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jadenchimes06's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence
ariana_danielle's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Child abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Bullying
Minor: Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical trauma
rebeccadiv's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Addiction, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Animal death, Sexual assault, Death, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Bullying
nebraskanwriter's review against another edition
5.0
As other reviewers have said, Walls does look at her past with rose-tinted glasses and does not tear down her parents. She tells us what they did, said, didn’t do that they should have done and let’s us the reader feel the anger for her. Which I thought was very tasteful of her, given what all her parents have put her family through.
Definitely one of the most powerful memoirs I’ve ever read. How they were able to save up money, budget at such a young age and be more of a responsible adult then both their parents to make it in New York. The strength of her and her siblings is truly incredible.
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Excrement, Medical trauma, Racism, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Medical content, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Abandonment
narbine's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Transphobia, Alcohol, Classism, Gaslighting, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Child death, Abandonment, Animal death, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Child abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexual content, Stalking, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Infidelity, Misogyny, Excrement, Gaslighting, Racism, and Dysphoria
sapphicsoilscientist's review against another edition
0.25
Save yourself some time and go read Educated instead.
Graphic: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Animal cruelty, and Car accident
rakizaka's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexism, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, and Addiction
Moderate: Bullying, Abandonment, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Racial slurs
Minor: War
annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
5.0
Walls has an incredibly rich talent for story-telling and displays immense vulnerability in sharing her family's story.
Reading this 10 years after I first learned about it, I have more empathy for the parents and a better ability to understand the nuances and grey zones of parent-child relationships, the circumstances that lead to unstable, unsafe, and neglectful households, and the sheer luck it takes to dig yourself out of systemic poverty the way the Walls children did.
That said, her parents are terrible parents in a lot of ways. You can tell they love their children and want to install certain values like independent thinking, self-reliance, and others. But this often comes at the cost of healthcare, safety, job and financial security, and others risks. While her parents clearly have some mental health issues and substance use disorders to varying degrees (though she doesn't speculate on this) a lot of the circumstances the Walls found themselves in were entirely preventable and manageable. And that infuriates me.
I loved reading about the siblings' dynamics and their resourcefulness and determination to make the best of things - and get the hell out of Welch when they no longer could. I'd especially love to read Lori's story one day - she seems to have a unique experience within the family and I think it could resonate with a lot of people (or maybe it's just oldest children relatability for me).
I have two main critiques that could bring my rating down 0.5 stars (but won't because I loved the experience of reading this memoir to much).
1) The pacing was slightly off in the second half. Jeannette Walls devotes so much time to her early childhood, that we often skip significant portions of her teen years and young adulthood. She only discusses the highlights as compared to the substantial exploration of her childhood and set-up of their family dynamics.
2) Being published in 2005 and set largely in the 60s and 70s there is some outdated language. This includes the R-word and racial slurs.
Overall this is a wonderful and emotional memoir - I can understand why and how it's become a classic in the genre.
Graphic: Child abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Ableism and Misogyny