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sidneyellwood's review
4.0
A List of Things that Didn't Kill Me is an eye-opening memoir about growing up with an abusive parent, and it's also a story of getting through a rough life, of determination to keep going. Schmidt's story can be brutal at times, but it doesn't read as a series of tragedies. It's admirable how he gets through it and tells his story after the fact, portraying his relationship with his dad and his life as very complex and many-sided.
I like Schmidt's writing style in his prose, but the chapter structure often threw me off, because it jumped around chronologically a bit; he wrote thematically and grouped events rather than times. He doesn't tone down events for the readers, even though this is categorized as YA, which is good, and I hope it helps kids in situations similar to his feel less alone.
I like Schmidt's writing style in his prose, but the chapter structure often threw me off, because it jumped around chronologically a bit; he wrote thematically and grouped events rather than times. He doesn't tone down events for the readers, even though this is categorized as YA, which is good, and I hope it helps kids in situations similar to his feel less alone.
pinkshark's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
By far one of the best memoirs I have ever read. I got through it in a single sitting, only because I just couldn’t put it down. It’s a touching story, shared by the author in such an intimate way that it feels almost like a conversation. There is some joy, some sadness, some anger, and reflection.
kathrynhd's review
2.0
There was so much build up and a lot of stories that didn't serve any larger purpose. I got bored early but pressed on. For most of the middle, I was skimming pages. Another small thing - I really couldn't stomach the multiple stories of animal cruelty (even accidental).
tatumreads's review
This was a heavy book, which is unsurprising from the title. It was still a well written and interesting story.
athena56's review
2.0
I wanted to like this book. I read all 400+ pages of it, hoping that at some point, it was going to click and I was going to immediately think that "This book is amazing." But it never came.
The author's disjointed stories were tough to read, but they never packed the emotional punch that you would expect a past like this to hold. Having read other stories of child mistreatment in "A Child Called It" and other books throughout my life, it is rare for me to be so unaffected by the actions of Jason and his father.
The author's disjointed stories were tough to read, but they never packed the emotional punch that you would expect a past like this to hold. Having read other stories of child mistreatment in "A Child Called It" and other books throughout my life, it is rare for me to be so unaffected by the actions of Jason and his father.
notoriouszoe's review
3.0
It was difficult to get through, because of the content and writing style. Too many disjointed incidents that made it hard for me to care much.
lexiww's review
3.0
“I lived my life in pieces.” That’s a tidy encapsulation of Schmidt’s tormented upbringing, the focus of his devastating memoir. Raised by his drug-dealing, ex-con father, Schmidt lived around the Pacific Northwest throughout the grim 1980s among strung-out squatters in decrepit homes (and even, once, a storage unit). The litany of physical and emotional abuse Schmidt endures is unbelievably staggering: His father beats and berates him. He is sexually preyed upon by a school principal. He is socially isolated as he and his dad nomadically relocate. Poor, dirty, and perpetually unsupervised, Schmidt threatens to run away, only to have his father threaten to have him committed. And when his dad contracts AIDS, Schmidt has to begin envisioning an entirely new future alone—one he must forge with limited guidance and a lifetime of scars. This title joins the ranks of harrowing stories such as Dave Pelzer’s A Child Called “It” (1993), Augusten Burrough’s Running with Scissors (2002), and other compelling accounts of childhood despair that are painful to read and impossible to put down. — Lexi Walters Wright, First published November 15, 2014 (Booklist).