An (allegedly inaccurate) memoir about the author's broken childhood.The advantage of reading hyped-up books 15 years after they come out is that the hype is gone - usually turned into nasty (envy-fed?) criticism. I was warned that the author seems to have made up a lot of things. It didn't bother me particularly: I am not charmed by 'look-how-messed-up-I-am' narratives, but what brought the book to life where the disturbing details, and the well-rounded, oh-so-disturbing characters. If he made either of those up, hats off to him.