CRYPTO ISLAND

Hodgkinson’s memoir chronicles a 50-year-old woman’s life-changing decision to uproot her life in Sacramento and relocate to Puerto Rico to become a cryptocurrency trader.

The story fittingly begins with an earthquake, which occurred when the author—a professor of communication studies at Cosumnes River College—and her attorney husband, Mark, visited Puerto Rico in early 2020 to consider moving there to take advantage of tax breaks for residents. The 6.4 magnitude quake is a perfect metaphor for what was about to happen to her life. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic had forced her to work remotely and increased the anxiety of daily existence; contemplating selling her beloved family home in Sacramento and investing her future in a highly questionable digital currency had Hodgkinson on the fence—should she choose stability or take a potentially perilous leap of faith with her husband? As the author learned more about Puerto Rico and the eclectic crypto community there, unsavory events triggered traumatic memories from her past—Hodgkinson candidly and movingly discusses being sexually assaulted at 16, living with an abusive single mother, habitually numbing herself with alcohol and drugs, and working as a stripper at bachelor parties. Exploring these long-buried memories led her to painful but enlightening revelations; matters became even more complicated when her husband befriended a divisive figure in the crypto community who may or may not have been trying to rip him off and “looked and sounded like someone who should have been cast in The Godfather.” The title is a bit deceiving—the memoir isn’t so much about learning how to trade cryptocurrency as it is about navigating trauma and fear and continuing to evolve and grow, regardless of one’s age or situation. Readers who come for the crypto information will happily stay for the transformative words of wisdom.

Brutally honest and deeply introspective, a courageous and powerful memoir.