital. She moves in with David, her older brother, but he continues to party. Lina is left with a decision-does she try to save her brother, or save herself?