Sweet Charlotte's Seventh Mistake

by Cori Crooks

In Sweet Charlotte s Seventh Mistake Cori Crooks records her search for identity among the things left behind by her delinquent family, her deceased, drug-addicted con-artist mother, and her missing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1580052495
• ISBN13: 9781580052498
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: Seal Press (CA)
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 9.1" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Sweet Charlotte

A beautiful expression of a young womans struggle with identity. Ms. Crooks' artistic and powerful memoir, takes you through life with her erratic disfunctional mother and yearning for a fathers love. This piece of art will be admired by anyone who can relate to a journey of self-discovery. There were many times Ms. Crooks words popped up from the page and hit me like a MAC Truck, because in that moment, I truly understood her emotion. Thanks Ms. Crooks for sharing your book with the world, I look forward to more of your works.

An entirely new genre!

I am so proud of Cori! I actually went to high school with her, though I haven't seen or spoken to her since then. It turns out that we actually had a lot more in common than I ever would have guessed. This book is unlike any memoir I've ever read. It's layed out like a scrapbook, with colorful graphics, artwork and haunting photos. The story is told as if you're reading a private journal (and I guess you are.) It is done just so, so beautifully. I devoured it in two sittings. Cori is an amazing writer and I can't wait to see what else she has to share with us!

What an amazing piece of art and writing!!!

Cori Crooks could have written down her story as a plain old memoir and it would have been an unbridled stunner and page-turner. The characters that were placed in her life are in and of themselves fit for an epic novel or Hollywood plot. But Ms. Crooks is no ordinary writer; out of the carefully crafted web of letters, photos, diaries, poetry and art arises her own soul, the soul of an artist, a poet, a muse -- a soul so large and beaming with light and life that it was able to take the rotten hand she was dealt and turn it into a sparkling gem of a book. Sweet Charlotte's Seventh Mistake is written proof that there is free will in God's great universe: Nothing and nobody can keep us from being gracious, beautiful, and delightfully funny, no matter where, when or how we've entered this place. Thank you for this all-important reminder!

I dare you to start this book and not read it all in one sitting.

Sweet Charlotte's Seventh mistake is a story of Cori Crooks helter-skelter childhood that pulls you in until you reach the very last page. The story begins with Cori Crooks letter to a man she was told years prior might be her biological father. From there it is a Bonnie and Clyde ride chronicling the life of Cori's eccentric mother. You know it is going to be a fascinating tale just from the picture of her mother on the cover of the book go go dancing in a bikini before a mirror while her mother's curly girlish handwriting at the top of the picture reads, `I think I might be pregnant again.' It was impossible to put the book down. Ms. Crook's writing makes you an accomplice to her story. And not only was I completely drawn in by the story, the pages of the book are collages of the scraps of letters, pictures, and clues that Ms. Crooks used to solve the mystery of who she is as the product of a broken mother and mystery father. The pictures and notes make the real life characters come to life all the more. At times the story is just heart breaking. It literally made me sick to my stomach to think of the chaos life was for all the children her mother left in her destructive path (Ms. Crooks, being the seventh and thus "last mistake"). I felt as if I had to get to the end to resolve the ache in my stomach. And when the end was reached, I had to pause to reflect on it all. The roller coaster story ended and I was finally able to breath. It is simply a most beautiful and ironic thing that Ms. Crooks took a childhood filled with pain and lies, sets out on a journey seeking the truth, and ends up with a splendid work of art. I hope there will be more books to follow!!!

Compelling Literary Memoir with art and vintage photos, FIVE STARS

I've never seen anything like this book before. In "Sweet Charlotte's Seventh Mistake" Cori Crooks takes us on a fascinating, humorous, and eventually emotionally devastating journey through her mother's past, to find the truth about who her parents were. This is a new form of story telling. Told through vintage photos, empheria circa 1960s'/70s'/80's, and Crooks' own art work and prose. Intense lay-outs and top-notch designs, but the real winner here is Crooks' prose! Flooring! Strong! Her story is unforgettable and incredibly well written. I'm surprised the world hasn't heard of her before. Where has this talent been hiding? I look forward to future works from this bright author!