Fascinating, poignant tale of a television entertainment anchor's nomadic childhood in Arizona and West Virginia with her eccentric, neglectful family, an alcoholic father and artistic mother. She tells her story at some remove without accusations which makes it much better reading than a "poor me" tale and there is plenty of suspense as she looks back from a Park Avenue apartment to the poor shacks of her youth. ( )

In a hurry, I selected this book based solely on the title and book cover, and a second book, with the plan to decide later which to listen to, and knowing I probably couldn't finish both in three weeks. Later, I read the summary of what this was about, and seeing, "dysfunctional", synonymous in my mind with 'bickering', suspected I wouldn't like it. So I listened to the other.
I finished the other before the end of the three weeks, so decided to listen to a little of this. I found the reading stiff and guessed it was read by the author. (And when I was no longer driving, confirmed with a quick look at the details provided by Overdrive, that it was.) I was intrigued enough, however, with the opening scenario to give the author/reader a break and listen a bit longer. As I listened, I became so caught up in the story that my distaste for the narration dwindled, until by the end of it, I was no longer convinced that a professional narrator would really have been better. Dysfunctional, in this case, doesn't actually mean that there's undo bickering. I can't imagine there wasn't, but Jeanette doesn't waste a lot of time on it in her captivating, interesting and moving autobiography. ( )

I actually enjoyed this book, even though I rarely like road-trippy books or autobigraphies. It was interesting, heartfelt, and had more than enough action to keep my interest all the way through, except maybe at the end when the author sort of fast forwards through many years at a time. Worth reading, but be prepared for something a little sad/depressing-thought provoking. ( )

Shiela, Ottar, Alison and Alistar Mowat 17.03.2011

A memoir of a family raised in extreme poverty and the children achieve a decent life for themselves.