I had a heard time putting this book down while reading. It was so interesting how she wold deal with the abuse and how she got away. It was a good think she had music.This is a must read. ( )

Another top favorite genre of mine is the memoir. I’m absolutely fascinated by the lives and inner workings of others, particularly those who survived troubled upbringings and found the courage to triumph. Having a difficult childhood myself, I can oftentimes relate very well to the protagonist. ⁣
So it goes without saying that as horrible as the subject matter was, “The Glass Castle” is one of my favorite memoirs. This book makes that sound like a memoir from someone in the Brady Bunch. Maude is repeatedly subjected to physical, emotional, psychological, sexual and mental abuse since she is very young, at the hands of her parents and a family friend. There were descriptions of acts that were often too painful to read, as I could feel the wounds inflicted upon Maude. There are also acts of animal abuse involving Maude’s pets that were hard to forget, and had me hugging my fur babies extra tight. ⁣
Throughout it all Maude finds solace in books and music, and dares to dream of escaping her prison, clinging to the hope that she will one day have a normal life. ⁣
This wasn’t an easy read, and I can see how many of the acts could be triggering for readers. I myself could relate to a few situations that Maude experienced, and was reminded of what I went through and how hard I fought, just like Maude ( )

This was suggested as a similar read to Educated. While the childhood portions are similar this book had little to no exploration of how that childhood affected the rest of her life like Educated did. At least a two hankie read. ( )

THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD: A MEMOIR is a powerful true story I choose to see as a triumph of the human spirit.

Maude's father wanted a superhuman child and set out with single minded purpose to achieve his goal. He found a young girl and adopted her. When she was old enough he married and impregnated her. When his daughter was born her training began.

I'm not going to go into everything Maude went through, because it's grim. Extremely grim. Also, a lot of what she went through might not seem believable at first. As I was reading though, I realized that Maude's story is altogether too possible. What a scary and depressing thought: to have every aspect of your life controlled. To have to hold a chamber pot for your father. To have any family pets used as objects to control you. The only good things in Maude's life were books and music-and even those were controlled by her father.

To be clear this book never descended into the area of torture porn. Everything is presented in a rather detached way, whereas you are just an observer. The things that happened were indeed horrific, but you never felt like you were a part of them. Instead, your heart just ached that these things ever happened.

An interesting component to this story was the pop psychology theories the father would come up with and how he used them to devise mind controlling techniques. Seriously, I think this guy could have developed a cult of his own if he wasn't so lazy and stupid. His family were actual blood relations and unlike Manson's family could never have left even if they tried. If you can imagine what Manson could have done to a daughter, you have a good idea of what Maude's dad did to her.

I can't get into what happened to Maude in the end, because that would ruin everything. However, she did survive to write this book so that should tell you something.

Highly recommended, especially for those interested in the psychology of brainwashing.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*

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Incredible story. It's hard to believe that there are people in this world who can abuse children, but the resiliency of some people is inspiring and moving. I do wish there would have been more about her own growth after escaping from her childhood home/prison. However, I do appreciate that it ends in a way that connects the reader to the author's current mindset. ( )