Lauren St. John

Excellent read about a talented and driven man. The book smoothly describes family and early life in east Texas. Earle had a raucous but caring southern upbringing. It was family, in the guise of a young uncle, who started him out on the rock n' roll and heroin path, but it was also his family that eventually helped him back to the world. Eventually the book goes from album to album and wife to wife, all five of them. In the end, the man seems to have found some peace. Though at times he show more sounded like a titanic asshole, good for him. An American original for sure. show less

Rainbow’s End is a memoir set in a place that longer exists. Lauren St. John spent her early childhood on a farm in white-ruled Rhodesia. Her story is one with many contradictions and highlights her loss of innocence. As Lauren grows, she realizes that her perceptions of reality, her understanding of country and family, were in large part mere illusions.

The memoir is filled with images of the African landscape. The political landscape is also ever-present. It is seen with the childlike show more innocence of a girl exposed to the world through the eyes of her parents. Lauren was eleven years old at the beginning of the Rhodesian Bush War. She trusted the adults around her implicitly and truly believed that the war wasn’t one about racism; after all, many of the members in the Rhodesian army were black. The Communists were the enemy, and she fervently believed in the righteousness of the Rhodesian army. She loved her country unconditionally. When independence was finally achieved and the country became Zimbabwe, Lauren’s shock at the reality of the situation was palpable.

“For me it was the euphoria that was the giveaway. That and the fact that I’d only recently registered the name of Mugabe, and yet every black person in Zimbabwe seemed to have known about him for years…it was the euphoria that told me that the war of freedom, which in my childish innocence I had believed we were fighting against Communism, had turned out to be someone else’s war of freedom. WE were the terrorists. Our heroes were not heroes at all, they were evil racists. Only black people were allowed to be heroes.”

The memoir allows us to follow Lauren’s life after the establishment of Zimbabwe, as well. We see the tumultuous relationship between her eccentric parents, her life at boarding school, her dreams for the future, and the beginnings of the reign of terror under Mugabe. My edition of the book came complete with maps, a helpful glossary, and thought-provoking discussion questions at the end. This memoir of Lauren St John’s life is heartfelt, and a noteworthy read. Recommended. show less

The premise of the book is great, but I found too many holes explaining how/what things happened which left me wondering if this was reviewed by her editor. Flat characters who conveniently helped the plot move along were too simplistic. 5th-6th graders may enjoy the exotic location, middle school friend turmoil, exciting plot & fairy tale ending. it's certainly good fodder for discussions about race.

I enjoyed this autobiography so much. It is also the story of a way of life that no longer exists and the author conveys this part with poignance, but not regret. St. John is aware that the colonial oppression she was born into needed to be replaced, but she is not blind to the irony that the leader who came into power allowed fear, threats and violence to continue.

Lauren St. John lived a delightful childhood that nearly mirrored my daydreams and play: unlimited exotic pets, horses, dogs, show more wild country to play in, and permissive, glamorous parents. Even the war that overshadows most of this story is like a part of the perfect fantasy. Her dad was a larger than life bona fide hero risking his life with a laugh just like a movie star.

Then in adolescence, along with her own biological changes, almost everything from her nearly perfect childhood crumbles leaving the fantasy in ashes around her. She basically loses everything that had formed her life.

I was swept into her loving descriptions of the land I daydreamed about going to. I was saddened by the destruction that political humans insist on inflicting across such wide areas of our world. But she tells of the desecration without bitterness and her compassionate understanding keeps the reader from sinking into fruitless political ruminations.

This young woman is a life-loving hero herself and what might have destroyed a less resilient person, simply becomes a new direction for her with deeper insights, even wisdom. show less