Each memoir I read, I just can't believe how terrible parents can be to their kids and yet the kids grow up, and survive or thrive despite it all. I had not heard of the author until I read this excerpt but I am very impressed by his writing. He really takes the reader to each of the events in his life. I can feel his brother's hatred, I can smell his step dad's drunkenness. I sadly have been around the kind of women like his mom, very sick herself but trying to heal others.