Have You Found Her

by: Janice Erlbaum

Published by: Villard /The Random House

Reviewed by Beth Cummings

This is Janice Erlbaum’s second memoir. Her first book told the story of her own teen years – years in which she was a runaway and a shelter resident who successfully transitioned out of that life. In Have You Found Her, Erlbaum writes about her experiences twenty years later as a volunteer at that same shelter. Because she was a writer at the time, she carefully documented in a journal what she did, what people said, and her feelings as she kept a weekly commitment as the “Bead Lady” who helped the girls make jewelry on Wednesday evenings.

As a volunteer, Erlbaum went through training which emphasized not having favorites among the residents, not giving gifts and certainly not giving out telephone numbers or personal information. She became obsessed with being at the shelter, looking for “the one that reminds you of you.” While there she meets a homeless junkie, Samantha (Sam). Sam becomes Erlbaum’s special friend at the shelter and Erlbaum is moved to try to help this girl get on her feet. Sam develops several illnesses and is hospitalized, sent to drug rehab, re-hospitalized and becomes more of a burden than Erlbaum had bargained for. Yet she cares very much for Sam until a peculiarity in Sam’s diagnosis begins to affect her feelings.

Janice Erlbaum relates this piece of her life with the flair of an excellent novelist. I found myself forgetting that this wasn’t a story that would have a reasonable resolution. When Erlbaum begins to investigate Sam’s illnesses and then search for her birth family, the book read like a mystery thriller– and I could hardly put it down.

I enjoyed the book very much and am quite impressed with Erlbaum’s ability to tell her own tale with such aplomb.

Armchair Interviews says: Good book group discussion questions are at the back of the book.

Author’s Web site: http://www.GirlBomb.com