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hayleybeale's review
5.0
This moving and challenging audiobook memoir, wonderfully read by the author herself, is a wonderful testament to the spirit of a little girl who overcomes abuse from her mother’s boyfriend and the hard love of her grandmother. This makes it sound a bit of a downer but it’s frequently very funny and uplifting too. The author started the Feminist Ryan Gosling website so that should give you an idea of the intelligent and irreverent tone of the book, which is cut through with understated descriptions of the abuse she suffered.
itskiki's review
5.0
A great reminder of how important grandparents can be in one’s upbringing. I read this after listening to Danielle’s podcast I Saw What You Did where get new updates about Grandma and I love their relationship so much. Truly impressed at Danielle’s ability to describe difficult situations. It’s clearly a testament to the work she’s done in healing from trauma.
missbaughn's review
4.0
I loved seeing how she grew up and I felt like it became more of a story about her relationship with her grandma. Kind of like a love letter to her.
maddymissimo's review
5.0
I highly recommend listening to this on audiobook because the author does a fantastic job of orating. Dani writes about her difficult childhood with such humor and vulnerability. Her grandmother sounded like an amazing woman.
jencafardi's review
4.0
Really good memoir of Danielle Henderson who had a very difficult childhood/upbringing in the 80’s and 90’s. There are a lot of holes in the ending ... what happened to her brother? Did she ever get any answers from her mother? What was her educational track? I felt like the ending left too many questions and wasn’t wrapped up well from a literary standpoint.
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