Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls: A Memoir

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. It isn't exactly a page turner, and there were times it was boring and pointless-feeling. I was on the edge of giving up on it. However, the "love" part of my relationship came around the middle and then very sharply at the end of the story. Everything comes together in a way that is unusual. I had tears in my eyes and felt a sense of happiness and also wanting more by the last page. This book is for someone who appreciates deep and honest writing and is willing to stick it out through some very tough and what feels like jumbled stories to get through. By the end, it felt worth it. Overall, it is a beautiful, painful story. What comes across the most is the deep, unconditional love Madden has for her parents regardless of the trauma they caused her.

There's nothing quite like this book. T Kira Madden's words move with such urgency, humor, curiosity, and love. She guides the reader with presence and sensitivity through the many fascinating—sometimes devastating, sometimes beautiful; often both—twists and turns of her life. She is remarkably attentive to the color of her memories as she experienced them, down to shifts and changes in her vibrant, life-long infatuation with language. The book is a journay into and through a whole host of overlapping worlds, the many different worlds through which Madden moved in her youth and into adulthood. It's a genuinely frightening, painful journey sometimes; often I laughed out loud; I was always riveted. (There are some real characters in this book, including the city of Boca Raton, FL.) I'm also reminded what friendship can be, what hope is good for, how fiercely a mother can love her daughter, how essential it is to regard your own younger self with respect and generosity and courage. I'm looking forward to revisiting this book and better acquainting myself with its wisdom.

I read this book in about three days. It reminds me of a very R-rated House on Mango Street. Beautifully crafted, lyrical prose. There were also moments when I found it so disturbing I almost wanted to put it down. I kept wishing for something hopeful and redemptive. I do feel it had some of those moments towards the end. I also appreciated that Madden was able to depict her parents with empathy while still doing justice to the horror and trauma she must have experienced as a child. I appreciated her honesty and lyricism most of all. If you can handle the gnarly parts, this is a compelling read. It will stick with me. I can’t stop thinking about it.

she brought with me into her childhood years in the first half of the book. i got to live the childhood i never had with her writing. my childhood was much different and hers were more exciting. but totally related to her growing up as an only child with an absent father as well. i love that she says outloud what she's really thinking during those years not holding anything back.the second half of the book started bringing into more of the family history and the lives of her mom dad and other members in her life. the interest into their origin and family history leads to more exciting things that starts to come out.what a life she's been through and shows so much toughness. everyone in the family shows it. the strength and endurance we all have when we go through whatever life throws at us.

I wanted so much to like this book. I listened to the writer on the Family Secrets podcast and she was articulate and her story moved me. The book, however, was not easy to follow. It reads like the narrator is describing a dream of a nightmare during a hallucination. It’s all over the place and has no flow. This is a good story that needs to be told and I think the authors struggle during her childhood is a disturbingly narrative. I wish I could like it more, but the choppy sequencing of the book is not my thing.

T Kira Madden's debut memoir is gritty, honest, vulnerable, and life changing. I am not being hyperbolic when I say reading this book will change your life. Each essay is filled with sentences that will get inside your head and your heart – I was lucky enough to read a review copy of this book back in November and I still find myself going back to certain lines over and over, months later. This book is truly for everyone – for kids who grew up surrounded by both love and addiction, for queer girls, for Floridians, for misfits, for outcasts, for artists, for anyone who has ever loved an addict, for anyone who has ever tried to figure out where they belong in this wild world...T Kira's words will brighten your life. I devoured this book – I think you will, too.

Ms. Madden's journey was so seemingly hopeless, yet so wonderfully gripping. Her story really grabbed hold of me and didn't loosen its grip until she "found herself". The ups and downs in her life were enough to fill another book. I admire her strength to survive such a roller coaster life. Anyone struggling with their identity might find this book inspirational.

Captivating and poignant, Ms. Madden weaves together her life’s stories with stunning nuance. She paints a picture of privilege and despair, abundance and neglect, all set against a 2000s South Florida backdrop that becomes yet another richly shaded character in Ms. Madden’s unique tribe. This book touches on mixed race and queer identity with honesty and wit. Once you find footing in this world, you don’t want to leave. You’re strapped in till the brilliant and twisted ending, all the while hoping for one more page, one more sentence, just a bit more. You leave feeling part of the tribe, hopeful its leader finds her way.

I loved this book from beginning to end. It was beautiful, even in its painful moments. I feel sad that I’ve finished it.