When a squad of federal agents burst through her parents' front door, Victoria Fedden felt ill-prepared to meet them: she was weeks away from her due date and her t-shirt wasn't long enough to hide her maternity undies. As for the question of how to raise a child when you've just discovered that your mother and stepfather have allegedly masterminded a pump-and-dump scheme? She was pretty sure that wasn't covered in What to Expect When You're Expecting and she really hoped that Bradford Cohen, the noted criminal defence attorney who famously waived his exemption on The Apprentice, would prove them innocent. A real-life Arrested Development that could only unfold in Southern Florida, This Is Not My Beautiful Life is a hilariously funny and unexpectedly moving memoir of a just-functional family, and the story of how Victoria lost her parents to prison and nearly lost her mind. Fortunately, she discovered that sanity sometimes lurks in the most unexpected places - even the pre-school drop-off line.
This book is touted as a hilarious, wacky story, but mostly I found it sad. Frankly, Victoria is surrounded by terrible people, with maybe the exception of her sister. And I don't think they're terrible because they are committing crimes, they are terrible all on their own. The best parts of the book are when she is talking about motherhood and her daughter, and my heart hurt as she suffered through post-partum depression with no help or realization that she could get help. The book does deliver on "wackiness", but you really should only read it if you can handle reading about a bunch of narcissists without wanting to throw things.
