Summary of The Elissas by Samantha Leach: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia

By Justin Reese

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This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

Summary of The Elissas by Samantha Leach: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia

 

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In The Elissas, Samantha Leach explores the tragic fate of three suburban girls who met at a boarding school for troubled teens. The girls, who were once friends, were later dismissed and sent away. Samantha's grief led her to investigate the lives of Alyssa and Alissa, who shared Elissa's name and penchant for partying. The book offers a chilling account of the secret lives of young suburban women, revealing the deadly secrets that led to their tragic fate. The book has been praised by Amazon, Nylon, Pure Wow, The Skimm, and Harper's Bazaar.

• Language: English
• Publisher: jUSTIN REESE
• Release date: Jun 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223480495

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Note

January 23, 2023

The author of The Elissas began compiling the book in 2019 after Elissa's death. They have spoken to over sixty people and reached out to countless more, including those who were unreachable or uninterested in talking with them. They have also spoken with representatives for each of the programs mentioned at length. The aim of the book is not to issue a blanket indictment of the Troubled Teen Industry, but rather to honor the lives of Elissa, Alissa, and Alyssa.

INTRODUCTION

The narrator had been dreading going to Nebraska to visit Ponca Pines Academy, the place where Elissa spent her last school days. They had been friends since they were infants and shared early acts of rebellion before Elissa was sent away to Ponca Pines, a therapeutic boarding school part of the Troubled Teen Industry. The narrator felt a profound pull to go to Nebraska, but their fear over what the experience could elicit was even more potent. Elissa was boisterous, unabashed, and brazen, and the narrator shared these early acts of rebellion before Elissa was sent away. The most important details in this text are that Elissa, Alyssa, Alissa, and the narrator were all the same age and were born into similar circumstances.

Elissa was sent to Ponca Pines, a school that had long since closed, and the narrator found Elissa and Alyssa on Elissa's Facebook page. The narrator found messages from Elissa, Alyssa, Alissa, and the narrator on Elissa's Facebook page, which deepened their fascination with the girls. Elissa passed away at twenty-three and Alissa passed away four years later. The narrator's obsession with the girls deepened by 2019, when both of their walls had also become memorial pages. The Elissas is a look at the journey of trying to grapple with how our lives could have gone differently.

It has interviewed over sixty people in relation to the girls, including those who represent the Troubled Teen Industry, practitioners, experts, journalists, and community advocates. It also includes people who have recovered from their addictions and young adults who still actively use. The author developed relationships with the girls' parents and families, who provided notes about their lives. When they set out to write the book, they visited the Ponca Pines campus, where they sat on the swing set where the girls would gossip. While there, the author thought of Elissa, Alyssa, and Alissa, and sketched them into a scene in their head.

Elissa

Elissa and the narrator met when they were a few months old, and their friendship was characterized by compromises. When Elissa invited the narrator to play photographer for a topless photo shoot, the narrator was jealous. Elissa was a master of her self-image, having always been a tomboy. In fifth grade, Elissa and the narrator spent the afternoon examining themselves in the narrator's bathroom mirror, which was tiled over in a kitschy mint-green color. The narrator's mother had plastered on a cheerful wallpaper to offset the aggressive tiling.

Elissa and Sami were born and raised in the same suburbs of Rhode Island, and when their parents divorced in tandem, they bonded over their on-the-surface sameness. Elissa revealed to Sami that her father had started dating Rebecca, Elissa's aunt through marriage, and the mother of Faye, Shoshanna, and Zach. Elissa became solely focused on the external: her outward appearance and how it would appeal to the opposite sex. Sami was overwhelmed by Elissa's pronouncement that boys don't like ugly girls. Elissa and the narrator were growing up in a culture where beauty was seen as an absolution from life's hardships.

Elissa spoke about beauty and boys with the language of desire, believing that good looks would grant her immunity from her inner pain. In sixth grade, Elissa and the narrator were visiting their grandparents in Florida, and Elissa was eager to explore the more benign implications of the title. The narrator's grandparents lived in Palm Beach Gardens, while Elissa's grandparents lived in Palm Beach proper. The narrator's father booked a stay at The Breakers, a Renaissance Revival-style luxury hotel,