Bandit: A Daughter's Memoir

(Paperback)

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Description

The summer she turned thirteen, Molly Brodak's father was arrested for robbing eleven banks. In time, the image she held of him would unravel further, as more and more unexpected facets of his personality came to light.

Bandit is her attempt to discover what, exactly, is left, when the most fundamental relationship of your life turns out to have been built on falsehoods. It is also a scrupulously honest account of learning how to trust again, and to rebuild the very idea of family from scratch.

Refusing to fence off the trickier sides of her father's character, Brodak tries to find, through crystalline, spellbinding prose, a version of him that does not rely on the easy answers but allows him to be: an unknowable and incomprehensible whole - who is also her father.

Unforgettable, moving, and utterly relatable, Bandit is a story of the unpredictable complexity of family.

Reviews

Molly Brodak's account of growing up as the daughter of a multiple felon bank robber is one of the most astonishing memoirs I've ever read, an unflinching look into the meaning of family, morality, forgiveness ... This is a rare one. -- Blake Butler * VICE journalist *
In Molly Brodak's dazzling memoir, Bandit, her eye is so honest, I found myself nodding like I was agreeing with her, sometimes cringing at what she sustained, and laughing - often. I can't wait to buy a copy for everyone I know. * Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help *
Her compulsive book offers poetic justice of sorts. * TATLER *
Her memoir is stark and moving * The Guardian *
Thoughtful, searching, poetic, crisp and funny * Family Tree Magazine *
Distinctive, funny and touching * The Bookseller *

Author Bio

Molly Brodak is an award-winning poet. She received a BA in English at Oakland University then an MFA in Creative Writing at West Virginia University. The winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize, she teaches at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and has published one book of poetry and two chapbooks. Bandit is her first full-length book of prose.