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A review by toggle_fow
The House of My Mother by Shari Franke
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
This memoir is from Shari Franke, oldest child of Ruby Franke, the influencer and YouTube family vlogger who was sentenced to 4 to 15 years in prison for aggravated child abuse in 2024.
The Ruby Franke case blew up instantly when it hit the news. After all, internet celebrities, Mormonism, cults, and heinous child abuse - it's practically an archetypal true crime story. For Shari, though, it was her childhood.
Shari moved out of her childhood home for college a few months after Jodi Hildebrandt, the disgraced counselor and cult leader who partnered with Ruby Franke in her abuse, moved in. Her growing-up didn't have starvation or duct-tape ligatures, but was instead overshadowed by a toxic, emotionally abusive family dynamic and the harsh eye of the ever-present "8 Passengers" family YouTube channel.
She writes about her struggle to navigate becoming a young adult with Ruby's and Jodi's manipulation tugging her toward self-destruction and leaving her vulnerable to other predators. The many times she called child services, convinced that her younger siblings were in danger but without any proof the justice system would accept. Her disappointment with her spineless father. She does not write about her siblings and what they went through, which I think is an extremely wise choice.
This book is an attempt to wrest back some control of a narrative that international media has run with ever since Ruby's explosive arrest. In terms of quality, I think Shari and her co-writer did a good job. Her voice is clear and compelling, and there were many times when a specific, evocative turn of phrase caught my notice.
Many people have said that perhaps Shari might have done herself a favor by waiting a few more years before writing about these events. I understand the urgency of trying to finally put a lid of some kind on the firehose of public interest, and I hope this book accomplishes that for her. However, I do agree that Shari is still very young and it's likely time and growth will give her increased clarity from the fog that stifled her childhood.
The Ruby Franke case blew up instantly when it hit the news. After all, internet celebrities, Mormonism, cults, and heinous child abuse - it's practically an archetypal true crime story. For Shari, though, it was her childhood.
Shari moved out of her childhood home for college a few months after Jodi Hildebrandt, the disgraced counselor and cult leader who partnered with Ruby Franke in her abuse, moved in. Her growing-up didn't have starvation or duct-tape ligatures, but was instead overshadowed by a toxic, emotionally abusive family dynamic and the harsh eye of the ever-present "8 Passengers" family YouTube channel.
She writes about her struggle to navigate becoming a young adult with Ruby's and Jodi's manipulation tugging her toward self-destruction and leaving her vulnerable to other predators. The many times she called child services, convinced that her younger siblings were in danger but without any proof the justice system would accept. Her disappointment with her spineless father. She does not write about her siblings and what they went through, which I think is an extremely wise choice.
This book is an attempt to wrest back some control of a narrative that international media has run with ever since Ruby's explosive arrest. In terms of quality, I think Shari and her co-writer did a good job. Her voice is clear and compelling, and there were many times when a specific, evocative turn of phrase caught my notice.
Many people have said that perhaps Shari might have done herself a favor by waiting a few more years before writing about these events. I understand the urgency of trying to finally put a lid of some kind on the firehose of public interest, and I hope this book accomplishes that for her. However, I do agree that Shari is still very young and it's likely time and growth will give her increased clarity from the fog that stifled her childhood.