Breaking Night

Title of the Book: Breaking Night Author: Liz Murray Number of Pages: 321 Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ Review: During her long childhood, Elizabeth Murray grew up in a household of poverty and drug abuse. Living off of her mother’s welfare checks, she was used to little food and a filthy house for her entire childhood while her parents spent the majority of the money on drugs. Since elementary school, Murray was never interested in going to school, which lead her to barely squeak by each grade. Since she wasn’t attending, she spent her days hanging out with friends and being away from her complicated home life. Her mother had schizophrenia, which lead to her being hospitalized multiple times, which also resulted in Murray going to a group home at one point. As time went on, her mother would steal her daughter’s money to satisfy her addiction, which led her to contract AIDS. Her mother decided she wanted to quit using but needed to leave her father to continue her sobriety.

She moved with her mother to her new step-father’s house, and she continued to not show up to classes. She eventually found a boy named Carlos that she fell in love with and he wanted to start a new life with her. As her mother’s condition got worse, she decided to run away with Carlos and her best friend to escape her pain. Eventually, Carlos became a drug dealer and addict, which drove Murray to become homeless due to his aggressiveness. After jumping from house to house for shelter, she caught word of high schools for troubled children and they give their students a second chance. She began school with commitment and ended up attending Harvard University.

This book was incredible to read, but it was absolutely heartbreaking. It created a sense of gratitude and strength, knowing that even though our problems are hard to push through, we can climb as high as we want to with enough drive. I felt so grateful for being blessed with a supportive family and people that have been able to help me through my hardships. It brought attention that there is a percentage of people in this world that don’t always get an opportunity to even eat or bathe. It’s unique to find a book that mentions a personal experience with poverty but ended up in one of the top schools in America. It is so inspiring to see someone that hadn’t been given many good cards, to work to improve them from the ground up.

Murray’s writing style is impactful because you can feel her pain and emotions through her writing. Especially difficult moments to read were during a time where her mother was around a man that fed her addiction, and how it impacted her. While her mother was in a very weak condition, Murray had to care for her, which was also heartbreaking to read, but it made me feel how much she loved her mother and would do anything for her. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone willing to cry. It is such a wonderful book, and it helps you find how important the smaller things are in your life.