Monsoon Mansion

A Memoir

By: Cinelle Barnes

Narrated by: Cinelle Barnes

Told with a lyrical, almost-dreamlike voice as intoxicating as the moonflowers and orchids that inhabit this world, Monsoon Mansion is a harrowing yet triumphant coming-of-age memoir exploring the dark, troubled waters of a family’s rise and fall from grace in the Philippines. It would take a young warrior to survive it.

Cinelle Barnes was barely three years old when her family moved into Mansion Royale, a stately ten-bedroom home in the Philippines. Filled with her mother’s opulent social aspirations and the gloriously excessive evidence of her father’s self-made success, it was a girl’s storybook playland. But when a monsoon hits, her father leaves, and her mother’s terrible lover takes the reins, Cinelle’s fantastical childhood turns toward tyranny she could never have imagined. Formerly a home worthy of magazines and lavish parties, Mansion Royale becomes a dangerous shell of the splendid palace it had once been.

In this remarkable ode to survival, Cinelle creates something magical out of her truth - underscored by her complicated relationship with her mother. Through a tangle of tragedy and betrayal emerges a revelatory journey of perseverance and strength, of grit and beauty, and of coming to terms with the price of family - and what it takes to grow up.

©2018 Cinelle Barnes (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

interesting

I liked this story. at times it was hard to follow. I might have enjoyed reading it better as the voice and tone were not really engaging.

Captivating!

I read often and this book had my complete attention from cover to cover. I could not put it down! I will be reading it again!

Beautifully written and fully immersive

Cinelle Barnes does a beautiful job both writing and narrating her story. Her descriptions of locations and events create such a clear story that as I listener I felt present in each of her memories. I read a lot of memoirs and I can tell you this is one that will stick with you in an incredible way. I highly recommend it.

Like Reading Poetry

The author's writing style is very poetic and her story is compelling. I highly recommended!

Thank you

I just finished this book and have never written a review before, even though I’m an avid reader and read/listen to great books constantly.
I just want to thank Cinelle for her courage in this memoir. It affected me in a different way than all the heart wrenching WW2 books I’ve read. I’m the same generation as the author and it really gave me perspective to hear her story and reflect on my own.

A Beautiful Intimate Journey of Memories and Strength

Hearing the beautifully crafted word images full of strength and pain told from the authors small yet strong voice was an amazing journey. She is a brilliant woman who doesn’t just have an excellent memory but the ability to weave it into a gorgeous exercise of healing and strength. I’m thankful for her memoir and what it must have taken to share it.

Loss, Survival, and Transcendence

One would not expect that a girl growing up in an opulent mansion would have to face such despairing hardship, parental neglect, and loss. Cinelle Barnes’ memoir paints a vivid portrait of a lush, dazzling world of wealth and abundance soon destroyed by more than just rain and wind, though these certainly play a part. As his fortunes fall, her father leaves, promising to return. Her mother, ever hungry for love, affirmation, and the status she once held, replaces him with ambitious con man who only brings chaos, violence and ruin into the home. The water in the mansion is turned off to save money, the children left largely to fend for themselves, and the once grand ballroom is transformed into a stadium for chicken fights. How she survives and escapes this world, emerging to recount her life with such grace, is no less than a miracle. This is a thorough immersion into a world both beautiful and horrific.

Quick intro to the Philippines for new visitors

This is an autobiography of a young girl's upbringing in the Philippines where her family goes from riches to rags. As someone who has visited the Philippines six or seven times and is marries to a woman of Filipino descent, the story rings true and provides an introduction to the multiple worlds of the Philippines (first world to third world).

The first half or so when the author describes her upbringing in wealth, living in a great mansion is a little long but interesting.

Economic conditions (and lack of savings) cast her family into economic straits. You will learn the living conditions of many poor Filipinos.

I wish she had continued the story to include more details and facts about her rising to a higher status and migrating to the USA. Perhaps, there is another volume planned with more details in these areas.

At times her language is too "flowery" and descriptive but I believe this is common in such books.

The author reads her book for Audible which adds to the reality of the situations.

engrossing

I read it all the way through without stopping. A truly fascinating tale of survival.

Courageous Healing

Anyone who’s experienced childhood trauma at the hands of a caregiver will marvel not only at the author’s courage but also their own courage. It’s one thing to live through the situations, but a whole different thing to relive it in the revisiting as the author did in her retelling. Her strength is my strength.