Shari Lopatin
'At first, forgiving myself implied I had done something wrong, and I couldn’t face the possibility that I played a part in allowing this overpowering denial to happen.'In this special memoir told through a collection of earlier works including fictional short stories, non-fiction essays, and poetry, Shari Lopatin tells the story of her younger self-a millennial coming of age through the 1990s and 2000s while fighting to make sense of a world rapidly changing amidst The Great Recession and September 11. Touching on themes still relevant today, Shari shares deeply emotional pieces from her formative years about mental health, the search for home, the awkwardness of dating, love and heartbreak, and the effects of Antisemitism.Included in this hand-selected collection are the fictional short stories 'Pomegranates' about the power of kindness and connection; 'A Call from Paris' about a young marriage falling apart; 'Stone from HELL' about the effects of a monstrous society; and the namesake of this book, 'The Condemned' about finding self-acceptance. Shari also included other personal essays and poems never before seen. Ultimately, The Condemned: A memoir told through selected early works of short stories, essays, and poetry reveals one young woman’s struggle to find herself within a confusing and sometimes ostracizing world, and the messages of love, hope, and truth she now brings to others.
