I am a relatively slow reader. I read this in less than 24 hours because I didn’t want to put it down. Granted, memoirs are my favorite, but I have read several that were not good. To give you a frame of reference so you know whether my review should encourage you to read this or not, some of my favorite memoirs are: Heavy by Kiese Laymon, Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang, Rabbit by Patricia Williams, and Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas.

So this book is a page turner. The writing is so easy to follow and it feels like you’re talking to your friend at a coffee shop. Erika starts off the book in her teen years and then goes from there. At the beginning the writing does sound like the thoughts and words of a teenager so I really found myself feeling transported back to that youthful time. As Erika matures in the book so too does the voice and her prose. 

I enjoyed the structure of this too because it wasn’t just linear. She does sort of flash back to pretty big events in her youth but the timing of it and the way she writes those parts totally make sense and didn’t confuse me. Sometimes flashing back and forth does not work for my brain but I think it was perfectly executed in this memoir. Right when you’re asking yourself well why did that happen or what does she mean by that, Erika gives you that history. 

There was a lot I identified with in this book partly because she and I are close in age and because I grew up in LA and most of the book takes place there. However, one major part the struck a chord with me was when she talks about being vulnerable and the walls we put up to protect our hearts. Man do I get that. I will always push people away so they can’t abandon me first.

This book is utterly raw and honest but not in a cringey or melodramatic way. It gives the reader permission to be a messy multifaceted human being. 

For me it encourages self reflection/introspection and makes me want to LIVE more.

Just a tremendous memoir.