Thank you netgalley for my review copy of this book.

Leah Carroll tells the story of her mother who was murdered when she was 4 and her father who died when she was 18 as a result of depression and alcoholism.

Powerful and heartbreaking in so many ways but so beautifully written. She writes about how she feels her father failed her but how she also failed him even though as a child she could nof hope to save him from his own demons. She writes how her mother never became a real person that was so much more than what she realized until she started writing this book. She writes of her tragedies with such beauty and insight and you can't help but feel drawn to her story.

With an opening that sinks straight into your head, Down City doesn't ever really relax. Carroll's prose is never sentimental but it's also always sympathetic as she talks her way through her childhood with one unreliable (alcoholic) parent and the legacy of her mother's (violent) death in a way that really makes you think further about those newspaper articles we read every day. I'd never considered the world in this way (maybe a lack of imagination on my part) and I'm grateful for Carroll's honesty.

I could not put this book down. I stayed up and read it through the night. It was daunting. There were so many injustices that at a point you wanted to say, "stop!" I need a break. And to know that this was real makes it even more daunting. This book will stay with me for a while. And it leaves me with a broken heart for the author.

This is a emotional story of a young lady growing up in Rhode Island that lost both parents at different stages in her life. Her mother, a drug addict killed by the Mafia as they thought she was a snitch and her dad to alcohol and depression. We see this young lady grow from child to woman. Yes, there are some dark times in her life, but she made it. I admire her strength in wanting to know about her mom's death and setting out to make peace with herself regarding the circumstances. We also learn about other members of her family throughout the book. Very good memoir writtnen very tastefully. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Reading this was a very emotional experience for me because the author is a childhood friend. A lot of memories from elementary and middle school came rushing back (1989-1993) and since I moved from Barrington, RI in May of 1993, I lost touch and had no idea what transpired since then until we reunited over social media about a decade ago. Even then, I never knew details and this filled the gaps but had me crying at times and wishing I could tell her how sorry I was that she had to go through so much at such a young age. I always looked up to Leah (we both loved reading and writing - I was in awe of her raw talent and intelligence) and I still do. She is a talented and smart woman, just like her parents. May their memory be eternal.

Leah Carroll's mother died when Leah was four years old, strangled in a motel room by two drug dealers with mafia connections to Rhode Island's Patriarca crime family and a misguided paranoia. She's then raised by her father and stepmother, with the ghost of her mother a constant haunting presence. Down City chronicles her childhood and adolescence with a jump into adulthood, focusing on her emerging sense of self as she struggles to learn more about the early deaths of both of her parents, why they had the troubles they did, and how who they were affected who she is.

I love a good coming of age story, and especially with the mysterious true crime aspect of her mother's death, I was really excited about this one. An added bonus was her treatment of her home state of Rhode Island, playing it up as a character itself, even as it often gets written off in terms of a state with a big personality. Instead, as she points out, it's more likely to be trotted out as an easy example of sizing up somewhere else, by likening it, usually negatively, to the smallness of Rhode Island. But she creates a solid sense of place for the state and several of its very different towns, even if it does involve a lot of Dunkin' Donuts.

Written in direct, simple prose with an almost conversational tone, Carroll explores a familiar teenage angst that's sure to resonate with many readers while she digs up and confronts the ghosts of her family's past that have haunted and shaped her entire life. The research she did into her parents' lives and deaths was clearly cathartic for her, and she succeeds in creating a fleshed-out composition of both of her parents, flaws and strengths. In that way, it's a deserved tribute to these two troubled people who tried to do their best, despite addiction and depression. In describing her childhood, Carroll employs a child's voice, relating scenes as she saw them then, less how an adult would interpret them, and that was a fitting touch for the story.
Ultimately, it felt too short and a bit too light for the kind of messages she wanted to convey. Blurbs liken the book to Mary Karr's memoirs which deal with similar topics, children forced to grow up far too quickly and take care of parents who couldn't take care of themselves in the throes of addiction and mental illness. About a year ago, I read Karr for the first time, tearing through The Liars' Club, Cherry, and Lit at lightning speed. Although there are similarities in subject and style, Down City isn't quite on parr with those confessional bildungsroman memoirs yet. I actually kept thinking of what an impact it could make as a Young Adult read, actually. I think the storytelling and themes would resonate most strongly with teens.

But it shows massive potential, I would absolutely give Carroll a chance again if I saw another title by her; she's clearly a talented writer with a gift for journalistic research, a conviction for the truth, and a fearlessness in confronting painful, difficult corners of her own past. I'll be looking forward to what she does in the future.