planetdan.net books

Sunday, January 01, 2006 :::

Sickened by Julie Gregory

Rating:

Why I read it: because I read somewhere that Amy Sedaris was reading it.

What I think about it: Julie Gregory writes her memoirs about her upbringing in the hands of an abusive, mentally disturbed mother whose favorite pastime was trying to convince doctors that her daughter Julie required unnecessary open heart surgery. Julie's mother suffered from a strange form of Munchausen by Proxy syndrome (or does the "by Proxy" part of it mean that Julie was the one suffering? I dunno), but that is only the beginning of her problems. The book chronicles Julie's terrifying adolescence and eventual self-discovery in harrowing detail, and ends with a gratifying sense of urgency that gives it purpose. It's an impressive and entertaining read, even though it sounds weird to describe reading a story about two decades worth of steady systematic abuse and torture as being "entertaining". But regardless, I enjoyed reading it. It's sorta kinda like a less funny and slightly more disturbing counterpart to Augusten Burrough's Running with Scissors, but I might just be saying that because he praises the book on its cover.

Learn more about it.

::: posted by dan at 8:01 PM :: #