A review by vivianleemit
Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

This book was absolutely riveting, in the “oh my god this is so gruesome I don’t want to continue but I can’t help watching it unfold in morbid curiosity” kind of way. I read it in the course of a day, and every chapter was one gut punch after another. Yes, this is a memoir of Munchausen’s by proxy, but it is also 500+ pages of child abuse by two fully grown adults who perpetuated generation trauma, who had no business having children, and who egged each other on to let out anger on their offspring. At least 10 times throughout the book I was aghast that no other professional knew what was going on, but then I remember this was the 80s and mental health issues were not as openly spoken about, and the landscape for CPS reporting, school intervention, and even the biopsychosocial model of healthcare looked very different. I’m glad the author is advocating for her story to be heard now; it is definitely a very raw memoir and can be difficult to follow due to the winding metaphors she uses, but I find that it accurately embodies the state her mind was in. Highly recommend this as a read.