Helpful Score: 1
If you thought Frank McCourt's childhood memories were bad, wait till you read Tonya Flynt-Vega's. Hustled: My Journey from Fear to Faith is a cautionary tale about the power of pornography as well as a memoir about growing up with Hustler publisher Larry Flynt for a dad. Needless to say, it's not a pretty story. But from the sensational, tragic details of Larry Flynt's bestiality, mental illness, incestuous molestation, and sexual addictions, Tonya Flynt-Vega manages to construct an autobiography whose literary deficiencies are mostly redeemed by her spiritual strength: in the end, Flynt-Vega overcame her earthly father's sexual and emotional abuse by discovering her heavenly Father's paternal love. And if Flynt-Vega's argument that pornography is inherently evil fails to persuade, her testimony of its potential to erode trust within families and to warp intimacy between lovers still comes close to being heartbreaking.
