My current kick is memoirs of difficult childhood and survival. I enjoyed this one overall, though I felt the early years were better written and more interesting than the later. ( )

Wow - talk about Glass Castle on steroids!! What a life story. I know that Cea has scars from all she went through, but once again, a memoir like this one shows how resilient kids can be. I will be reading her follow up book also! ( )

If you liked the Glass Castle, then you will enjoy Person's North of Normal. This is a well-written narrative memoir. The story is well paced, and moves forward with enough momentum to make it a page turner in places. The latter half of the book seems to move too fast, with little of the detail that filled the first half (which may be why she wrote a sequel!) All in all a recommended read about a difficult childhood and an overcoming spirit. ( )

No review because I don't know how to judge memoirs - I don't know what I like and what I don't like, but I DO know that out of every memoir I've read, I've loved every one. It's the 'watching the car crash' kind of thing. It's the mix of the happy moments and the dreadful moments, and how strangely they're all perceived by a kid.

Also, hey, Calgary! ( )

This is a fascinating memoir of a child born to a 15-year-old mother and raised in the wilderness with her pot-smoking, free love grandparents, mother and aunts; and with a schizophrenic uncle who shows up from time to time. As the book opens, Cea is living in a tipi; her mother is addicted to pot and four-year-old Cea stops to watch her aunt having sex with a camp visitor on her way to find wood. That opening is a typical scene from Cea's life. Her mother finds various boyfriends, including a petty thief, a child molester and a married man and brings Cea away from the wilderness home she knows to live in various towns and cities. Cea begins to crave a normal life, with roots and friends and school.

We watch Cea grow to a young teenager and secure a modelling job with an agency. She moves on her own to New York, and then to Europe to work and support herself. After two failed marriages, she is still looking for a normal life...this is her story, told honestly and in a very compelling manner. It explores issues of mental illness and resilience. ( )