No Journey's End: My Tragic Romance with Ex-Manson Girl, Leslie Van Houten Paperback – January 22, 2015

You get to the end of this and you are hard pressed to find anything of lasting value. Other reviews have called this a philosophical exploration of unrequited love or whatever but I fail to see it. A lot of the time there's a locker room boasting tone, with gruesome details such as "I had an erection that a cat could climb" (???) and descriptions of "our shakedown on the shower".... the author throughout is intent on us understanding that he has prowess with the ladies...so what...Another very annoying aspect to this book is his constant reiterating of how he was trying to get into all these Grad Schools in an Education programme ( ie teaching how to teach) and of course, like all of these types who can't actually cut it, there are endless descriptions of how he hated teaching students, how dumb they were, how restricted and square the admin staff in schools were, how he was so radical and "high" most of the time...so yep, go into University and waste other people's time and money by becoming some sort of "expert" on education...Yet a further irritation is when he writes of being at the El Mocambo Club in early 1977, in Toronto, which as all Stones fans know, was the time when Keith Richards had come to grief with the Canadian Mounties, and recounts of the actual events of the El Mocambo are quite rare ( although bootlegs are available and if my memory serves me, there may be a side on "Love you Live" that has "Cracking Up" and several other songs from that performance. Anyway, Peter was "too high" on acid to stay...so that was that. Yawn. The only thing of value in this book for Manson researchers is the letters Manson sent to Leslie van Houten when she was out on bail temporarily in 77. As for the rest...whatever, man, whatever...

Individuals who read this book hoping to find an ultimate explanation of why Leslie Van Houten should be freed or why she should remain in prison will find neither. What they will find is a claim that ultimately each of us must accept responsibility for how we write the narrative that is our life. Our choices about our relationships with others, our world, ourselves have outcomes which can never be certain, especially when we love another individual. Love is an act of faith and never an act of reason. That love remains haunted by past choices, is vulnerable to present circumstances, and often times fearful of the future. This is the story Dr. Chiaramonte gives us in attempting to peel back the layers of his relationship with Leslie.Some might find his references to the drug culture of the times off-putting, but the fact remains that this culture was very much the context of the time. Anyone who has lived through the sixties and seventies as a young adult will recognize the reality that individuals from all walks of life--entertainment, academia, business, and ordinary working people--were experimenting, attempting to artificially define who they were, and sometimes just trying to run from life. The book doesn’t attempt to either justify or condemn human behaviour in this regard; it simply reminds us of human fallibility, the need we have for love, our jealousies, and our biases, and ultimately our responsibility for who we are.The fact that Dr. Chiaramonte philosophically reflects on the nature of choice and the fallibility of humankind adds to the depth and richness of the story. The doubts he expresses, the questions he gives rise to, raise the novel from the level of the superficial to the thoughtful, from the sensational to the sincere. Whether this story will help or hurt future hearings Leslie may have is uncertain. What is important is that we have a new perspective, which when listened to, may take us nearer the truth.

I found the book to be very interesting. It really gives you another perspective of this person who has been demonized by society for a crime she committed 47 years ago.I like the rest of society is completely horrified by the events that took place in 1969. But the fact that Leslie did not deal the death blow, and was just an accessory to the crime at the LaBianca home, I have to think that 47 years seems like enough. Especially that she was completely brain washed and controlled by Charles Manson at the time, to the extent that during the first trial she was offered immunity had she testified against the rest of the family and she said no. That's pretty crazy.I think she should be paroled in 2018, being that she has been a model inmate. And she was even out on bond in the late 70's and didn't flee. This may be an unpopular opinion I have, but based on the evidence and the law, it's the right and fair thing to do. I don't think the rest of the living perpetrators should be released, but they should let her go. Nazi's responsible for millions of deaths have had less jail time.Good book.

A very captivating story about two people who were destined to meet. A different place in time. A journey to find her, understand her. While at the same time, understanding who he was becoming, at the same time. Very interesting book. I highly recommend it. A different look , through different eyes, into a time in the past, where everyone was trying to make sense of a horrific tragedy. How int he midst of searching for yourself, you are taken down different paths. Like a spiderweb. Caught in time.............and trying to escape the madness. How young lovers found each other, only to lose each other...........But taught so much to each other, in the process..

I started reading and to be honest it took me inside the story you know. I love it, really. It feels so real and I'm actually in the story - and that's what I love about it. I didn't know much about Leslie, but as a novel itself, and for me, for a regular reader - it's exciting.I did researches on Leslie. And by now, after reading the book I'm getting to know her better, what kind of person she is, what she is in life.In overall - it's very smooth to read, I somehow relax while reading as it takes you inside the story. And truly I can't say when for the last time I had so much pleasure reading a book.

I have long been interested in the Manson Family history and relevant updates in the narrative.Do not purchase this book if you have a similar interest.Badly written,in every sense of the word,this account of the author's relationship with Leslie Van Houten is infantile and pointless.Peter Chiaramonte is,hopefully,a one-time author. Academic,indeed!