Sad, funny, moving ... Uhle...tells us in astonishing detail what it was like to be raised by impossible people ... Her tone remains one of wry amusement ... Uhle’s expressive writing beautifully captures what it was like to grow up in this chaotic household ... Will resonate with anyone who has cared for a loved one in difficult circumstances ... Makes you laugh and wrenches your heart.
Uhle’s book will hit home with many readers ... Affecting ... The memoir is well written, if at times distractingly repetitive, perhaps because her parents’ behavioral problems play out in much the same way incident after incident. Still, it has virtue in showing that no matter how odd one’s own family, there’s always someone, more often than not, who has an odder family still.
Her account resists excessive psychologizing: though Uhle stresses the trials of having to parent her parents, her tone throughout remains more bewildered than melancholy. Some readers may wish she was more curious about the source of her parents’ dysfunctions, but Uhle’s preference for cockeyed portraiture in place of warmed-over inherited trauma tropes is refreshing. The author shares at least one quality with her parents: she can spin a good yarn.
