This is now in my top 3 of favorite memoirs. Stephanie Foo’s voice, candor, and vulnerability shone through this book. I appreciated it as a human and as a doctor! I feel that everyone would benefit from the insight into how trauma can affect a life and the journey through healing/feeling that this book depicts.
Finished this book in a day - such a unique story and look at grief and humanity, and written in a way that was both complex and stunningly easy to read.
3.5* - I love a family saga but this one didn’t quite live up to expectations. An overall well written book but I did not feel a connection to the 2/3 characters as their level of insufferability for most of the was out of proportion with how fleshed out the background to it was. Overall not mad I read it but not sure I’d read it again.
3.5* - easy read and kept me interested, but had trouble with some of the character development and Yinka’s seemingly forced descent into poor decisions and unlikability in the middle. Overall would read a future book by this author but wouldn’t necessarily pick this one up again.
One of the most unique and captivating memoirs I’ve read in a while - I truly enjoyed the genre-bending elements of this book! Any child of an immigrant parent they don’t always understand will relate to the authors exploration of her own feeling towards her dad/their relationship/her own familial inheritance and the blunt yet emotional first person exploration of her dad’s inner world. 5/5, have already recommended it to many friends!
Such a captivating book! I love Mandel’s writing, pacing and characters, plus the non-linear timeline was A+.
5+!! I LOVED THIS BOOK. so witty and imaginative, funny and both lighthearted but also incredibly touching at times. The pacing was perfect as was the structure. About halfway through, I thought to myself “I wish I could read this for the first time again” and that is doubly true now that I’ve finished it.
5++ stars. This book defies explanations so I won’t give one. Excellent memoir that I would recommend very highly.
