melanie_dc 's review for:

Stray: Memoir of a Runaway by Tanya Marquardt

3.0

---

"Stray" is an appropriate title for this book, but "memoir of a runaway" is not. This book is about the author, Tanya Marquardt, who "ran away" to live with friends in the same town as her mom, who knew where she was. But it's also the story of a seriously messed up and lonely childhood and parents who weren't not there for Tanya and had no idea how to be parents. An abusive, alcoholic father, and a mother who just seemed lost and clueless about how to parent. I couldn't put the book down, partly because of Tanya's poetic writing, but it was also like a car crash. I hate to say that since it is a memoir, but this book was horribly angsty and depressing and abusive, and I really wanted to know if Tanya eventually got help and lifted out of her situation. That kept me reading, but the book doesn't let you know. It ends and leaves you needing to Google the author to find out what happened to her. But I stayed for the writing.