By: Geoffrey R. Jonas
Publisher: Tellwell
Publication Date: March 7, 2025
ISBN: 978-1779629661
Reviewed by: Diana Coyle
Review Date: September 24, 2025
In Being Broken: Tales and Essays of Survival and Death from Narcissistic Parental Abuse by Geoffrey R. Jonas, readers are taken on a raw and painful roller coaster ride in which the author provides full disclosure of how traumatizing growing up was for his sister and himself. They grew up with such broken lives because their parents and stepfather were abusive in so many ways.
This was such a heartbreaking story that this reviewer had to read it in intervals because of the intense abuse Jonas and his sister endured at the hands of their parents and stepfather. Unfortunately, the abuse was the driving force for the beginning of both Jonas and his sister’s drug and alcohol abuse at a very young age. Both their lives spiraled out of control well into their adult years. In and out of treatment centers and hospitals, nothing set either one on the path to full recovery. Each stint in these facilities just produced a brief time of sobriety for them to get through their stay, but once they were released, they were both right back on their destructive paths.
The emotions were so raw and real that the author made me feel so concerned for him and his sister that I wish I could have extended a helping hand in some fashion. You feel as if they are people you know so well that you want to help both of them in any way you can to save their lives. It was horrible how the abuse started young and continued right on throughout their adult years. So much so that it affected everything they did in their own lives, which made them stuck in a vicious cycle of making one poor decision after another.
As readers progress further into the book, they can see the transformation that Jonas has made, although not an easy transformation along the way. Even through the author has training in both physical and drug abuse, he is still fighting to keep his head remain above water and his recovery is still very much ongoing.
Quill says: Being Broken: Tales and Essays of Survival and Death from Narcissistic Parental Abuse by Geoffrey R. Jonas is one raw and emotional memoir that will have readers hoping that the author will finally find the peace he so deserves in his life.
For more information about Being Broken: Tales and Essays of Survival and Death from Narcissistic Parental Abuse, please visit the author's website at: geoffreyrjonas.ca
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