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Helaina Hovitz
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After 9/11: One Girl's Journey through Darkness to a New Beginning Hardcover – September 6, 2016

by Helaina Hovitz (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 152 ratings
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“You are a herald for your generation....Thank you for using your voice to help us make sense of that dark day, and forge a new beginning.”—Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a letter to Helaina Hovitz

Helaina Hovitz was twelve years old and in middle school three blocks away when the World Trade Center was attacked. Her memoir encapsulates the journey of a girl growing up with PTSD after living through the events firsthand, chronicling its effects on a young girl at the outset of adolescence and following her as she spirals into addiction and rebellion, through loss, chaos, and confusion.

The events and experiences that are now common knowledge to everyone were a very real part of Helaina’s life and are still as vivid in her memory today: the sickening thud of falling bodies hitting cars, the crumbling towers, running for her life as she tried to get home, her universe literally engulfed in a cloud. Hundreds, including Helaina, were stranded in the neighborhood, also just blocks from the towers, without phones or electricity or anyone to help. For fear of subsequent attacks, not to mention the toxic substances in the air, everyone was urged to stay inside their debris-filled apartments.

Anyone who has survived a horrific event knows that just because a body remains in motion does not mean everything will simply “go back to normal.” The chemistry of the brain and the body changes, impacting our relationships, our choices, and how we experience the world around us. Yet, we rarely find out what actually happens to people as they try to move on from a life-threatening experience—especially children, who are just beginning to develop an understanding of the world around them.

It would take Helaina more than a decade to overcome the PTSD — and subsequent alcohol addiction — that went misdiagnosed and mistreated for so many years. In many ways, After 9/11 is the story of a generation growing up in the aftermath of America’s darkest day. And for one young woman, it is the story of a survivor who, after witnessing the end, got to make a new beginning.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    492 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Carrel Books
  4. Publication date
    September 6, 2016
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.42 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781631440625
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1631440625
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“I am grateful to you for writing After 9/11, and for the courage it took to share your personal story....I am so heartened to know that despite the many challenges you faced...you have emerged as a survivor...Thank you for using your voice to help us all make sense of that dark day, and forge that new beginning. You are a herald for your generation.”—Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a letter to Helaina Hovitz

“Hovitz's story of finding hope in the darkness is inspirational, courageous and beautifully told. After 9/11 is a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.” --Cathy Free, correspondent, PEOPLE

“Helaina Hovitz's engrossing narrative begins in the shadow of the twin towers with her as a backpack-toting twelve-year-old and plays out over the next fifteen years in dramatic - and sometimes distressing - detail. This impressive debut is both deeply evocative and intensely personal.” --Peter Canby, Senior Editor, The New Yorker

“Hovitz shows us, for the first time, what it was like for families in New York City who suddenly had to live like other war refugees, with no idea where their loved ones were or when the next attack might come. After 9/11 is a moving and remarkable testament to a time that changed our country, told beautifully by a young woman who never gave up hope that she could reclaim her life, no matter how grim things looked.”
--Sean Elder, contributor, Newsweek

“Helaina Hovitz has written that rare kind of book that combines a poetic sensitivity to detail, the stark emotion of memory, and a searing glimpse of the human spirit as it suffers, struggles and learns to heal. In her story are the seeds of hope for anyone who has survived trauma and seeks to truly live again.”
--Michele Rosenthal, author of Heal Your PTSD: Dynamic Strategies That Work

“Helaina Hovitz has written a powerful memoir of the overlooked personal trauma nearby kids experienced while living in the shadow of so much destruction. Her story, and the stories of her friends and classmates, are a crucial part of the nation's 9/11 history.” --Jacoba Urist, journalist, The Atlantic

“Helaina Hovitz's first book is a brave, honest, and fast-paced personal account of the ways in which one day can change the course of our lives forever. Her story is an example of how trauma and addiction become part of a life, not someone's entire life, and how we can take the wheel and change that course if we are willing to work for it. By combining her own personal experience with interviews and journalistic research, Hovitz shows us, every step of the way, what it is like to finally move towards the light after so many years of darkness.”
--Maia Szalavitz, bestselling author and journalist for TIME

“Hovitz's memoir is distinctive and larger than her own experience. Through her engaging and beautifully crafted narrative, we see the lasting scars that have lingered on so many of us.” — Ilana Masad, reviewer, Read it Forward

“Provides us with a timely account of the seen and unseen damage searing experiences and memories shape... Helaina Hovitz, in understated prose, takes us with her on her path away from PTSD. She does not shy away from nor minimize the effects of her trauma... Hovitz had the grit, determination and resources to pull herself out of the morass of PTSD. What about the rest of her generation growing up in this post-September 11 world?
...Throughout history witness-bearers through their stories provide personal glimpses into historic events that can otherwise become dates and place names and statistics. Hovitz’s book opens a window on one person’s journey in the aftermath of September 11. She has rendered a valuable service in adding her voice to the memory of this momentous interstice in world history.” -- Janet Levine, New York Journal of Books

“A must-read, inspiring and impressive.” — Jason Schott, Brooklyn Digest

“A tightly-paced memoir of a girlhood in a combat zone: the United States. This book cuts through political commentary and cultural critique to give us a child's-eye view on New York City on 9/11, and reminds us that our lives are shaped in part by what we see and what we survive. Hovitz, a journalist, uses her strengths as a writer and reporter to unpack a powerful tale, and her experience as a survivor of PTSD to explore the impact of trauma on our lives. This is the 9/11 story - a story of children, families, and individuals - that is, as yet, untold.” — Marya Hornbacher, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of the memoirs Madness: A Bipolar Life, and Wasted

About the Author

Helaina Hovitz is a journalist and editor, specializing in positive and inspiring stories. She has written for the New York Times, Salon, The New York Observer, Forbes, Newsday,Glamour, VICE, Huffington Post, UpWorthy, Teen Vogue, and Newsday. She lives in New York with her husband and their rescue dog, Wiley.

Jasmin Lee Cori MS, LPC, is a psychotherapist and author of Healing From Trauma: A Survivor's Guide to Understanding Your Symptoms and Reclaiming Your Life.

Patricia Harte Bratt, PhD, is the Director of the Academy of Clinical and Applied Psychoanalysis (ACAP), the President of the National Association for the Achievement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP), and the author of Reciprocal Resilience: Surprising Benefits for Clinicians of Listening to Stories of Trauma.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1631440624
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Carrel Books (September 6, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 492 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781631440625
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1631440625
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.58 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.42 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 152 ratings

About the author

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Helaina Hovitz

Helaina Hovitz

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Helaina Hovitz is a native New Yorker who has always had the unreasonable notion that she can help change the world. She is an editor, journalist, media expert, storyteller and content strategist. She is also a nonprofit enthusiast and a dog rescue cheerleader.

Her continuing bylines can be found in Forbes, Huffington Post, The New York Times, Salon, Newsday, Teen Vogue, Glamour, Chicago Tribune, VICE, Thrillist, Newsweek, Prevention, Reader's Digest, The New York Observer, Bustle, SheKnows, Gothamist, SCENE Magazine, The Fix, Tasting Table, Edible Manhattan, Upworthy, Fast Company, HEALTH, Women's Health, Reader's Digest, and many more.

Helaina been featured by CBS, PBS Newshour, The TODAY Show, 1010Wins, PEOPLE, New York 1, WPIX11, The Atlantic, Psych Central, Epoch Times, CTV (Canada) The Australian TODAY Show, VOX News, and Scholastic Magazine.

She runs the blog A Hit of Happiness and Podcast Hope Livss Here from her website, www.HelainaHovitz.com

Visit her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HelainaNHovitz or Twitter @HelainaHovitz.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
152 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

D.D. Maurer
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book. You won't be disappointed.
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2017
Verified Purchase
You need to read this book. I'm that vehement in my review of it. First off, as a fellow author, it's beautifully written. Secondly, I didn't know firsthand the traumas people went through after 9/11. The author manages to paint a realistic painting in a reader's mind with compelling prose, illustrating just how tragic and agonizing the shock of the attack was for her, personally. But she doesn't stop there—instead, she demonstrates how not just one traumatic event, but many, continued to haunt her in a culmination of spiraling downturns, from incorrect diagnoses to flawed relationships to substance abuse.

The book is much more than a memoir, it's a testament to the power of personal transformation. Hovitz's story, although her own, is highly relatable. As a person of long-term recovery from depression and addiction myself, I cannot recommend this book any higher. The saving grace is that the story ends well, even after having suffered personal losses. The gains you will benefit from reading this fine work are numerous, but I'll summarize: 1) You will see how your story is not yet finished as well, and; 2) You will find yourself engrossed within the author's story since the book reads more like a engaging novel than a dry, unrelatable, airport memoir.

Buy this book. You won't be disappointed. I guarantee it! - D.D. Maurer, author of "Endure: The Power of Spiritual Assets for Resilience to Trauma & Stress."
4 people found this helpful
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ellie
4.0 out of 5 stars Written in an unusually vivid, credible manner.
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2019
Verified Purchase
I had often wondered how it felt to be a 911 survivor living so close to the towers. Now I know how some felt. The author's writing style paints a remarkably vivid picture.
2 people found this helpful
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libby
5.0 out of 5 stars A Remarkable, Uplifting, Life Changing Accomplishment
Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2016
Verified Purchase
Once I picked up Helaina Hovitz's book, I couldn't put it down. The story unfolds in a most visceral way. You feel the horror of the 911 event itself as it impacts a young girl but the most important part of the book is the unfolding of the consequences to her life as well as the lives of other young adolescents who were in her class. To a person, they all were horribly impacted by these events and have spent the rest of their young lives finding ways to move forward from the horribly damaging effects that have scarred their lives.
The incredibly honest way that the author depicts in great detail the aberrant behavior that engulfed her for a decade and her determined efforts to normalize herself were what I found the most meaningful lesson learned from the memoir. Although she continued for a great while on a path to dysfunction and ruin, she never stopped looking for help and tried a plethora of avenues until she finally accomplished her goal.
This beautiful account of soul searching, non stoppable effort to rid herself of her demons and finally her path to success impacted itself on me in an important way. I was able to see patterns in my own life that have plagued me for a long time, but by practicing the lessons that her healers imparted to Helaina, I was able to work on changing my own weaknesses into strengths.
That was the most important, meaningful consequence for me of reading Helaina's book and I continue to reference the sections that deal with her path to success as she, in great detail, has included for our benefit.
Kudos to you, Helaina, for exhibiting a courage and bravery that would lead to helping others as well. You are a most remarkable woman.
3 people found this helpful
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Pam S
5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ and A WRITER TO WATCH.
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is one of the most powerful books I have read in a very longtime. It is so beautifully written I could not put it down and suspect it will stay with me forever. Hovitz takes you on a emotionally charged roller coaster of emotions from heart wrenching to hilarious to downright shocking. She writes with a voice that is part adolescent, part old soul and wise beyond her years. From her early childhood to the trauma of 9/11 and her never ending search as a young adult to finding the inner peace she so deserves, she is brutally honest, brave, compassionate and grounded even in her darkest days and stages even though she’s clearly unaware of that at the time. The love and respect of family and their love of her is evident on every page and you can’t help but become part of the whole clan that is rooting for her to get to the place and woman she knows she is destined to be. Helania Hovitz is destined for great things and I look forward to following her continued path to a wonderfully happy and successful life.
2 people found this helpful
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J. Rodeck
3.0 out of 5 stars The "I was there" Chapter Two is good
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2019
Verified Purchase
This is basically an easy reading expansion of a personal journal. Not for me with all the songs she singing along to, the MTV videos she likes, the TV shows she's watching. Too rambling. I began to flip through quickly searching for something on PTSD.

The "I was there" Chapter Two is good on the World Trade Center collapsing and regional effect.

With an experienced hatchet wielding editor and more emphasis on PTSD and alcohol abuse the story could have been much improved.

May be better for younger readers.
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shawn stemm
4.0 out of 5 stars Understanding childhood PTSD
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2016
Verified Purchase
What I took from this book is the importance of recognizing the symptoms of PTSD in children and providing early intervention.
I myself suffered/suffer with PTSD. Had it been identified and treated when I was a child, my life may have been different.
What a wonderful journey to see how this young woman came out on the other side!!
One person found this helpful
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Betty Edmondson
5.0 out of 5 stars ... took me on a journey to discover the author's painful past and hopeful future
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2016
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Helaina Hovitz's book captured my interest in the first chapter and took me on a journey to discover the author's painful past and hopeful future. The horrific tragedy of 9/11 scarred her life and affected every relationship, as well as the choices she made. With painful honesty and a bravery beyond her years, I felt the depth of her pain as she searched to rid herself of her demons in hopes of becoming
a healthy adolescent. There were times I wanted to scold her for being disrespectful to her parents who tried to help her. Other times I wished I could reach into the book and comfort the young girl who carried intense hurt and pain. Having two daughters who faced serious problems in their teens, I better understand the internal battles that Helena faced and ultimately triumphed over in the end.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Recovery from childhood trauma of 9/11
Reviewed in Canada on March 10, 2020
Verified Purchase
It is so good to read of Helaina's story and understand how that trauma affected her... Learn to identify triggers... Deal with fears... Learn to understand herself... Accept herself... And go on to help others... I had no idea that school children saw such the occurences or that a school existed there... How facing things brought relief... And that her constant search for help resulted in real help. Positive stories for the news is also a great antidote for the negativity prevalent in the news today.
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Jane Craven
5.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing but ultimately uplifting.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 3, 2020
Verified Purchase
We must never forget those who lost their lives on 9/11 and we must never stop listening to those who didn’t.
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Aunt Annie
3.0 out of 5 stars A revealing tale
Reviewed in Australia on June 4, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is a good portrait of the catastrophic effects of PTSD on a child as she grows up. It’s unfortunate that the story wasn’t better edited. There are many misspellings, incorrect words used (it’s a ‘phase’ you go through, not a ‘faze’) and structural flaws. But it’s still worth reading for its almost disturbing honesty about the psychological impact of trauma and how it can express as highly antisocial behaviour.
2 people found this helpful
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Diane Cooper
4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring
Reviewed in Canada on November 4, 2022
Verified Purchase
I remember 9/11 vividly, as a Canadian, watching it unfold on TV while in the safety of my living room. I can’t imagine being a young child living it, and all the aftermath. Thank you for sharing your journey! Thank you for surviving and giving back to your community….
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TJ
5.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2018
Verified Purchase
So moving
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