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milliebot_reads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Henderson dives into her childhood and upbringing with wit and sincerity; it felt like a friend was telling me stories. The first 40% or so is more lighthearted (though not without negative experiences, of course), but then Henderson really gets into some serious topics (see content warnings). It's really heartbreaking, what some kids have gone through and survived. It seems like Henderson put in a lot of work to move past some of the events in her childhood and I commend her for opening up to readers the way she did.
This book was funny, depressing, frustrating, and encouraging. I always find it hard to "rate" someone's life experiences, but if you like memoirs definitely read this. The very end is sweet, especially the family acknowledgements.
(Also, it's always astounding to me how much of people's lives they can remember! I don't imagine I'll ever have a reason to write a memoir, but I can hardly remember events from a couple years ago, let alone a semi-complete view of my early childhood or teen years. Bravo to everyone who does it!)
This book was funny, depressing, frustrating, and encouraging. I always find it hard to "rate" someone's life experiences, but if you like memoirs definitely read this. The very end is sweet, especially the family acknowledgements.
(Also, it's always astounding to me how much of people's lives they can remember! I don't imagine I'll ever have a reason to write a memoir, but I can hardly remember events from a couple years ago, let alone a semi-complete view of my early childhood or teen years. Bravo to everyone who does it!)
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts
truthfoundhere's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pedophilia
bookphile's review
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
TW: physical abuse, sexual abuse/molestation of a minor, child abuse, child abandonment, heavy drug use, depression, suicide
CW: smoking, child neglect, mental illness, swearing
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Enjoyed this story overall. It was interesting and well written.
However, I feel like the author - possibility deliberately - never really went into too much detail about a single topic, so even after reading a whole book about her childhood and teenage years I feel like I don't know much about her. I understand in part it's because she probably doesn't want to talk too much about certain topics. She'll sort of mention those things of hand and then move on to a completely different and light hearted topic. She does mention that her mother's boyfriend used to beat her and molested her frequently, but she doesn't talk about it afterwards. She does this a lot, she drops information about something terrible that happened and then not really talk about, at least not directly. For example, she does talk later on about severely depressed and suicidal as a teenager, which you can guess happens because of all the compounded trauma that she never got to deal with or even discuss with anyone.
Also, this is not me saying she should have gone into detail discussing these things. Nor did I wish for her to go into graphic detail. It's just sometimes I felt frustrated at how she would state that something terrible happened without much preamble and then not discuss anything that happened afterwards.
I also wished that she would let us know what happened with her mother. Did she just stay with that asshole and raise two kids with him, or more? Did she ever know what he did to her daughter? She knew about the physical abuse, but I have to wonder if she knew he was sexually abusing her daughter to and if she had the gall to do nothing about it. I know I don't really deserve answers to these questions and Henderson doesn't have to give anyone answers. It's just something that I would have wanted more exploration on.
Overall, it was a great memoir. Heartbreaking, but also funny in a way, providing a window into her life, while still maintaining some privacy by telling us only what she wished to share and nothing more.
CW: smoking, child neglect, mental illness, swearing
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Enjoyed this story overall. It was interesting and well written.
However, I feel like the author - possibility deliberately - never really went into too much detail about a single topic, so even after reading a whole book about her childhood and teenage years I feel like I don't know much about her. I understand in part it's because she probably doesn't want to talk too much about certain topics. She'll sort of mention those things of hand and then move on to a completely different and light hearted topic. She does mention that her mother's boyfriend used to beat her and molested her frequently, but she doesn't talk about it afterwards. She does this a lot, she drops information about something terrible that happened and then not really talk about, at least not directly. For example, she does talk later on about severely depressed and suicidal as a teenager, which you can guess happens because of all the compounded trauma that she never got to deal with or even discuss with anyone.
Also, this is not me saying she should have gone into detail discussing these things. Nor did I wish for her to go into graphic detail. It's just sometimes I felt frustrated at how she would state that something terrible happened without much preamble and then not discuss anything that happened afterwards.
I also wished that she would let us know what happened with her mother. Did she just stay with that asshole and raise two kids with him, or more? Did she ever know what he did to her daughter? She knew about the physical abuse, but I have to wonder if she knew he was sexually abusing her daughter to and if she had the gall to do nothing about it. I know I don't really deserve answers to these questions and Henderson doesn't have to give anyone answers. It's just something that I would have wanted more exploration on.
Overall, it was a great memoir. Heartbreaking, but also funny in a way, providing a window into her life, while still maintaining some privacy by telling us only what she wished to share and nothing more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, and Dementia
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