Resilience Is Futile

The Life and Death and Life of Julie S. Lalonde

De: Julie S. Lalonde

Narrado por: Julie S. Lalonde

For more than a decade Julie Lalonde kept a secret. As an award-winning advocate for women’s rights, she crisscrossed the country, denouncing violence against women and giving hundreds of media interviews along the way. Her work made national headlines for challenging universities and taking on Canada’s top military brass. But while appearing fearless on the surface, Julie met every interview and event with the same fear in her gut: Was he here?

Fleeing intimate partner violence at age 20, Julie was stalked by her ex-partner for more than 10 years, rarely mentioning it to friends, let alone addressing it publicly. The contrast between her public career as a brave champion for women with her own private life of violence and fear meant a shaky and exhausting balancing act.

Resilience Is Futile is a story of survival, courage, and ultimately, hope. But it is also a challenge to the ways we understand trauma and resilience. It is the story of one survivor who won’t give up and refuses to shut up.

©2020 Julie S. Lalonde (P)2020 Between the Lines

Reseñas de la Crítica

“When reading Resilience is Futile, you can’t help but be motivated by Lalonde’s ability to regain control of her own life while improving the lives of countless other women.” (Jessica Rose, rabble.ca)

“Lalonde captures these moments of silencing, giving as much weight to her shame-fuelled decisions as the later journey of uplifting self-respect and sovereignty. These confessions convince us of the complicated, nuanced realities of being stalked, many of which are often dismissed as romantic or charming by those who are not privy to the fear they elicit.” (Shazia Hafiz Ramji, Quill & Quire)

“Lalonde is an engaging writer who mixes humour and horror, irony and moments of acute, brutally honest self-awareness to open the door to a world that receives too little attention.” (Matthew Behrens, rabble.ca)

Crushingly raw

After seeing a random Tweet a couple of days ago I was curious about “this little book on resilience.” I anticipated more of a treatise on “how-to” I think and this is definitely much more a memoir, but the raw honesty about how so many of us cope with horrible experiences is compelling. Thank you Julie for sharing your pain with us. May it be a fire in the belly for the rest of us that are still trying to outrun our own pain.

Bravely told story

This was a riveting memoir about a relationship this woman shouldn't have had to experience. I thank her for telling her story and bringing the difficult subjects of stalking, women's safety, and many other realities of life to light.