Glen Gold is not only an excellent writer, he is very honest in describing his life as he grew up, with a very dysfunctional family, moving memoir, not to be missed. I would highly recommend.

Oh my, what a read and where to start?! There is a LOT to unpack here. I didn't know the author or his work before I read this memoir, but the journey into his at times bizarre childhood and the exploration of his dysfunctional relationship with his increasingly unstable mother was enthralling, shocking, heart breaking and brutally honest. It has moments of bleak humour juxtaposed with deeply disturbing incidents that as a mother moved me to tears. The writing is stunning, just amazing - I was utterly engaged and invested and that feeling didn't let up from the first page to the last. Gold writes from a distance, as it were, perfectly reflecting his emotional absence from much of what went on. This lack of emotion in the text does not mean there is no emotion in this book. Indeed, it created more space for the emotion brought by the reader. I was able to freely empathise with Gold and his mother and the 'missing' emotion hit home with even greater intensity. I was deeply impressed by this and I have great admiration for the author's ability to affect me in this way. As fascinating as Gold's relationship with his mother and his negotiation of that is, it was the mother that really interested me. Hers is such a tragic story, that of a big heart and a great spirit repeatedly trampled down by life. Just so sad.
Disturbing, fascinating and compelling, this is a book I would highly recommend for the quality of the writing and tje unbelievably affecting account alike.