I’m a member of Amazon Prime, so I get a free Kindle book each month from the Kindle Owners Lending Library. Occasionally I’ve hit upon something good in this category (a well-written romance novel, a page-turning thriller) but for the most part, I’ve been disappointed with the selection. But not so in November. I clicked around in the “Memoir” section and found Coming Clean climbing the rankings:

Within a few pages, I was riveted by both the true-life character of Kim, and her harrowing story. Kim is the daughter of two hoarders, a father obsessed with collecting “paper” (anything from actual paper to candy wrappers and broken radios) and a mother who is addicted to online shopping, but doesn’t open or return her purchases. Kim’s childhood is a repeating pattern: a crescendo of increasing squalor and the literal taking over of possessions, followed by crises that wipe the slate clean and bring the family to a new living space, which then gradually fills with more garbage. In the worst years, Kim lived in a house that was so crammed with stuff that the front door could only open a crack; the attic door was blocked from the inside, keeping them unaware that there was a squatter living there; the floors were piles of garbage and the liquid sludge of rotted food; and rats scurried around her head as she slept on a tiny patch of bed. Kim writes of the challenges she faced trying to keep the truth about her living situation from everyone, and how she gradually let her closest friends in on the secret each time she needed help digging her parents out. Somehow, Kim thrived as an actress and a writer: she went on to attend a great college, make a living in New York City, and buy a clean, neatly-decorated apartment with her fiancé. As an adult, she is continually called upon to go home and take care of her parents, who are falling deeper and deeper into their addictions. She still has horrifying nightmares of rotting food, rats and bed bugs.

What I loved most about this book was that Kim doesn’t condemn her parents. She takes great pains to point out their personal strengths, and writes that she knows they love her in the best way they can. She asked their forgiveness for writing the book, and they gave their blessings, even their encouragement for the catharsis of releasing her experience to the world. It’s a beautifully-written memoir about a deeply disturbing topic, and many people, not just children of hoarders or “messy” people (of which I am not) will find it strikes a chord.

What great memoirs have you read?