A tortured, philosophical reflection ... Often difficult to read ... Though it may seem taboo-busting to acknowledge disgust for your parents and relief at their death...it is also done with a cold detachment and lack of empathy, especially for Haddon’s mother, that contrasts starkly with the capacious emotional space he finds in great literature ... Often feels like ongoing therapeutic analysis, which may be good for the author, but might leave the reader asking, as with so much memoir, what’s in it for them.
Haddon...writes with uncanny humor and endearing candor as he leapfrogs from childhood incidents to more recent struggles and discoveries ... As he reflects on his hard-tested loyalty to his parents and his love for his sister, wife, and children, Haddon is pithily hilarious, deeply insightful, and very moving.
Absorbing, melancholy ... Although Haddon reflects on positive aspects of his life—his teaching, writing, happy marriage, fatherhood, and deeply satisfying volunteer work with the Samaritans—darkness and sadness pervade his forthright memoir. Candid, disquieting memories.
