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What Members Thought
As a dreamer, I found the dreams and symbolism throughout the book interesting. As I read, my heart broke for Alison. I have always recognized that I'm pretty lucky to have the mom Fate gave to me; this book made me even more grateful.
There is a theme with Alison and her mother both, where they talk about artistic "rivals." I have felt this way sometimes, but we have to remember that we can't compare ourselves to others or even ourselves. There is plenty of creativity for everyone. We all have ...more
There is a theme with Alison and her mother both, where they talk about artistic "rivals." I have felt this way sometimes, but we have to remember that we can't compare ourselves to others or even ourselves. There is plenty of creativity for everyone. We all have ...more
Didn't love this quite as much as Fun Home but still enjoyed it. Definitely related to various aspects, particularly some of the author's feelings about her mother. The book felt kind of like a therapy session -- sometimes the psychological jargon was a bit much but I found most of it enlightening and might check out Alice Miller's book (referenced throughout) as a result.
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Feels a bit meta-fictional (or meta-memoir, maybe?): she's writing about the process of writing about her mother. Fun Home was so well done, but it's probably a lot harder to write about a living parent when the relationship is still ongoing. Thoughtful, complex and worth reading, but I wish there had been more story and less therapy in this work.
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UGH. Maybe I have changed a lot in the years since I read Fun Home (which I loved), or maybe this book is infuriating, pretentious, and terrible. Wow, I really hated it. The "action" of the book, such that it was, took place as the author talked on the phone with her mother and took notes on her Mac, sat in therapy sessions, had arguments with girlfriends, and had flashbacks to her childhood. Oh, also she reads and quotes from psychoanalytical texts a lot. The icing on the cake was the Adrienne
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While this book really hooked me, I'm not sure I enjoyed it that much. At the same time, I feel it was very well done and impressive in how this essentially disjointed memoir was ultimately finely woven together. It's hard to rate a book like this...
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I really love her other books but this one drove me crazy!
A lot about psycho-analysis which, luckily, I find very interesting.
Compelling and beautifully executed, if a little heavy on the convoluted psychoanalytical jargon for me. That said, I'm already looking forward to a re-read someday.
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I'm going with three stars for this because I thought it was s technically well crafted book although it did not speak to me personally.
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May 01, 2012
Mandy
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May 01, 2012
Martha
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May 14, 2012
Wendy Seles Shelton
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Camille
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Marci
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Sep 02, 2014
Caitlin H
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Chessa
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Aug 26, 2018
Grace
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Apr 10, 2019
Elizabeth
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Aug 09, 2019
Roman Colombo
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Dec 18, 2021
Karianne
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Dec 24, 2021
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Aug 22, 2024
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