A List of Things That Didn't Kill Me: A Memoir

by Jason Schmidt

How does a good kid overcome a bad childhood? Jason Schmidt's searing debut memoir explores that question with unflinching clarity and wit, in the tradition of Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle.

Jason Schmidt wasn't surprised when he came home one day during his junior year of high school and found his father, Mark, crawling around in a giant pool of blood. Things like that had been happening a lot since Mark had been diagnosed with HIV, three years earlier.

Jason’s life with Mark was full of secrets—about drugs, crime, and sex. If the straights—people with normal lives—ever found out any of those secrets, the police would come. Jason’s home would be torn apart. So the rule, since Jason had been in preschool, was never to tell the straights anything.

A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me is a funny, disturbing memoir full of brutal insights and unexpected wit that explores the question: How do you find your moral center in a world that doesn't seem to have one?

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Adult, Biography Memoir, LGBT, Abuse

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 6, 2015

Reviews

[Rosina Lippi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jason was a student in one of my creative writing classes in 1998, and I can say without reservation that he is the most talented undergraduate I ever worked with. I have followed his writing ever since -- through his (now defunct, and much missed) weblog, short stories, a beautifully written novel, and finally this memoir.

There are very basic things children should be able to take for granted, whether rich or poor: food, someplace to sleep, a watchful and nurturing adult. Kids who don't have those things have to fight every day to survive on the fringe, and harder still, to move beyond the experiences that shaped them. The only weapons available are the ones they can find within themselves. A person who fights that very long and difficult battle and comes out a whole human being has grown a kind of armor. The problem is that you can't make other people understand that journey unless you're able and willing to take off that armor and let them see the scars. Jason did that, but a careful reader will come away with more than an understanding of how he survived.

There are thousands of kids out there right now who are experiencing life the way Jason did. Too many of them won't survive, or will come into adulthood unable to do anything else but follow the pattern they've internalized. After reading this memoir it will be harder for the more fortunate not to see those kids. And that's exactly as it should be.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jason’s memoir should be titled, A List of Things That Didn’t Put Me behind Bars, because after reading his memoir, Jason should be lucky he didn’t lose it. Jason’s ability to write down his daily life without all the negative emotions and baggage that came trampling along beside him was amazing. His father was candid and perhaps that helped Jason in his ability to tell it truthfully and not bitterly, his memoir was truly an eye-opener. According to his father, Jason was a “by-product of his parents attempt to be normal.” What a wonderful way for a child to think of himself in his informative years. Jason spends most of his childhood alone and in the front of the television, welcome to the 70’s. In the novel, we watch Jason as he deals with life and his part in it. His mother is no longer in the picture and his father slowly fades in and out as drugs consume him. His father seems to be searching for himself, always going after something else, never satisfied with what he has. I had that country song where the artist sings about always reaching for something we don’t have playing in the back of my head as I read this novel. Jason’s father is on the move, never content and he’s bringing Jason with him. During one sprint, the two of them move in with John and John watches Jason while his father goes to school. I really thought this relationship was special; John acted more like a father to Jason and they bonded. As they read books together, I hoping this relationship would last but of course, something else was in the cards. Jason was abused by his father and it amazed me how this treatment affected Jason. His classmates also abused him. Jason just couldn’t get a break. How he kept it all together, was beyond me. Jason lacked the skills for making friends and these individuals were the only people within his grasp that he could reach out to. This book was a remarkable memoir, it dealt with a variety of hard subject matter but it showed that the human spirit can overcome and be resilient. I will be rereading this novel again.

[- ̗̀ jess ̖́- · Rating 4 out of 5]

A List of Things that Didn't Kill Me is an eye-opening memoir about growing up with an abusive parent, and it's also a story of getting through a rough life, of determination to keep going. Schmidt's story can be brutal at times, but it doesn't read as a series of tragedies. It's admirable how he gets through it and tells his story after the fact, portraying his relationship with his dad and his life as very complex and many-sided.

I like Schmidt's writing style in his prose, but the chapter structure often threw me off, because it jumped around chronologically a bit; he wrote thematically and grouped events rather than times. He doesn't tone down events for the readers, even though this is categorized as YA, which is good, and I hope it helps kids in situations similar to his feel less alone.

[Fiona Mackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm amazed the author made it to adulthood, with a mother who abandoned him to his (initially) closeted father, and the constant parade of drug users, dealers, abusers etc. There is redemption and hope at the end, and I would have liked to have had a little more about how he turned his life around, with the support of a retired principal. This is the most intense 'misery lit' book I've ever read, and I've read a few...
Not sure if I'd recommend it to any of the students at school, or buy it for our collection - will need to think about that. It is written well, but the constant parade of bad people and bad situations, with the writer the innocent one (well, at the start, anyway) started to wear on me.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This is a heavy memoir. This kid goes through a hell of a childhood... and keeps on going. Every time I thought, "How did he manage?" I realize, he didn't realize there was any option but to do just that.
I was surprised to find that this book is labeled as young adult. Some of my 8th grade students are excellent readers and more mature than their chronological age, but I'd think twice about putting this story into their hands. Not that it's not a valuable story - it IS - but it's a lot to process, especially when it comes to the warped relationship that can exist between a boy and his father.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason's childhood has everything: abuse and neglect, poverty, a missing parent, drug addiction, inappropriate sexual situations, homosexuality (before it was accepted). In addition, he also had freedom, many pets, and his own brain and thoughts. I can't believe he made it to adulthood. He has a very unique perspective on the "straights" and who he can trust. His story ends around age 20 and I kept searching on the internet - how did the next 20 years go? I'm assuming much better than the first stretch. I hope he's happy with his life and has some inner peace over his childhood.

[Diana Welsch · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an adult who is permanently stunted in ways from growing up in an environment of abuse and addiction, I'm interested in books, fictional and nonfictional, about other peoples' experiences with this. My favorite is probably Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. I can't remember where I heard about A List of Things That Didn't Kill Me, but it intrigued me enough to read it. My upbringing wasn't drug-dealing-father-with-AIDS bad, so maybe it would give me some perspective!

There were some very memorable parts, such as when, as a child, he wanders into a neighbor's yard and the neighbor invites him to watch him slaughter a goat for dinner. And, of course, the AIDS charity volunteer who comes to clean their home while his father is dying, a retired principal who gently urges him to take action towards planning a life for himself and pulls strings to get him into a university.

On the other hand, I can see why some people choose to fictionalize their life stories a bit, such as condensing multiple characters into one person. This kid moved around a lot and I had a hard time keeping track of all the people that he only knew a short time, but that maybe made another appearance later. Like, wait, was that...? a classmate? A neighbor? Someone he lived with? I don't remember and I don't care enough to go back to look it up. It also included a lot of details that may have been important to the writer but didn't do much to move the "plot" along, such as the time his girlfriend's car got a coolant leak. Huh? What I'm saying is, it was an OK book, but it could have benefited from a little tightening up.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend. Ten stars. Read this book. Amazing. Also, troubling. Jason Schmidt's literary skills are amazing in that he has written his harrowing early life in a way that can make you laugh while also wincing or weeping for him. Like when Jason's eleven and a rich woman his dad knows gives him her kid's old Legos and he loves them, and he wakes up one morning to find her in his room dressed as Santa Claus, stuffing his Legos into a sack and taking them away. She needed used toys for a toy drive for needy children. Jason insists that he is a needy child, but the Legos go away forever. Or the time that the dad attempts to make a big drug deal and forgets to put the emergency brake on at the drop off's house on top of a hill. Or when the dad steals a Christmas tree. Or when Jason and his friends find out what happens when you light a pile of gun powder on fire, based on what usually happens in cartoons. This book is so good. My God, poor Jason. It's amazing that he's not in jail. Raised by a useless dad who probably thinks he's a great dad because he's honest with his kid and doesn't have all these rules and hang-ups, man. His dad also beats him. Jason hovers around the edges of adult parties with the other kids of burned out hippies until his dad realizes he's gay and Jason's dad's new friends don't have kids to hang around with. Jason finds himself in high school in the early '80s, wearing the fashionable clothes of dead men who were his dad's friends. Jason's story is dark, but he makes it and writes an incredible memoir.

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow going in the beginning but the tension builds as Jason Schmidt relays the story of his years growing up without a mother, under the so-called care of his gay, drug addict father. They moved constantly, not only locally but also out of state at one point. He was exposed to the influence of others like his father so there was little positivity and mostly rootless, aimless behavior. He grew up; he wasn't brought up. The constant verbal and physical abuse he endured from his father resulted in him being a shy and introverted child/teen. He was also sexually abused as a child, by an educator, no less. Somehow Jason decided to steer clear of cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and gangs. He carried weapons as a defense, not to offend. As his father was dying of AIDS Jason had no direction in his life and only fear for his personal future. A retired educator came into his life, initially to assist his dying father but ultimately became a positive force in Jason's life, motivating him to think of himself and what he wanted. Part of the proceeds of the sale of this book will go to a fund in this man's memory, a very fitting memorial.

[Karen]

I made it to page 100 and then gave up.

I might come back to it later.

I do like that the author acknowledges that he is an unreliable narrator at times but then it makes it difficult to understand what is true or not. I did try to approach it as a broader childhood experience rather than specific events. I have many friends who unfortunately had similar experiences growing up.

However, I just couldn't get in to the writing style. There's a story - then we move on. Next story and so on and it feels a little disjointed. Like I said, I might come back to it because maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind for reading this yet.

From what I did manage to read, I would recommend it to people leading (or that have led) harsh, unconventional childhoods that feel isolated or alone. It may help to read about someone who made it through such an experience.

[ViDesh032201 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A List of Things That Didn't Kill Me is a book that makes me laugh with its unnecessary inappropriate language in the dialogue.This book is about a guys life and what he went through during his life.I like that i can relate to his life as a child because some of the things I can relate to like when he had to give up Charlie his chicken because I had to give up my pets. The plot and the characters are relatable . I don't read books and so me liking this book is actually surprising and so I would recommend this book to people that don't generally read.

[Sheila]

If I was a cool kid, I'd say memoirs are bae, but I was never cool and I'm not a kid. This perfectly-titled memoir opened my eyes to a part of the country and a part of society that I might pretend to know because of the grunge music that I listened to in college but in actuality know very little about. Since this man is my age, the time frame is the same, but that's pretty much where my knowledge ends. Eye-opening and definitely not for the faint of heart.

[Allyson Rourke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written testament to human resilience

[Julene · Rating 4 out of 5]

A List of Things That Didn't Kill Me, a memoir by Jason Schmidt goes deep into his childhood. He has a remarkable memory from age 3 where already he was not living with his mother, and by muscle memory he rode his bike to his mother's house. She called his father to come get him. That is the main glimpse we get of his mother.

Jason lives with his father who is both an addict and a thief in Eugene, Oregon. They have their unique world where most everyone outside it is referred to as "straight." Here is a paragraph that gives an overview of their world, "The hippies at the end of the block, Geoff and Sarah, were okay except that their parents were the real deal; honest-to-god-house-building guitar-playing ex-Peace Corps vegetarian pacifists. In some ways this made them as dangerous as Mickey and Kurty. My people looked like hippies: they dressed like hippies, listened to hippie music, and said "man" a lot. But we were basically white trash rednecks in hippie clothing. Most of the adults I knew loved meat and many of them got in fights all the time and had decent gun collections. To say nothing of all the crime. Besides dealing drugs, my dad and his friends engaged in fraud, theft, and vandalism on a regular basis. Geoff and Sarah's parents might be willing to occupy the ROTC building or march without a permit—they might even smoke some grass every so often. But if they knew half of what went on in our house, or in our social circles, they'd call the cops on us as sure as Mickey and Kurty's parents. They'd probably agonize over it more, but they'd do it."

As a writer he sets up differences portraying the isolation he grew up within, even when he made friends he was isolated from real connection. His father was gay and after he got off probation they moved to Seattle. His father got a job at Seattle Counseling Service. It is not mentioned in this book, but this was a gay counseling service. Jason stays in Camino Island with grandparents for a while and finds connection at church where the kids play a smear the queer rough and tumble game. When he tells his father his father asks if he knows what queer means, he does not. After an explanation, and talk, he pays attention, and writes, "I might have dismissed Dad's analysis of smear the queer out of hand except that, like his Jesus-was-an-alien kick, it answered so many of the questions I had about what I'd seen and heard since being at my grandparents' place. I thought about the way kids at school were, and how they'd all reacted to me. They didn't just dislike me—they talked about it. They created consensus: pizza is our favorite lunch, celery's the worst vegetable, and Jason's a jerk. They didn't give second chances. There was no romantic after-school-special idea about finding out that the weird kid was cooler than you thought he was. That wasn't even part of their thinking.
And what did it mean that the only place where any kind of violent physical play was allowed was at church during smear the queer?"

Later, living in Seattle with his father, a student steals one of his action figures at school, he broke a rule by bringing it to class, talking with his friend Calliope who lives behind them with her mother (they left Eugene to escape a violent boyfriend): "That's what they do she said. "They lie. They steal. And they never admit it, so they're a thousand times worse than us. I don't know why you can't get that through your head."
"So I can't trust anyone?" I asked. "Ever?"
I was being sarcastic. What she said sounded ridiculous to me, but she didn't get it.
"Nope," she said. "Nobody. But at least here, with our own, we know what the rules are and nobody lies about them.""

Jason's father believed his son was smart, and eventually Jason is tested and advanced into better classes, even an opportunity to do a college course, but with all the abuse and responsibility the boy has, his father has AIDS and his son is his caregiver, he doesn't have direction or desire to go to college. It's a Chicken Soup Brigade (CSB) volunteer who talks to him and helps him to do an application to Evergreen even though it is past the deadline. He's a former school teacher and principal; he made some calls and helped by giving him the money needed with only a promise Jason would pay it forward to someone in the future. This is skipping ahead, but the book portrays Jason's PTSD really well, which of course he didn't realize he had.

There are many layers, many players, and over 400 pages. It's well written and a moving dramatic story, but it could have been a bit shorter, I lost track of some of the players as it got closer to the end. The father dies, Jason drops out of college after two years but later goes back. Somehow he got a law degree, we learn in the biography.

I loved seeing Eugene, Seattle, and the AIDS services reflected in this book. Donations from book sales go to the Pride Foundation and a Frank W. Ross Scholarship was set up for the CSB volunteer who helped him initially go to college. It's a good local book and I'm glad he wrote it, my guess is the writing was cathartic.

[Debra Dahlgren Rowand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow & powerful! This has been on my to-read pile for a couple of years & finally we selected it for our High School Book Club. This is a great memoir and will appeal to anyone who read & liked The Glass Castle or It's Kind of A Funny Story. It's edgy, disturbing at times and eye-opening.....and colored with deadpan humor from the eyes of the author. Again, not for those who only want to read a happy story as this is gritty & real. But such a great tale. Well done Jason Schmidt. You truly are amazing!

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a boy who grew up with his father but might as well have been raised by wolves. His father was negligent at best and abusive at worst and yet this story has a happy ending.

I heard Jason Schmidt telling part of his story on "The Moth". "Sit Tight, Kid" was about him discovering that his father was not able always to make things work out well. This book is overwhelmingly about the failure to make things work out.

I do not understand how hard some people have it, but I am incredibly grateful for my own life and awed by those who came through such difficulties.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty incredible. Apparently I'm two-degrees of separation away from the author, and knew nothing of his story, not even the blurb, which is basically the first chapter: growing up with a gay drug-addicted single-father with AIDS. During some of the "ugly" teen years, I guarantee you will NOT like Jason, and have to keep holding out hope for the few people who manage to help. But in the end, the heavy-lifting is all his, despite the odds.

(Only criticism: WHY does every memoir these days have harm coming to animals??? Give some warning on that shit!)

[Mark Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique personal perspective of an author life. Every story, even the untold, are worth writing.

[Charity Shumway · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been struggling with whether I should post about reading this book. I am not ashamed of what I read, but the audience that I have here on my FB is wide, and in turn, so are their views, and what they deem "acceptable". This isn’t for the faint of heart, it’s a heavy read. To some, it could be considered a dark and disturbing book.

In this book that may not be appropriate for all audiences are the following: excessive drugs, sex, animal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, homosexuality, neglect, sickness, etc…

This book takes place in Oregon & Washington (yay for localness! Maybe that’s why it hit a bit closer to home for me).

This is a story about Jason, from birth to young adult (college age), a memoir. This book may be disturbing to some, who have not been exposed to some of the more “uglier” parts of life. This book takes place in the 70’s & 80’s. Times haven’t changed, at least with regards to events in this book. They may have gotten worse, but in no way shape or form have they gotten better.

I in no way experienced entirely what he did, but there were parts of the book that I 100% understood and identified with. Some of his experiences and the life he was exposed too – I’d been there. I felt his pain, and now, as an adult, wished that I would have made better choices as a child/teen. I wish, just like he did, that some of the adults in my life would have made better choices and done things differently.

I wish that I would have reached out to those who were worse off than me. Growing up, I knew which kids they were. I was friends with some of them, not all of them, but some. I would hear things in the halls. They never had people over. If they did, it was always kids who were like them. They would come to school in dirty clothes, un-showered for who knows how many days, un-brushed/ratty hair. They were never friends with the “popular” kids. They were mostly brushed away by teachers & staff. Often put into special ed classes because of their behavior.

I have no idea how Jason kept it together as much as he did. Some of the kids I grew up with, like Jason have not made it out unscathed. Some have been to jail (or still are), some are addicted to the worst drugs out there.

I feel like I fell in between the “straights” & Jason’s life. As a teenager, I walked a very fine line, and fortunately, came out mostly unharmed.

I wish I could take every one of the kids that this is happening to, and wrap my arms around them and tell them they’re loved. They’re wanted. They’re not alone. No one should experience or feel what Jason did throughout his entire childhood.

All of that to say. I highly recommend this book. I’m not sure which audience I would recommend it to, but it is a book that needs to be read. The topics in this book need to be addressed on a much larger scale. The scenarios in this book didn’t only happen in the 70’s & 80’s. They are happening right now. Right this second. To people you know and love. If you don’t think that’s the case, you’re wrong.

If you were that kid, that I grew up with... You are loved. You are not alone. There are people out there who will fight for you.

There's still time to make things right and change your life. Your situation.

[Ethan Brausen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Review

My Opinion
The nonfiction novel, “A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me” by Jason Schmidt was, surprisingly, very compelling in my eyes. The reason I say I was surprised by being compelled was because the story to me was very dark and disturbing, but exciting at the same time as if it was written by Stephen King. It sure felt like that. But all in all, the book was very, very interesting and I would recommend it to anyone that loves cliff-hanging, captivating, and deep topic books.

Feeling
It feels like the author wanted me to feel this way. The main topic of the story and how the author brought the story the place, is the quote, “How do you find your moral center in a world that doesn't seems to have one?” I keep saying this over and over again, but that quote can bring so many topics into itself and its jaw-dropping. The author brings in so many disturbing insights about his life as a young boy that he has held in so long from the public.

Summary
So basically the story is about this young boy named Jason Schmidt, which is also the author, that explains his life as a child going through depression, homelessness, starvation, disease, and being emotionally and physically beaten. The whole story revolves around the question, “How do you find your moral center in a world that doesn't seem to have one?” and Jason is trying to keep his drug smoking, crime committing, sex seeking secrets from the “straights,” the people he called that had normal lives living in normal homes with a normal, happy family. He wanted to be one of them. But he couldn’t. “He envied them. But he also feared them,” the author writes. With all the secrets in his life with his father, Mark, the straights have a chance to figure out what's happening, they would report it to the cops and his life could fall apart…

Why Read?
If you like cliff hanging, captivating, deep topic, exciting, scary, anticipating, emotional, and gripping to the mind then you need to read this book because it has it all, but piece by piece it bring it into the story which is an amazing way for the author to lead you to reading more.

[Stacy Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an adult reading this book, I generally liked it. As an adult reading this book for a YA review group... not so much. This is a very heavy read, and the author does not sugar coat or gloss over any disturbing details. All aspects of this memoir are graphically descriptive: violence, child and animal abuse, sex, drugs, death. I kept waiting for the the point the author tells us he made it past his extremely troubled childhood and adolescence (clearly since he's published this book), but that didn't come until the very end; literally the last couple of pages.

Jason Schmidt's account of his life is nearly unbearable. You can't help but gasp in horror at his experiences. Some of the most shocking examples include: suffering from a staph infection while living in a tent by a creek with his father; a doctor believing he had worms because his backside was so itchy because his father never showed him how to wipe himself properly; having his father's adult friends graphically show him how to have heterosexual sex; and the author himself nearly and purposefully killing their family cat. And all of these atrocities happen BEFORE he reaches puberty. And then the hits just keep on coming. I stopped reading this memoir word for word once I read the part about Jason flinging his cat in the air to see if it would land on its feet -- spoiler; it didn't.

I would not recommend this title to anyone who is squeamish about sex, drugs, or nonchalant attitudes about animal cruelty. Even though I do like that the author "tells it like it is," this memoir is saturated with such mature content that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone younger than 17. And even at that, I would only recommend this title to a teen who may have had some of the same experiences (neglectful, abusive adults in their life; experienced drug use; wants to overcome equally "heavy" obstacles) and wants to read about someone with severe emotional trauma.

[Emilee Cole · Rating 2 out of 5]

A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me by Jason Schmidt is told in the perspective of a growing boy. Jason Schmidt is trying to get the readers to appreciate the things they have in life, because not everyone is fortunate enough to have a safe and stable home with parents who care for them. Jason has to learn how to overcome tough obstacles in his life involving drugs, crimes, poverty, abuse, secrets and social issues. In the book Jason explains his journey to adulthood and the struggles he had to face. Mark (Jason’s dad) was very careless about the decisions he made, which had an impact on his life and Jason’s future. Mark was not there for Jason when he needed him the most. This made it really hard for Jason to have a happy life. Lots of people wish for the things we take for granted. We need to be thankful for the things we have and be grateful for our families who love us dearly. I thought this book was slow paced, the author took too long to explain one thing, this is when I would become lost and confused. I was stuck on when the climax occurred since there was so much mixed information in the text. I felt like the author was rambling about the same things over and over again. Overall this book was okay, but I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone

[Emily Harrington]

A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me by Jason Schmidt was an awful book. This book was a memoir, and I don’t normally read these types of books, but I had to read it for school. This is the most boring book I have ever read. It had too many explanations and it never caught my attention for long periods of time.
The book was about Jason the main character and how he grew up in a different kind of life style in the 1970’s. His dad was usually high and never really cared for Jason. Jason kind of just goes through life slowly. Eventually he finds out his dad has aids and changes the story a little.
The writing style was too long and wordy and I didn’t like it. The perspective was almost every thought he had written down. It was like reading someone else’s whole life from 4 years old to 20 years old in one book. You can only image how many wordy pages there were.
Overall the book was too long and needed some more excitement. It was just a book I would have never read if I could go back in time. The explanations of his thoughts and everything he wrote was just like a million words unneeded. I just could skipped over all those pages none of them were important to the overall story. Lastly I suggest that you don’t read this book but choose a different memoir that has a better plot.

[Uma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished reading A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me about three weeks ago and boy was I glad that it was over. As Jason Schmidt recalls his first 20 years of living, the reader is left thinking about how awful his life was. The book leaves you with the message that “you can always change the life you were given” but also with the feeling of regret for reading the novel.
A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me is the life story of Jason Schmidt who talks a lot about his father Mark, who just happens to have AIDS. The memoir recounts every little detail in Jason’s life from the crime to the drugs to… a lot of other things…
I found this book to be an awful read. It just wasn’t something that I could relax with and read by the fireplace. The author’s foul language makes you cringe and so does the things that he has done. This book ranges from the 1970’s to the 1980’s, which makes it a horrible book for young adults to relate to. That, and no one else can imagine living the life of Jason Schmidt.
All in all, A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me is not a book I would read, think about, or recommend ever again. While it is quite humorous at times, the images this book leaves in a readers mind makes it a very distasteful novel. I will never pick up this book again.

[D.peabody · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is tragic. It is truly awful. Not because it is badly written but because it is a true story. It is a litany of the bad things that happened to Jason Schmidt as he grew up. As I read I was both horrified and fascinated. Fascinated at Jason's responses to the things that happened to him, at the way his mind worked and at the way that people reacted to him as well. I cannot tell you that I liked this book, I did not. As I say the subject matter was the cause. The story itself was very well constructed. The copious detail allowed me to see, hear and sometimes smell the environment that Jason described. Each event lead to the next. I was unable to tear myself away. I guess in the end I needed to know whether there was any redemption at all. Would I give this to a teen? No. Probably not. Maybe. Even in its true awfulness this is a story that needed to be told.

[Perla The IB Teen Book Blogger · Rating 5 out of 5]

My feelings are so tied into my personal experiences that I feel like talking about myself instead of the book. Gimme a minute and I'll be able to divorce myself from this naked, real, crazy, heartbreaking, fucked up book. Loved it, couldn't put it down.

Sometimes it felt impossible that anyone can have a life like Jason had. But my sheltered and limited upraising must have seemed the stuff of dreams for kids like Jason. I could not walk away from this book, it sucked me in completely. Hard to read in so many parts, wanting to jump into the pages and HELP this young man, and admittedly wanting to punch him in the face. It was all fantastically unreal reality told in a romantic and often unflinching way. Cannot wait to see what author Jason Schmidt come out with in his next endeavor.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been over a month and I'm still periodically thinking about this book. Jason's memoir tells what it was like growing up with a broke, gay dad who ended up being HIV+ in the 70s. It's amazing that the author was able to survive growing up this way and I think it's a testament to what we can endure. I think memoirs like this are important b/c they show teens who are growing up in fucked up situations that others have and that they've survived. I do wish it had provided a bit more background on where the author is now for that reason but still imporant without it.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schmidt is a great storyteller, I really enjoyed the way he writes. It's a deep, dark memoir that takes you from disbelief, to pity, to madness.
The author lived a hard life and you want nothing but the best for him. In the final chapter wrap up, I was happy he found his way, however it took a long time to get there.
I wanted to give up on the story halfway through, it just wasn't holding my attention like I had hoped, but I powered through.
The book has short quick chapters, which I like.
Jason I hope you have a whole drawer full of underwear and socks these days, keep pushing forward.

[Laure Porché · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very moving book. What I liked the most was the ability of the author to narrate everything without sentimentalism or judgment, but really as the child he was must have experienced it: as facts of life that have to be borne or dealt with. It makes it all the more striking for us, and yet we never feel pity for the hero. The writing binds our heart to his fate in a much more efficient way than if it was actually acknowledging in a dramatic way the hardship Jason endured. A must read.

[Karen Finneyfrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got to read an ARC for A List of Things and it took my breath away. The writing is great but I was even more surprised by how quickly I felt invested in the story. It is told through bursts of memory and all of these seem necessary to the larger story about growing up on the fringes. Whatever I was doing throughout my day, I just wanted to be reading this book.