Not since 'Glass Castle' by Jeannette Walls has a memoir moved me so deeply (and if, after reading Coming Clean, you find yourself thinking 'what a great book!' you might want to read or listen to 'The Glass Castle: A Memoir') I digress. I truly hope that she is able to set appropriate boundaries and have a family of her own.Īmazingly difficult story with a 'happy ending.' I think the author did an amazing job of showing her parents as people who are struggling with a disorder, but that was not the only thing that defined them. Seeing an hour long television show is nothing like hearing about decades of the problem affecting a family. To think of children trying to survive in these conditions is just heartbreaking. Yes, knowing that there are millions of people in the US who live in houses at all stages of hoarding.

What three words best describe Kimberly Rae Miller’s voice?ĭid you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry? What was one of the most memorable moments of Coming Clean?ĭefinitely when the author tells a little white lie that turns into a massive problem for her parents.

Maybe she was just a little too close to the material to be a good choice to read it. However, the author was almost whispering through long portions of the book. I do love audio books and hearing the author read this book was definitely a plus. Would you consider the audio edition of Coming Clean to be better than the print version? At the end, I was pretty sure that Kim is as in the dark as most people who do not have the disorder are about why hoarders do the things that they do, but that she was lucky to come from the family she did nonetheless.

Instead, she gives us an insider's look at what it is like to grow up in a hoard and to love the parents who 'chose the stuff over me.' I was really surprised by the strength of the love binding Kim and her parents, bonds that all the stuff in the world couldn't break (though there were times.) I admit I was teary-eyed at several places in the narrative, which the author does very skillfully herself. Kimberly Rae Miller does not answer this question. I think I really want to know why someone would do this to themselves and their families. But whatever the reason, since awareness of the disorder (and I do think it's a mental disorder with physical symptoms) surfaced in mainstream culture, I've been fascinated. I have an interest in hoarding that I find hard to explain to myself, since I've never seen it in my own family (we're mainly drunkards) nor among my friends (more victims of bad taste rather than hoarders.) I suspect it may be a reflection of my own 'everything in its place, and I mean EVERYTHING, do I have to do everything around here myself? Were you raised by wild pigs?' mentality.

Coming clean by kimberly rae miller