As sinister as this sounds, Laveau-Harvie tells the story with laugh-out-loud humor, and tremendous heart and insight. She has a poet’s gift for language, a playwright’s sense of drama and a stand-up comic’s talent for timing. But perhaps most remarkable is the generosity of spirit with which she writes about family trauma.

...a beautifully crafted, unblinkingly honest, often darkly funny lament for a loving family that never was. The author’s mother was a cruel and abusive narcissist, her father an enabler and Laveau-Harvie and her younger sister the casualties of their parents’ twisted way of inhabiting the world..

...[a] desolate story of dysfunction.

While Laveau-Harvie’s warmth and good humour came across, her book sounded like misery memoir. But no. Her agile humour – albeit of the gallows variety – transforms it into something quite of its own genre.

The narrative is an exploration of the complicated nature of family loyalties, as Laveau-Harvie attempts to reconcile with her sister and father after decades apart.

Despite growing up with a narcissistic mother who seems like every child’s worst nightmare (and ends up institutionalized), Laveau-Harvie herself seems self-centered. She lets her younger sister take on the responsibility of cleaning out their parents’ house, holding an estate sale, and then for caring for her father. This well-written saga should inspire reflections on the mysteries and traumas of family dynamics..

This riveting book explores family relationships—and the sometimes-devastating pain they cause—with a darkly humorous ferocity that is both remarkable and eloquent.

Laveau-Harvie maintains an emotional distance throughout, keeps actual horrors (her mother would occasionally starve her father) mostly out of view, and only refers to others by their family role of mother, father, sister, or uncle. With the hinted-at disownment and childhood traumas left untold, her explanation 'my past is... a blessing in disguise' leaves the reader wanting more. But that’s a minor flaw in an otherwise well-constructed, fluent memoir..