By Ashleigh Johnson
Daily Titan Copy Editor

One of the problems with memoirs – especially those featuring copious drug use and mental illness – is that they often come off as overly self-indulgent, more of a therapy session for the writer than a compelling read for the reader.

While Fall to Pieces by Mary Forsberg Weiland, the estranged wife of Stone Temple Pilots/Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland, and Larkin Warren definitely does have its fair share of self-indulgence; it’s also a book that leaves the reader caring enough about Weiland to find out what happens next.

Weiland and Warren took a raw, unflinching look from Weiland’s rocky childhood, to stints in rehab and mental hospitals that paved the way to her regaining control of her life.

At one point in the book, Weiland writes, “I am no one’s victim.” And you know what? I believe her. She doesn’t make excuses for her behavior, nor does she sugarcoat or overly embellish any of the events she wrote about. She’s a victim of her own self-professed need to “want more.” As the book progresses, it’s a drive that will both build her up from her humble beginnings as a troubled teen living in a low income, single parent home, to ultimately tearing her down, sending her torching her husband’s entire wardrobe and subsequently ending up in a psychiatric ward.

What emerges is an honest, flawed portrait of someone who the reader is able to empathize with. Weiland is only human, and her humanity shines through the heartfelt writing.

If there is one criticism I have, it’s that the writing toward the beginning of the book is more reserved, almost as if the writer was initially self-conscious about revealing such intimate information. The detached writing doesn’t last very long, however, and the short time it does (only about a chapter or so) does not detract from the overall power of the memoir.

It’s definitely a must-read.