I received a copy for review. All opinions are my own. This was a great read. It was like a rollercoaster following the chaos and hilarity of the author’s life. I think a lot of us reading can find similarities between her parents and our own here and there but obviously hers were to the extreme. I found myself shocked, entertained, and stressed out throughout this book. What a wild ride her parents took her on but she did an amazing job sharing it with the world!

I don't usually like to review memoirs, it's giving a score to someone's life. That being said, this book made so much sense to me in a way that another memoir ever had. It articulated so much of my childhood in a way that I never could. Some parts were hard to read because it hit so close to home and reminded me of things I have purposefully suppressed. I am grateful to Ms. Uhle for putting this experience into words - and while, I would not wish some of these moments on anyone, it was oddly comforting to know that I was not the only one experiencing this chaos.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this before publish date.

This was recommended by another author that I enjoy, and I found it entertaining and bittersweet. I understand the author's choice to center the memoir around her own experience of growing up in a dysfunctional family, but without more specific details about her family dynamic, I found that I wasn't able to really "get in there" and empathize with her the way I have been able to with similar memoirs. Perhaps a little bit of scholarly scaffolding could have helped--just more information or even speculation about how her parents became the outsized characters they play in this story. Without that, many of their motivations are murky. I realize that this is how they must have appeared to the author as their child, but the replication doesn't work as well second-hand.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Destroy This House by Amanda Uhle is a raw, riveting, and unexpectedly funny memoir about growing up in a whirlwind of chaos, contradiction, and deep familial love. Navigating life with a hoarding mother and a scheming, larger-than-life father, Uhle recounts a childhood marked by financial whiplash, shifting identities, and emotional complexity. With sharp insight and tender humor, she pieces together her parents’ baffling lives while claiming her own hard-earned independence. Perfect for fans of The Glass Castle, this memoir is both a love letter and a reckoning—heartbreaking, hilarious, and deeply human.

Destroy This House , a memoir by Amanda Uhle, is alternately maddening and hilarious. Uhle tells the story of her nuclear family with a reportorial eye – sometimes. At other times, despite her stated intent of objectivity, she is consumed by guilt and compassion for her exceptionally dysfunctional parents. This, it seems, was a family with no adults in any of the rooms of the many houses they lived in between 1975 and 2015.
The narrative is chronological and details Uhle’s father’s multiple (and multifarious) get rich quick schemes as well as his time as a Lutheran pastor. Her mother was a hoarder of food, beauty products, fabric and clothing. Uhle recounts the multiples of condiments, rotting meat left on the countertop and caches of food “stored” outdoors on top of the air conditioner.

Uhle is often perplexed by her parents' decisions and her role in enabling them. When she tries to help them lead a more normative life – e.g. by filing back tax returns – they refuse to participate and portray her efforts as an attempt to control or manage them.
While the author partially finds independence from her parents, her love for them continually reels her back into their orbit. While the book has been carefully researched, Uhle concedes that there is still a lot about her family that is unknowable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for this review.

Amanda Uhle shares her story of growing up in a dysfunctional household. Her parents not only believed in the American Dream but felt it was owed to them. Amanda and her brother lived watching her parents build a world to suit their own desires, fabricating whatever truth suited them.
Their father had patents pending and was on the brink of becoming a self described international success. They lived in a McMansion and it was there that Amanda’s mother’s hoarding took off. This grandiose self image of themselves is one that they never let go.
I looked forward to getting an in-depth look into the hoarding. It is a strong compulsion and would have enhanced the book if explored.
Destroy this House shows the repercussions that children face when adults refuse to act responsibly. The Uhle’s downward spiral began with the loss of the McFlurry to the Swedes and multiple unrealized pipe dreams. The hoarding forced them to live in a world of spoiling food, rooms bulging with unknown objects and a collapsing house. Socially they felt like outcasts.
Like societal creep this advanced on them slowly so it was normal to Amanda and her brother. Their parents took advantage of them and they enabled their parents to continue the only life they knew. The book was more like a walk down memory lane than an introspective look at the author’s life. I give the book a three. It started out strong but definitely dragged after the first quarter.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this book. These opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like this more. The author has a great voice and deep love for her manipulative and scheming parents. I think in the end that was my main gripe about this book. The author is constantly cleaning up her parents mess when it is not her job to. Even though the writing style is incredible and poignant, I just wanted to shake her and tell her stop enabling her selfish and emotionally immature parents. Her parents are horrible and insufferable people. I can’t imagine what it is like to grow up with parents who only care about their own wellbeing. I was uncomfortable with some of the subject matter. I just bad and embarrassed for the author, I wish her the best.

I really enjoyed reading this and enjoyed the memoir element to this book, it had that element that I was looking for from this type of memoir. I enjoyed getting into this journey and was engaged with how Amanda Uhle shared their story, I'm glad I was able to read this and can't wait for more.

Whew. The emotional rollercoaster Amanda took me on was not something I was prepared for. She was able to put it all out on the line for us readers to really grasp what her life experience was. As someone who experienced a not so great childhood as well, I felt like I was living it all right there with her. The strength that this woman has is felt all throughout this book and THAT is beautiful.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for my review.

Reviewing memoirs is always a sticky spot. I want to acknowledge what the author went through and never want to give a poor review, because it was their experience.
I was hoping for more depth on how she was deeply effected by her mothers hoarding habits and her fathers multiple failed business ventures. We are given bits and pieces, at times, but I wasn’t drug through the anguish of her childhood with her.

It takes courage and bravery to put a memoir out there for all to read. For that reason I continued reading and gained some insight into her dysfunctional family and it’s dynamic.

Destroy This House is a memoir following Amanda's journey growing up with parents that fabricate whatever truth suits them best. This form of control, as well as her mother's hoarding habit, made for quite a journey!

She tells her story through the lens of a journalist, trying to uncover facts and gain the truth of events. I didn't quite enjoy this in her early years since it completely left out her emotions and, therefore, was confusing in what her thoughts about her upbringing were. The only time some personal thoughts came through was about her mom's hoarding of food.

The journey of finding your own way in life versus the ideals that your parents taught you is one most of us can relate with.

Overall, I give this ⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was fascinating, but it also missed a personal element that I would have liked to see.

This book was SO much in one little book! I found myself in awe at so many stories in the book and saddened by the extent of disfunction in every aspect of the author’s early life. I still have several parts of this book that still rent space in my mind, weeks after I finished the book. I feel like this memoir is such a good entrance into a book that celebrates a life that is both unconventional and full of love. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

It's so difficult to rate a memoir.

I enjoyed the nostalgic aspect of life in the 1980s and seeing how much life has changed since the time period which was my own childhood.

Because of the subject matter, I kinda felt like I was rubbernecking a horrendous trainwreck. I have some concerns with Amanda airing all of her parents dirty laundry when they are gone.

I would have appreciated if some research on hoarding was included.

Loveeeee this book. It was such a quick read in the best and worst way (the worst way meaning I didn’t want it to end!) As a fellow “messed up family” member, I really related to this book.

Destroy This House is gripping and deeply personal. The book masterfully captures the chaos, love, and survival within a fractured family. Amanda Uhle’s writing is sharp, poignant, and impossible to put down— I devoured every page.

Wow. Just wow. This book was outstanding and I enjoyed every minute with it! I enjoyed the writing style, the humor, the relatability, the list goes on. Family relationships are so interesting and the dynamics of a family really shapes the people we all turn out to be, in some way or another. This author should write, write, write...I would read every single book from her!

I hate reviewing memoirs - its someones life! How can we judge that?

In any event, here I am, reviewing a memoir.

I think making a life story worth reading is taking your readers along in the most vulnerable way. What is hard here, is that Uhle has given us pieces of herself - and at times, it feels like it is lacking heart and soul that makes a memoir so so great. Yes, you rode in the car with your dad and through these mini-sermons we learned a lot, but there are SO MANY MORE DETAILS we could have had. Tell us what happened with that fateful phone call, tell us about how your family dynamic shifted after he heard his business partners planning without him. Tell us more, in some ways, but tell us the things we don't know. I hate even saying it!

Uhle gives us an insight to another type of family dynamic- and it is one, like the others have said, that is filled with trials and successes just like any other family...but not quite. If you like memoirs, pick this one up. This was not it for me, but it will be IT for someone else.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and the author Amanda Uhle for the opportunity to read Destroy This House in exchange for honest review. The memoir started out slowly for me but then took off and I could not put it down. Destroy This House would be good for book discussion groups. I look forward to the release of the book when we will have chance to hear the author talk more about her life story.

#Destroy This House #SimonBooks #AmandaUhle

3.5 ⭐️
I am always so drawn to dysfunctional family memoirs, especially when there is any focus on mothers. I assume this is my trauma manifesting and looking for some common ground and relatability. I can only imagine how healing it must be to finally get it all out in a memoir and to see so many others live that same experience so I will never fault someone for putting themselves out there in the most vulnerable ways.

There were aspects of this that were incredibly fascinating and others that I wish were focused on a bit more. There were times I felt like details were being given that didn’t pertain to much and then moments in which time skipped over a lot once Uhle reached adulthood. Trauma on a developing brain is so intense and will lead to lifelong issues that unfortunately victims have to take control of themselves and wish there were aspects of this talked about in the book. So much time was spent in her childhood to young adult years, in college, but I wanted more from her time married and as an adult.

Things that make books like Educated and I’m Glad My Mom Died so popular is just how much the authours put of themselves in the book. And while Uhle does this to an extent, I wish it focused more on her and less on her parents. There was so much of her parents history, stories, lies, decisions that I wanted a lot of refocus on her instead of them.

This wasn’t bad by any means and you will feel for Uhle in all the ways and I’m so happy for her to be healing and writing this. But it also wasn’t my favourite memoir.

3.5 stars, rounded up. This story is an eldest daughters' worst nightmare. I hope the author and her brother live the most happy, struggle-free lives after all that they endured and did to support their parents. The author was successful in conveying the weight of her guilt, and the impossibility of making any improvement to the situation describing the living conditions and financial recklessness of her parents. I finished eternally grateful for my stable upbringing and my similarly aged parents' health, presence of mind, and fiscal responsibility. I enjoy memoirs for perspectives like Amanda's that fill me with gratitude.

I appreciated that Destroy This House was an unusual type of family trauma memoir that I haven't seen before. Her parents' madness didn't result from a cult or religious sect, they were passing for many years as a 'normal' middle class family. The trajectory of her father from visionary inventor to MLM salesperson to Lutheran minister to therapy student was fascinating. The many Lutherans I know are more the steady, rational presence, and the author's father couldn't have been more opposite.

There were times this book really drew me in, but I found my interest waning after the second move in Indiana. Some redundancies that could have been edited out to keep the pacing, like multiple mentions of raccoons eating food on their balcony, could have brought this up to a 4 for me.