Harper Perennial Wild Game: My Mother, Her Secret, and Me

As an avid reader, I am always looking for a novel that goes deeply into the layers of self-exploration and self-mastery. Adrienne has accomplished this and more. It is a brilliantly written book about the mother-daughter relationship and paradigm. I wish I had this book as a young woman to read. The story is layered with exploration, compassion, empathy, and triumph!!! I could NOT put this book down. It is both a memoir containing Adrienne's story, and it reads like a novel. Many times while reading, I was just in awe of both the story and her exquisite attention to me, the reader. Brilliant. Masterful. Run, don't walk, and buy this book!!

Fascinating memoir about a mother-daughter relationship.

This book was, in some ways, a very emotionally challenging book for me. It's basically a story about the author and her relationship with her self-centered and narcissistic mother. I, too had such a mother although my mother's issues were different. In some ways, this book was painful for me to read. However, I could hardly put it down and consider it to be one of the most truthful (and compassionate) memoirs I've ever read. (And I read a lot of memoirs.) The only thing that I found "wanting" was a bit more detail about how the author went from basically being a "literary nothing" to the successful co-owner/editor of a fiction magazine. This is a very unlikely thing to happen and the author gave it only one paragraph. Why? This omission is the only reason I've given this well-written and very moving memoir a four-star rather than a five-star.

Extraordinary book, exquisitely written covering being raised by a narcissistic woman.

Couldn't put it down. I read the paper copy but also listened on my way to and from work on audible. The narration is excellent and really added to the book. Plus, there's an interview with the author at the end of the audio version. Highly recommend.