Borderlines by Caroline Kraus

Kraus's memoir of life at 23 is dark, heady, and impossible to put down. Unmoored after her graduation from college and the premature death of her mother, she leaves home for California, hoping to find her bearings. Instead, she ends up lost in San Francisco, trudging through life as a bookstore clerk with a heavy heart. It is there that she meets Jane, a charismatic firecracker of a girl who sparks up her life. Kraus seeks solace in their friendship, but the union slowly turns poisonous as Jane becomes increasingly demanding and possessive, hell-bent on destroying everything in her path. Spellbound by the parasitic but bewitching Jane, Kraus cannot extricate herself from her grip, even as Jane blackmails, abuses, and financially ruins her. With spare writing that reveals complex emotions, this memoir is an enthralling look at how the intimate bonds we forge can sometimes destroy us.

Paperback, 360 Pages, Published 2005