Ms. Ford’s unflinching honesty in delivering her truth to the page is laudable. This book was at times so difficult to absorb that I had to take pauses for both breath and thought; one can only imagine what it must have been like for the author to revisit these memories in the process of writing of this often searingly painful narrative. The author brought out each character in their full human complexity, with none being completely virtuous nor villainous; though she was the victim of manifold horrors over the course of her young life she still manages to find profound compassion for the flaws that turned the people who hurt her most into the people that they were. It is hard to successfully translate that into literary understanding that readers accurately absorb, but this author does this, and by the end of the book I found myself hurting not only for the author, but for all of the people along the way in her narrative who couldn’t seem to get out of their own ways despite their best efforts. I read it in one long sitting, unable to fully put it down despite my many pauses over the course of reading it, and I hope that it carries the meaning for other readers that it ended up holding for me. I very much look forward to continuing to follow this author in future.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC that allowed me to review this book!

An honest, detailed account of child abuse and continuing to love your family members despite their flaws.

Searing, sad, and in many places, unexpectedly poetic. An engrossing, important read. I have already talked about it on social media as being one of my favorite reads, and certainly my favorite memoir, of the year.