Cakewalk

I really liked this memoir, even though I didn’t think it would be amazing.  It sounded like a typical memoir of a childhood with two crazy, rotten parents, but it turned out to be very good.  Too often when you read a memoir like this you feel that the author is trying to top everyone else’s horror stories by telling you how awful her parents were.  But I didn’t feel like that at all, even though the author’s parents were pretty awful.  There’s a lot of sadness in this book, but a lot of forgiveness, and people trying to change, and really changing. I did think the story about the grandfather burning the Romanov jewels a bit much to swallow, and I was desperate for a savory recipe by the end of the book, but those are minor things.