North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Unusual Family, and How I Survived Both
Written by Cea Sunrise Person
Narrated by Cea Sunrise Person
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Sex, drugs, and . . . bug stew? In the vein of The Glass Castle and Wild, Cea Sunrise Person’s compelling memoir of a childhood spent with her dysfunctional counter-culture family in the Canadian wilderness—a searing story of physical, emotional, and psychological survival.
In the late 1960s, riding the crest of the counterculture movement, Cea’s family left a comfortable existence in California to live off the land in the Canadian wilderness. But unlike most commune dwellers of the time, the Persons weren’t trying to build a new society—they wanted to escape civilization altogether. Led by Cea’s grandfather Dick, they lived a pot-smoking, free-loving, clothing-optional life under a canvas tipi without running water, electricity, or heat for the bitter winters.
Living out her grandparents’ dream with her teenage mother Michelle, young Cea knew little of the world beyond her forest. She spent her summers playing nude in the meadow and her winters snowshoeing behind the grandfather she idolized. Despite fierce storms, food shortages, and the occasional drug-and-sex-infused party for visitors, it seemed to be a mostly happy existence. For Michelle, however, now long separated from Cea’s father, there was one crucial element missing: a man. When Cea was five, Michelle took her on the road with a new boyfriend. As the trio set upon a series of ill-fated adventures, Cea began to question both her highly unusual world and the hedonistic woman at the centre of it—questions that eventually evolved into an all-consuming search for a more normal life. Finally, in her early teens, Cea realized she would have to make a choice as drastic as the one her grandparents once had in order to save herself.
While a successful international modeling career offered her a way out of the wilderness, Cea discovered that this new world was in its own way daunting and full of challenges. Containing twenty-four intimate black-and-white family photos, North of Normal is Cea’s funny, shocking, heartbreaking, and triumphant tale of self-discovery and acceptance, adversity, and strength that will leave no listener unmoved.
Cea Sunrise Person
CEA SUNRISE PERSON is now a happily married mother of three. She lives in Vancouver, BC, where she continues to tell her story through design for her graphic arts business, Life Story Creative (lifestorycreative.ca). She hates camping.
Related to North of Normal
Related audiobooks
Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale-Faced Lie: A True Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Asylum Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girl Unbroken: A Sister's Harrowing Story of Survival from The Streets of Long Island to the Farms of Idaho Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Size of Everything: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silver Star: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Her Last Death: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sound of Gravel: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Growing Up Amish: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Foundling: The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret, and My Search for the Real Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Abbreviated Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Daughter: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grand: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come Back Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moonlight On Linoleum: A Daughter's Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Etched in Sand: A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Escape Artist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Now Everyone Will Know: The Perfect Husband, His Shattering Secret, My Rediscovered Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Southern Discomfort: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Goodbye, Sweet Girl: A Story of Domestic Violence and Survival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cruel Harvest: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Girl Named Zippy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Filthy Beasts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Personal Memoirs For You
Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Summer of Fall: Gravity is a bitch, but I'm still standing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Lucy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People, Places, Things: My Human Landmarks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not My Father's Son: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for North of Normal
72 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a captivating memoir of an unusual childhood, as her mother and grandparents chose a life outside society’s norms. Though she was neglected at times, it is not a depressing story. It is well written and I enjoyed it very much.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What’s a pretty good book I didn’t like the narrator, not enough emotion during this parts that really needed it. With that said it was very similar to half broke horses or glass castle feel like either of those you’ll love this!!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow…. I really enjoyed this memoir. It’s unbelievable how she grew up and what she went through. Amazing that she has such fond memories of her childhood even after all that happened to her. She must be a very forgiving person. How she survived…. I’ll never know…. Strong child. She was a survivor of the free and easy hippie days. Such a fascinating story.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow. Amazing story. Beautifully told and read. Absolutely recommend.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A surprising story that truly held my interest from start to finish
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just such an unusual, screwed up and lonely upbringing and such an honest/heartfelt reflection! I have always been obsessed by the wilds of Canada and North America but have only ever seen it on TV growing up in the twee quaintness of the British countryside the descriptions really help you visual the stark reality of this little girls situation!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shocking, heartbreaking and courageous. If I ever think again, that I had a chaotic childhood I will remember Cea.