If I could rate this a 194848483 I would. This is my singular favorite book I read in 2023; it is sad, tragic, hopeful, magical; it speaks to the power inherent in truth telling and the ways listening is love. Mary Karr writes about my home region—East Texas—with a kind of fervor I thought only I felt. She gets it right in a visceral sort of way and never feels trite. I don’t think I’ve loved a book this much in a long time. My own mom’s illness and my own challenges with abuse are reflected and refracted through Kate’s experiences in these pages. If you want a book to cope with trauma and grief, to bite back with humor and but be transparent about real pain, then this is the book for you.