Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Here's the thing about memoirs. Sometimes you read them and you catch yourself saying, "Well, why would the author have the character do that?" Or, "What was the point of the protagonist doing this?" Then you remember it's a memoir--based on real life--and that real life doesn't always conform to the rules of fiction writing. So, while I'd like to complain about the meaninglessness of having the main character form a really close bond with Natalie, only to throw it away in three pages because of an arguably tough situation right at the end, I can't. Because, as far as I know, the author is simply telling us what happened, and it doesn't necessarily have to have any meaning. I think I went into this book expecting "The Royal Tennenbaums." This is because the back of the book (which, to my high annoyance, has no synopsis) has multiple quotes from reviewers calling the book "hilarious" or "riotously funny" or "hysterical." That, plus the previews of the movie, make it seem as though the story is going to be fun, quirky ... uhhh ... funny. Maybe a little dark, as Royal was, but not dreadful. Here are things I simply cannot find funny: Hateful, selfish parents Attempted murder of one spouse on the other Verbal abuse Parents who disown their children Child molestation Selling children And, uh, that's pretty much what this whole book is about. Its very core is about a mother who goes bananas and just says hateful things to her son, before completely abandoning him. The father isn't present at all. The child is left to fend for himself at a psycho psychiatrists house, along with other kids, from the age of 12 or 13, depending on when you judge the true neglect begins. No one at his school, none of the neighbors, NO ONE ever saw these kids and thought, "Gee, maybe something should be done for these kids?" I don't find that funny, I find it incredibly sad. And despite the protagonist's "maturity," it is RAPE when a 33-year-old man has sex with a 13-year-old. Just like it's RAPE when a 40-year-old ADOPTS an 11-year-old so he can have sex with her undeterred. I know why people find this book charming. The author does have a skill for finding the humor in some awful situations. Some of the dialogue is downright witty. And, any reader can look at the book and say, "Well, his childhood couldn't have been all that bad. I mean, look how successful he's turned out to be." Sure, true. And honestly, I might not have minded this book so much had someone ever said to me, "It's very disturbing and sad, but the author has a gift for finding some light in the darkness" I might have gone into reading the book with the right mindest and really liked it. But I was expecting funny and what I read seemed to me anything but.