Watching this family on YouTube over the last decade it was nice to see Jonathan write a book about his life growing up and how that has affected him and had Mildred him to be who he is and and the father he is today . Good read have recommended to a few people .

I DNF this book. I found it to be disturbing in a number of ways. It was hard to follow and felt unbelievable at times. I do not discount that the abuse happened I just could not feel engaged with the narrative. It felt all over the place for me. I feel it maybe only has a following because of the author’s social media presence.

I've followed this family's life through YouTube videos for years, that's why I was very excited finding out that Jonathan has written a book. And when I started ti read it all the emotions went down heal. It's definately not what I expected. It goes between imaginetive scenes and his real life thoughts. Maybe it woukd have been easier if he would have turnet it into a fantasy book.

A memoir of survival and coping.

This is not a poorly-written book, but I did finish it thinking, “Now what?” Joly began his book in the present-day as a forty-something-year-old with a wife and four kids, but it ended with him as a fifteen-year-old. I would have liked to see things come full-circle, how his methods of coping with trauma as a child may have followed him into adulthood, or even seen a glimpse of how his present self feels about his young self’s coping mechanisms.

When writing a memoir, there is room for artistic license - changing up small details here and there in order to form a cohesive narrative, or pulling meaning from moments when there wasn’t actually any meaning at the time. However, I got the sense that Joly was using artistic license in his recounts of conversations between his young self and his imaginary friends so much that it no longer felt like artistic license - it felt like grasping at memories and filling in the gaps. It’s a bold choice to choose to narrate so much of the book from a four-year-old’s POV, and I do applaud him for attempting this (and succeeding in many aspects). Overall, however, I wish it read more like an adult Joly reflecting on his experiences, rather than a young Joly narrating them like they were currently happening. I think this would've made the narrative a more trustworthy one.

It was clear to me that the author was dissociating when he described being in his imaginary world during traumatic events, but he wrote in such a way that it seemed like present-day Joly is still unaware about what he really experienced as a child - were his friends just imaginary friends? Or were they actually “parts” of himself? Or were they ghosts? Or was he experiencing schizophrenic-like hallucinations? Or did he have dissociative identity disorder?

I came away from this memoir with more questions than answers, but I greatly appreciated Joly’s vulnerability in telling his story and find this an engaging read for anyone interested in psychology or child development.

First, I had heard of the author's online presence before (which I found disturbing) but I did not make this association before research - which I did halfway through reading,,,
I dnf'ed at 70%, with a fair bit of skimming. I checked the end, out of curiosity.
It is clear that the author comes from a severely abusive background, emotionally and physically, both at home and in school. A lot of it stems from being "different" (the author currently identifies as non-binary). He recounts his really severe dissociative episodes in response to the abuse, as well as the other mental repercussions of it.
The writing and structure need work. But my main gripe with the work was the telling. It is fine that, in a childhood memoir, the memories are vague! Having such clear memories and dialogue brought me out of the tale - it just cannot be completely accurate. If you do not establish yourself as a reliable narrator on your memoir, it is hard for people to keep reading.

I don't think this book will be for everyone who might pick it up. It goes places that aren't always comfortable for those who've been through abuse and takes the time to be clear about a form of coping with that abuse which isn't always spoken about in the direct way it is here. To be clear, I don't know anything about Joly or his social media presence at all, but I am familiar with dissociation and the many for me it takes, particularly in children. As a person with Complex PTSD I always appreciate a public figure coming forward to discuss this difficult subject, particularly when it involves what seems to be a form of DID, as depicted here.

Children are resilient, flexible, and complex beings to begin with and hardwired for survival even when the place they grow is inhospitable to their ability to thrive. Jonathan is a child with many differences, gender noncomforming, suffering from what seems to be dyslexia, and a very clear social anxiety, he experiences constant pressure to be anything but himself. Hard pressed to meet these challenges, he feels as if he might never be able to overcome conformity and the push to be successful- until he meets Giselle, a girl that only he can see, at age four. Coping by relying on Giselle and a group of other invisible people only he can see, Jonathan copes by hiding in the world they share, sometimes even allowing Giselle to run his 'flesh machine's when things are at their worst. Until, slowly, he begins to emerge and grow into himself.

An unusual memoir on trauma with no drive to be anything but honest about it's perspective, it's well worth a read.

I requested this book without knowing of the Joly families online presence and simply requested and started this book based on the description.

I did not finish this book despite getting to more than 90%, when online research led me to reading some thing’s that made me question everything I’d just read I decided to stop reading. Unfortunately I thus cant write a full review. I’d recommend checking trigger warnings before reading this book!

I want to preface this by saying that I had no prior knowledge of Jonathan Joly and did not even know he was a YouTuber/influencer before attempting to read this book. I picked it up because the premise seemed like something I would be interested in. After I began reading, I quickly felt like this book had been severely misrepresented. I was expecting a story of queer resilience and it just got worse and worse the further into the book I got .The writing is erratic at best.

If you are someone who has suffered any kind of childhood trauma - I would recommend staying far away from this book. The content can be graphic and triggering at times without warning or resolve.

This was a really interesting look into the way a young boy dealt with not only feeling they were in the wrong body but also with abuse both at school and at home.

I thought it was a very well written, in depth and brave account of the writers life as a young boy.

The only thing I'd say is I found the chapter written from Giselle's point of view a little confusing

A adequately written book. Really enjoyed reading this. Can come off a little fantastical. Thanks to publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read

This memoir gives me all the feels, calling to mind the fiction of Jeffrey Eugenides and the nonfiction of Frank McCourt. Nuanced, unhurried, and poignant, Joly's story broke my heart and put it back together again. Definitely recommending it to my book club.

Jonathan was labelled as an overly emotional child when he was little. His father was an imposing figure and to cope with his feelings, Jonathan retreated into a world of fantasy friends and make believe. These friends stayed with him throughout childhood. It's a fairly quick read and pretty interesting. It seems to be more than simply imaginary friends, this was a psychological coping mechanism for a young boy.