Bandit: A Daughter's Memoir

Bandit, of course, is appropriate because the father in this book is a bank robber. But he also robs his family of so much more. In the kindest terms he was a charming scoundrel with a gambling and lying problem. As you read about the damage he did to his wife, to his daughters by playing them off against each other, to Molly's sister who was his "favorite" and seems more scarred by both his favors and betrayals (although obviously this memoir is from Molly's POV) he seems to be more of a sociopath. Writing a memoir can be a form of therapy, often an effort to try to understand a parent whose actions are incomprehensible to the author and/or to work through anger. I hope the writing of this finely crafted book brought Molly to a place of greater equanimity.

I read this book in one day. Not because it was an “easy” read (it isn’t) or because I had the time (I didn’t). I probably shouldn’t have read it so quickly because there is so much to think about in these pages, so much to digest. But, it was just so good that I couldn’t put it down.When I picked up this book, I didn’t know that it takes place where I live or that the events recorded took place in my lifetime. As I read this memoir though, it wasn’t its location or time frame of reference that I connected with most. It was the author’s voice I found the most familiar, the poetic precision with which she describes her childhood experiences. The events and details of her story are unique to her, but she’s done something here with words that are therapeutic for anyone who suffered neglect (anywhere on its spectrum) or who perhaps felt like a stranger both to and in their own family unit growing up. I underlined so many passages, so many truths as I read—something I haven’t done in a novel since college.In her memoir, Brodak talks about whether a story, any story, is worth telling. She weighs truth verses perspective, the narcissism of the memoir verses its potential benefits to readers. As someone who also enjoys writing, I relate to this burden. So, with whatever authority I have a reader/reviewer of Bandit, I will say that this story wasn’t just good and enjoyable to read—it mattered. It’s important. It’s helpful. And I’m so grateful the author had the courage to write it. I will be recommending it to many friends.

A stellar memoir about a gambling addict and bank robbing father and the family he betrayed with his crimes. At once, Molly Brodak has written something incredibly smart and difficult about understanding who we are, who our parents are/were, and what about us is a direct correlation of our parents; additionally, embedded within this heartbreaking collapse of a family is a profound indictment of stories and storytelling and the myth of the outlaw. A hundred years of glorification of the outlaw and it comes down to this: everything they touch turns to shit, and the stories of those left behind are just as important as the perpetuation of the mythological outlaw. With this book, Brodak has ensured that the story is told this time. The criminal is demystified. Nobody is innocent, nobody is the same, in the shadow of bad men. There are also some interesting observations about Detroit.

am always eager to learn what makes people tick. I am especially intrigued by authors who dare to take on writing a memoir, not just about themselves, but their family, especially family members who are still living. Knowing that their memoir might make said family members feel so hurt that when the book is published it could damage their relationships beyond repair. I think of these memoirs as a necessary evil. Surely something has occurred during their childhood or later in life to lead the author to feel the need to write about and share his/her story. To explore something that is not only painful but that has yet to be resolved. Writing about these issues, finally letting them out, will perhaps help or at least prove cathartic. I commend the bravery of memoir authors.In the case of BANDIT: A Daughter’s Memoir, written by Molly Brodak, we learn about a young daughter, who is forced to choose sides, between her mother and her father, whom what little she knows of him, that something is not quite right. First when her parents divorce and then when he is caught robbing banks and sentenced to 7 years in prison. Seeking to understand what compels her father and his lie-telling, she wavers about whether or not he is a sociopath, even as the book nears the end, and he has gone back to prison a second time for yet again, robbing banks after his initial release.Brodak divulges her own intimate secrets and longing for parents who can simply give her love and stability. She loves her older sister, who has not always returned the feelings, but how could that be possible when they were both vying for the attention from a different parent and saw the world in a different way.BANDIT is an interesting look at people who clearly struggle with mental illness and how it can wreck a family, lead to self-destruction and without proper help, disconnect one from leading any semblance of a normal life.I was curious about one thing throughout the book. Maybe even disturbed. Brodak is clearly aware that her father has a problem, but she continues to try to or want to deny it. To reason with us, the reader, or perhaps herself, that he could not possibly be a sociopath, or maybe he has outgrown this behavior. I understand that this is her father and it is extremely difficult to turn her back on him, no matter what his faults are, but to deny who he is, while researching and writing this book, she is lying to herself, on par with accepting his lies.

I’m just so heartbroken to find that Molly took her own life. When I read reviews from others written even after her death, I wanted to reply back to them with this knowledge. How dare you judge her life and her memoir when it all so obviously destroyed her. I know her dad. I worked with him. I think this is the most honest tale of a man whom no one really knows. I was looking for insight and she spoke what I should have known all along. He was and is whatever suits him at the time. He’s one of those guys who did great work and everyone considered him a great guy. Because that is what suited him. Rest In Peace Molly. I wish you could have healed from your broken childhood.

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