By speaking out, I have reclaimed the voice that was taken away from me when I was a child.
May my story spark healing and courage in others.
May my story spark healing and courage in others.
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The Dark Room: A Memoir of Triumph weaves a complex family tapestry, my personal experience growing up as one of eight children of parents who fled Nazi Germany and restarted their lives in Seattle. My mother juggled raising children with her career as a photographer and her passion as a civil rights activist. To the outside world, she was an icon, a hero. Inside our family home, a different story unraveled. My mother violated my trust and my body, a betrayal of the most profound maternal bond. And yet, The Dark Room: A Memoir of Triumph is not a story of hatred, revenge or bitterness. Ultimately it is a testament about the ability to break the cycle of abuse, to thrive and to love.
The Dark Room: A Memoir of Triumph by Claudia Chotzen is available on Amazon.com in print and on Kindle.
Click here to buy now. |
Writing The Dark Room: A Memoir of Triumph, digging deep into a traumatic family history, has been a healthy and healing journey for me. From the start, my goal was not to demonize my parents, but to share with others how I conquered my past and moved forward. Along the way, I learned that I don’t have to live with shame, that what I experienced wasn’t my fault.
I subtitled the book The Dark Room: A Memoir of Triumph, and I’m already seeing the ripple effect with others who have shared with me how my story has impacted them. It is inspiring when I hear that my success story is helping others.
My hope is that my memoir motivates readers to have the courage to speak up and reach out for help and support. My life’s work is to be a beacon for others with the truth that abuse, darkness, and a sense of shame and unworthiness can be transformed and those who have suffered can live lives of great joy and deep love.
I’d be delighted to participate with book groups, do book readings, appear as a speaker for organizations and conferences, and I would love to collaborate on a film based on my memoir.
I subtitled the book The Dark Room: A Memoir of Triumph, and I’m already seeing the ripple effect with others who have shared with me how my story has impacted them. It is inspiring when I hear that my success story is helping others.
My hope is that my memoir motivates readers to have the courage to speak up and reach out for help and support. My life’s work is to be a beacon for others with the truth that abuse, darkness, and a sense of shame and unworthiness can be transformed and those who have suffered can live lives of great joy and deep love.
I’d be delighted to participate with book groups, do book readings, appear as a speaker for organizations and conferences, and I would love to collaborate on a film based on my memoir.
Reviews and Events
Review of The Dark Room: A Memoir of Triumph in
The Santa Barbara Independent
The Santa Barbara Independent
This review was originally published in All Booked, from the Santa Barbara Independent, on 12/31/2024.
“Her memoir, true to its name, feels like a helping hand offering a way out of the dark room
and toward the shining triumph of being able to choose and build oneself a beautiful life.”
and toward the shining triumph of being able to choose and build oneself a beautiful life.”
Click this link to read the full review.
www.independent.com/2024/12/31/all-booked-all-booked-amazing-area-authors/
www.independent.com/2024/12/31/all-booked-all-booked-amazing-area-authors/
Video of Book Reading at Chaucer's Books
Santa Barbara, CA
August 7th, 2024
August 7th, 2024
Author Interview in the Santa Barbara Independent
Click below to read the article:
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/01/claudia-chotzens-memoir-gives-voice-to-her-troubled-childhood/
https://www.independent.com/2024/08/01/claudia-chotzens-memoir-gives-voice-to-her-troubled-childhood/
This article was originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on August 1st, 2024.
Jefferson Public Radio interview about The Dark Room: A Memoir of Triumph
Ashland, OR
July 15th, 2024
July 15th, 2024
"Former Ashlander exorcises demons of abuse in a memoir" with Geoff Riley.
Video Clips from public event "Tap Into Courage and Speak Your Truth"
Santa Barbara, CA
June 11th, 2023
June 11th, 2023
Short Video Clips from the Event
Click Media below for podcasts and more reviews.
Testimonials
“In the vein of Jeannette Walls’ enormously successful memoir, The Glass Castle, the author’s story is fascinating and heartbreaking: the time period, the size and quirkiness of her family, the trauma and abuse that she suffered—all these components make for an incredibly interesting and powerful memoir. I can honestly say that I’ve never read anything quite like it.”
–Miranda S.
–Miranda S.
“The timeline weaves around a fascinating period in American history. Despite dark dips into trauma and neglect that would dim the light and derail most, the book is a page turner and fun read! A beautifully nuanced human story. Highly recommend!”
–James
Amazon Review
–James
Amazon Review
“I had a hard time putting it down (So I didn’t)…I understood the thread from Claudia's parents’ Holocaust trauma and her mom’s own victimization to their creation of a family with an overabundance of loyalty, closeness, and love, to the complete absence of boundaries and simple protection for their children’s safety. Claudia’s parents were both extremely present and extremely absent all at once.”
–Sarah G.
–Sarah G.
"The very best memoir I have ever read! Powerful and inspiring!"
–Dr. Schneiderman
Amazon Review
–Dr. Schneiderman
Amazon Review
“You never know what goes on behind closed doors and perfect families often hide dark secrets. Claudia's family history contains an astonishing level of neglect, exploitation, abuse and violence.
The details are shocking, but what makes this book intense is how much more there is to the story. This really is a loving family that produced exceptionally fine children who grew up to do amazing things. They all seemed to feel a deep love for each other and a responsibility to hold the family together. In their determination to support each other through the chaos that was happening in the world around them, they managed to overlook the chaos that was happening within them.
The author's voice is dispassionate as she recounts the horrors and successes of her childhood. Even to the end, she doesn't judge her mother as harshly as some others might. She weaves the story together in such a way that you can always see there is more to it than the darkest parts. Her conclusion that both evil and good can exist in the same person is well supported by the narrative.
I highly recommend this book. It is a page turner, and I would not be surprised to see it on a best seller list.”
–Diana G.
Amazon Review
The details are shocking, but what makes this book intense is how much more there is to the story. This really is a loving family that produced exceptionally fine children who grew up to do amazing things. They all seemed to feel a deep love for each other and a responsibility to hold the family together. In their determination to support each other through the chaos that was happening in the world around them, they managed to overlook the chaos that was happening within them.
The author's voice is dispassionate as she recounts the horrors and successes of her childhood. Even to the end, she doesn't judge her mother as harshly as some others might. She weaves the story together in such a way that you can always see there is more to it than the darkest parts. Her conclusion that both evil and good can exist in the same person is well supported by the narrative.
I highly recommend this book. It is a page turner, and I would not be surprised to see it on a best seller list.”
–Diana G.
Amazon Review
“This book took my breath away.
I was blown away by the author’s story. By her honesty and strength. By her dedication to transforming her past into a healthy future.”
–Barbara B.
I was blown away by the author’s story. By her honesty and strength. By her dedication to transforming her past into a healthy future.”
–Barbara B.
“As a therapist, I treat a lot of survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse and I was very taken with how well the author describes many of the difficulties people have in even becoming fully aware of their experience and realizing that they were, in fact, abused by those that were supposed to protect them. I admire her courage in being able to honor that part of herself that needed to tell the story to heal, breaking through the wall /code of silence. I'm planning on lending it to patients to read. I think it will be very helpful for them.”
–Leslie W.
–Leslie W.