Pink Tootsie

A Memoir

Non-Fiction - Memoir
392 Pages
Reviewed on 01/18/2017
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Author Biography

T.M. Raskin, a wife, mother, animal rescue advocate, writer and author, has completed her new book "Pink Tootsie": a gripping and potent work that aims to enlighten with its raw honest approach. Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, T.M. Raskin's telling story leaves no stone unturned, this potent work inspires the reader through tragedy.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Jessyca Garcia for Readers' Favorite

I enjoyed Pink Tootsie by T.M. Raskin. Raskin’s story about her life was brutally honest. She told of numerous accounts of abuse, both sexual and physical. She also told of how her drug use controlled her life and what she did to finally overcome it.

I was not sure what to expect when I started reading Pink Tootsie. At first, I saw Raskin as a typical teenager who wanted to impress her friends with what she was willing to do. Reading on, I began to understand her and, at times, even relate to some of the things that have happened to her. Such as attracting every weirdo in a five-block radius. Raskin’s drug use was a way for her to escape her thoughts and problems. Her explaining her thought processes on why she used and what would set her off to begin using again has helped me to better understand some addicts in my life. Raskin not only shares her story, but her poetry too. One of my favorite poems was:

“The heart is a
Fragile organ
Only to be tossed
Around by instability.”

I really did like reading Raskin’s story and was rooting for her. However, I felt that she repeated herself a lot, especially with her journal entries. I also felt that her story was unfinished. I was left wanting to know what happened to certain people in her life and who she had a daughter with. Other than that, I thought this was a good story and totally worth reading.

Pink Tootsie

5.0 out of 5 starsWith so many accomplices, and an allure that brings unwanted advances, things go from bad to worse...
By Valerie Ann Bruce on January 16, 2016
Pink Tootsie is a deftly written, disturbing memoir. It might plague some after reading. T. M. Raskin candidly brings to account sexual abuse that happens before leaving the crib. There are many more things amiss during her upbringing, to support a climate for multiple carnal initiations as a toddler. It seems fate-sealing, as abuse has an significant role in the author’s formative years. This lifestyle suggests two classes of individuals—the victim and the victimized. As a mechanism to find control, inappropriate sexual behavior becomes commonplace at an early age. It eventually diminishes, and guilt moves in to stay. What’s confounding is, help is evasive. Thus begins later childhood initiations into a harmful drug culture. With so many accomplices, and an allure that brings unwanted advances, things go from bad to worse. In adulthood, the author finds a program where she attempts to connect with the spiritual. She seeks a god who will accept her without judgment; provide permanent sponsorship; and restore her sanity. One she can come to—weary and burdened—to find rest. One gentle and humble in heart—with a burden that’s light. This author gets five stars from me because of her tenacity, coupled with good writing. (I encourage a second edition that's based on her life and that also condenses some of her circumstance, so that the ending doesn't get lost in the numerous details.) I'm rooting for her, that she finds the God of rest.

4.0 out of 5 starsVery Real. Very Raw. VERY Disturbing
By thebookandi on May 29, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Pink Tootsie
by T.M. Raskin
Here’s what I liked:
• It DID make me uncomfortable and it was like nothing I’d ever read before. And let me tell you, there was nothing about this book that made me think of rainbows, unicorns or fairies. However, there was a dragon or two. This is a memoir of the author’s broken life. Raped as a child, molested, attacked again and again by perverts; abandoned by family and friends alike; stepped on and over, used and abused by the world around her all she could do is what so many do in the same circumstance. She gave up; became addicted to drugs and let life just bowl her over.
This story is GRIPPING and HARD TO READ and yet… it is real and raw and explosive and different. That’s why I liked it.
• After having read the whole thing, in its entirety, I couldn’t help but notice the writing style went from being clumsy and awkward to more polished and even elegant towards the end. If I understood what I think I did, the author’s story—the writing down of it—started when she was very young and continued on until today.

By Lynn Reads on March 3, 2016
I picked up this book, at first, with some trepidation, and even a little fear. I love reading stories of self-empowerment and I wondered if it would meet my expectations or if, instead, I would find it depressing. To my delight I found it was a book I could not put down. I became immersed in the life of the author: I cried with her, laughed with her, and shuddered at what she endured. She not only survived, emerging stronger for her ordeals, but now stands as an inspiration to all of those in recovery from addictions.
I loved the story, and I found her honesty refreshing and empowering. She conveys personal insight in a voice that is both authentic and astute. Her writing is descriptive, and takes the reader into her world effortlessly. I highly recommend this book.