The Book of Atlantis Black

May 15, 2020
When a troubled young musician disappears, her sister searches for something more profound than answers. In her debut memoir, poet and educator Bonner reflects not only on her sister Nancy's (she renamed herself Atlantis Black) disappearance, but also on the shadows that have haunted her family. What begins with a resume of the sisters' youth transforms into a psycho-thriller murder mystery with a charmingly unreliable narrator. The author lays the blame for her sister's mental illness, the root of her demise, unambiguously on their father's abuse, their mother's manic depression, and the sexual entitlement of the boys at school. Wrought in unsentimental, candid prose, the depictions of their childhood showcase Bonner's poetic sensibilities, as she displays powerful control over imagery, suspense, and irony. As the girls matured, the author achieved a high level of education, professional success, and some stable relationships. Meanwhile, Atlantis revealed only glimpses of her precarious existence to her sister. Shady characters, illegal activity, drug abuse, and financial desperation pepper their correspondence, which Bonner intersperses through the primary narrative. Atlantis' voice, rich with suffering and paranoia and tender with love and vulnerability, lives on through this dramatic memoir. The author clearly tried to strike a delicate balance between helping without derailing her own life, being supportive without enabling, and living fully without abandoning a needy loved one. The secrets of Atlantis' life eventually became a chasm in which Bonner began to lose her stable sense of reality. By the end, the lucky sister has begun to embody some of her female relatives' instability, and she constantly questions herself. She believes, at least partially, the official story of Atlantis' drug-related death in Tijuana, and while she does want to know what happened, she'd prefer to know why and how it could have gone differently. Carefully crafted, haunting, and absorbing, this thrilling memoir echoes in the head and heart long after the final page.

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August 1, 2020
Bonner, former director and current faculty member at the 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center in New York, brings readers the story of her sister, the musician Atlantis Black. Atlantis died in 2008?or did she? Atlantis, who was born Eunice Anne Bonner in 1976, lived a wild, enigmatic life. When a body was found in Tijuana bearing her identification, her family assumed she had passed away. But there was so much more to the story, going back to the sisters' shared history growing up in rural Pennsylvania with an abusive father and a mother who struggled with bipolar disorder. Atlantis escaped to New York, then to California. She became entangled with a mysterious woman named Gretchen, then embroiled in a federal court case before her disappearance and supposed death. Bonner paints a thorough picture of her sister's short but intense life, searching for the truth of what happened while also attempting to find closure. This lyrical and compelling memoir shows how Atlantis changed both Bonner's life and the lives of others with her raw talent and electric presence.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from April 1, 2020

Bonner (creative writing, St. Joseph's Coll.; Round Lake) invites readers into the intimate, complex search for her sister, Atlantis Black, and the unsettling circumstances surrounding her disappearance. Bonner skillfully blends aspects of true crime, from Atlantis's mysterious relationships to challenges of the investigation, with a thoughtful, lyrical memoir. The resulting story is personal and poetic. The investigation into Atlantis's disappearance is interwoven with Bonner's memories of their childhood, and the mental illness and abuse within their family. Atlantis's voice appears throughout the book in social media posts, emails, and video transcripts, lending personality to the story's central figure and allowing readers to create a connection with her. Bonner's writing is measured as it moves seamlessly from investigation to reflection. Readers interested in the intersections of crime, memoir, and family may also enjoy Leah Carroll's Down City: A Daughter's Story of Love, Memory, and Murder. VERDICT A haunting, profound investigative memoir that will resonate with readers as both a compelling true crime story and an affecting literary work. Bonner creates a sense of closeness with readers that makes this book a challenge to put down or forget. [See Prepub Alert, 1/29/2020.]--Kate Bellody, SUNY New Paltz

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