Lost My Mind Here Someplace
Arūnė Savage
Black Spring Press (2025)
ISBN: 978-1915406873
Reviewed by Stephanie Elizabeth Long for Reader Views (06/2025)
Arūnė knew at an early age that she was destined to live a life of greatness in America, or as she affectionately refers to it, Thelandofplenty. Growing up poor in Lithuania and later South Africa with an absent mother and an alcoholic father, she’d grown tired of hunger, pain, and longing. It wasn’t going to be easy, but Savage would forge her own path and live the life she’d always dreamed of.
Illegally entering the country, working seedy degrading jobs, and paying someone to marry her are all things Arūnė Savage candidly describes in her book Lost My Mind Here Someplace: A Memoir. The reality of living in America was a far cry from Thelandofplenty she’d romanticized. Did living out her “dream” mean selling her soul to the devil, or would she find a way to thrive?
Lost My Mind Here Someplace chronicles a young woman’s desperation to better her living situation. Arūnė Savage transports readers into her world by alternating between past and present. We learn about the dire circumstances she was born into—poverty, physical and emotional abuse, and the similar struggles she faces in America, such as bouts of homelessness and relationships with toxic men. Despite the adverse string of events throughout the story, the author kept me on my toes with her sense of humor and unwavering drive to succeed.
It was always men holding all the power. Always a man responsible for how my story ends.
From her father’s hatred and rage to the brutality her partner inflicted, I feared the worst for Ms. Savage. But her determination to be free of the misogyny that continuously held her prisoner shone through in her writing. Trauma and abuse often become generational; you live what you know, but choosing to reject the past and become a cycle breaker is a difficult feat.
If you’re searching for an absorbing memoir full of inspiration and grit, Lost My Mind Here Someplace by Arūnė Savage is the book you’ve been waiting for. Her writing holds you (willingly) hostage until the end. This is a woman who hit rock bottom, a woman who had to claw her way out of the proverbial rut that threatened to consume her. Savage’s writing deftly showcases her astounding resilience and determination. It’s a reminder for all of us not to settle for a life that leaves us wanting more. No dream is too big if you’re willing to make sacrifices.