Kaylinn Duffy

This should’ve stayed between Lane and her therapist. Maybe I was wrong to expect an ounce of optimism but I certainly can’t subscribe to 100+ pages of self pitying rambling concluded with a small, hopeful (?) finale chapter desperately trying to to make up for the Tale of Despero(ation) that was the majority of the book. Is this supposed to be inspiring? Or just relatable to other people who have had to fight for everything good in their lives and seem to get it at times but still maintain a pessimistic view of anyone else that slightly wrongs them thereafter. It’s just sad with no happy ending. I feel like she doesn’t believe anyone in the world is a good person….. this is not true. I like to believe we would all like to be good. Sure, there’s a lot of sickos, but it’s not a very fun life to assume everyone has the chronic illness that those who have abused you in the past were so carelessly plagued with. It’s like negative manifestation. That’s what reading this book is like. The only saving grace is a slight pat on the back she attempts to give to others who experienced a similar upbringing to her. But I need to ask, Lane, have you considered patting yourself? You wrote and published a book and have an impressive list of other accomplishments listed on the back cover. This book is just sad. I don’t want to discount your suffering. Give yourself some credit and quit backtracking by reminding the reader every other sentence how bad you had/have it. I wish for you to find happiness in yourself like you clearly want to, instead of still attributing your success to getting recognized by those you grew up obsessed with. What if Debby Harry never heard you sing? I don’t mean to write this to be negative, writing a bad review because a book is negative is in itself wildly ironic and contradictory, I just wanted to see some optimism that wasn’t silenced by the author’s own doubt… therefore leading to the very outcome she always feared. I’m sorry.