The End of the World as We Know It - Scenes from a Life

This book is and an easy read. Following Mr. Goolrick's journey it is hard to understand how someone can heal from the horrific trials of a wounded childhood; yet bringing the secrets out of their hiding places begins the process of healing. Hopefully, many other survivors of 'painful parenting' will find this book and rip their own secrets wide open.

A remarkable painful book. Even in the humor there's a sense of dread and despair shadowing events, and as the pages go on, Goolrick takes us where we do not want to go. There is nothing cheap in this book, the pain is drenched in Goolrick's blood. Beautifully elegant, moving into poetry and back to a final plea that makes vivid his need to share this, and ours to listen.

I give this book 5 stars! Beautifully written, the author speaks from his heart! He gives grace and hope to those who have been traumatized by an abusive parent or significant adult in their life. I appreciated Goolrick's honesty in telling his story; while at times I found myself weeping, I would later catch myself laughing! The humor mixed with reality is brilliant.

I am sure his memoir is making a difference in many lives! For sure he has given a voice to all the silent victims who's stories have never been told. I , for one, am glad he wrote it!

I would like to thank the author for writing such a brave memoir. While this is a deeply personal story, it has broader implications. As a society we are experiencing a global loss of innocence - people act out of fear and feel deprived of love and acceptance the world over. Abuse takes many forms and we are reminded to take care of each other.

"All life is sacred, all life is one, no one has a right to question the sacredness of another, no one has a right to commit violence against another." Shree Purchit Swami

Beautifully written, very sad story of a life marred by narcissism, dysfunction and alcoholism. Not what you'd call "light reading," but well worth the melancholy trip if you love it when the music of words rings true.

aptly proclaims Goolrick's alcoholic mother in this edgy memoir of a life of innocence interrupted. One wonders at the reasoning behind the telling of this despairing tale of alcoholism, depression, cutting, and inability to connect with others in deep and meaningful ways. Goolrick claims that it is to prevent the same thing from happening to another, yet really bad guys seem unlikely to transform into good guys as a result of reading a book. That being said, the guy can write: a brutally honest story about an ordinary young life gone extraordinarily wrong. Similarly-themed: A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, and Driving with Dead People by Monica Holloway, which should be chosen in favor of the poorly-written Broken by William Cope Moyers and Katherine Ketcham.

This is a wonderfully constructed story of a harrowing Southern childhood. Mr. Goolrick builds his story sentence by elegant sentence, and even in the face of the most horrible childhood events manages remarkable compassion toward his parents and the way they've ruined his life. The book is filled with warmth and humor as well, and many keen-eyed observations of a well-bred American family gone wildy wrong. Moving and inspiring, you'll think about this book after you turn the last page.

This memoir is beautifully written, although disjointed at times. Amazing that this is Robert Goolick's first published book. I read it after I read "A Reliable Wife" - his first published novel - which I think is Pulitzer worthy.

Coming from a family in which nothing was talked about only increases the bravery of the revelations from the author in this memoir. I applaud him and hope with him that perhaps the knowledge of the devestating effects of childhood sexual abuse will stop at least one more trauma.

I chose to read this after reading A Reliable Wife which I had found to be stunning with its imagery. This was a disappointment in that the imagery that had made Wife so amazing was overdone here and made the book feel like ramblings rather than a story. The story buried in the words was a good one. But I do feel as though it got lost as I had some trouble staying focused.

Beautifully written but excruciating to read! This first written, though second published work of the author informs his subsequent novels and so reminds me of what I would call the southern emotional landscape of Flannery Oo'Connell

A stunning and careful analysis of a family by one of it's own. At first glance funny and typical , the reader is charmed by the all too familiar lifestyle of the 1950's . Behind the facade of this lovely home however, his dysfunctional family takes its toll . A brave and tragic young man indeed.

More proof that the two most egregiously conflated words in the English language today are "homosexual" and "gay". Assuming that this is an autobiographical memoir and not something made up to titillate sadists, etc., it sure sounds like this guy not only comes from a line of people who went out of their way to make themselves and their immediate family miserable but did everything he could to follow in their footsteps. Did he outsmart fate by not fathering his own children?

This book took me FOREVER to finish. The whole story was pointless until the last chapter when the author finally reveals why he was so disfunctional. Even then I was less than interested in the storyline. I'm glad the author was able to move on by telling his story, however, I guess it wasn't a winner for me.