Unforgettable

This is a great book about family, abuse, and mental health. It is a dark, dark, dark comedy. I think the subtitle (no doubt chosen by the publisher and not the author) makes the book seem like it is going to be more about hockey and drug raids than it is. I'm guessing they wanted a subtitle that they thought might sell more copies. I hope it works because this is the kind of fantastic memoir that is hard to summarize in such a way that makes it sound as enjoyable as it was. Like if I were to describe the book, I would call it a dark memoir about how mental illness is impacted by culture and vice versa. That doesn't sound like something you would want to read, but actually it is! This book is definitely up there in the Top 10 best memoirs I've read, along with Angela's Ashes, The Glass Castle, Running with Scissors, and Lucky. It is an unforgettable book about a girl who grew up without any of the emotional and physical kindnesses that we assume children will receive from their parents, but instead with physical and verbal abuse and emotional and intellectual neglect, and yet the author figures out—surely, but very slowly—how to become a person.

9 people found this helpful

My two cents

Although the subject is about mental disease (a serious subject...), I found this audiobook quite entertaining.

I do not know if this is a comedy, but there are a lot of funny anecdotes in her story. Some people might find her family and the author to be insensitive, but everything gets explained better as the story carries on. It also give a scope about Vancouver.

I particularly liked the dad. He was so crude and it made me laugh. The narrator is very good too particularly her accents!

It is a good book for those that like dark humour... like me!

7 people found this helpful

It should have been a short story

The narration was great. But the story became excruciating repetitive. The characters did not evolve. It was the same story told over and over again. The identities of the characters were reduced to one single story: their mental illness and nothing else. I got through the book – with several long breaks in between.

3 people found this helpful

A story which manages to be both comical and emotionally deep at the same time

I loved this story, living in Vancouver and growing up in a family that struggles with mental illness, the story is deeply relatable. Even the parts I didn’t directly relate to were relatable on a human level.
Despite the story being outlandish at times, it feels so real in ways that I have to think it was a true story.
The book does contain regular swearing so that would be a bit of a downside if you didn’t like that.
The person reading is mostly fantastic but a bit too loud and exaggerated during certain parts, not super earbud friendly.
Overall would 100% recommend this story.

2 people found this helpful

Not quite sure how this made it to Canada Reads.

I have listened to at least 30 books on Audile this year. I finished this out of sheer determination and hopeful that it would get better. Way too much swearing, some necessary perhaps, but not to this degree.
I found the voice funny at times, but wearing and shrill.
Was not worth my time.

2 people found this helpful

lifelong therapeutic

I came from Asian parents and have had similar but not as intense scars from my struggling parents. I appreciate Ms. Wong's honest and courageous stories to help heal my wounds too.

2 people found this helpful

Stranger than fiction!

Listening to this book was like observing a fiery car crash: horrifying yet deeply fascinating, and most importantly, impossible to look away. The author has a real talent for storytelling and wow, what a story to tell. Thank god for the humorous and self-deprecating tone, because this tale of mental illness and family dysfunction would be too bleak without it. I'm a 3rd generation Chinese-Canadian living in Vancouver (where the story takes place) so I was especially interested in this story; Lindsay Wong did not disappoint! (The narrator definitely ups the entertainment factor with her various character portrayals.)

1 person found this helpful

Characters and caricatures

A character-driven story without much of a plot or purpose aside from demonstrating the effects of misinterpreting or not recognizing the signs of mental illness, and allowing it to go unchecked for too long. Some parts are entertaining, but by the time you realize the story hasn’t really begun and it’s not really going anywhere, it’s too late. If you like character development and strange anecdotes, this is for you. But if you like a good storyline, it’s a hard no. The narrator is excellent.

1 person found this helpful

Loved it.

This was such a sad yet somehow funny story about mental illness and family dysfunction. Characters were really well developed. Narration was excellent. It was a good follow up to Tara Westover's book Educated which touches on similar themes.

1 person found this helpful

mean spirited

So many judgements about people based on appearance, so much name calling and examples of poor parenting made me dislike the characters and depressed me. Could not make it through the second chapter.