The Monster That Ate My Mommy by Jessica Aiken-Hall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This memoir is definitely not for the faint of heart, it is a story of overcoming a childhood full of haunting memories and harrowing experiences, all viewed through a lens of why not being loved is so damaging and how one child worked through it all to become the woman she is today. The book starts with a quote which also became the title, “I’m not your mommy, I’m the monster who ate your mommy.” As a three year old, most children are inquisitive and start asking questions, but this author’s mother didn’t want to answer them, so she distracted her daughter in other ways she could think of, to the point where the author started to believe that the chaos she existed in was the normality and that everyone else was odd in the way they lived. From the start, her life was one lacking in parental love, but in her grandmother, she found the love she wanted, however, this would not keep the experiences of her childhood and the secrets she had to keep because of it away.

As the author grew up, she lived with her mother and brother, but from a young age, tragedy was never far away and each one detached her further from the love she so desperately wanted and as family moved in and out of her life, trauma of all kinds just kept building up and the feelings of depression and despair kept appearing, especially when told that her mother didn’t love her and that nobody else would either. As a child, she blamed it all on bad luck which she had somehow brought upon herself, however, as she got older, the trauma changed and morphed into something horrific which was used against her in such a manipulative way that no matter how hard she chased, her mother just became more distant, so she searched for love in other places which weren’t healthy or at times, appropriate. The only constants in her life were her grandmother and her friends with whom she found an escape from the life she led and those around her, who supported her, even when she fell back into unhealthy ways of thinking and helped her to face things as an adult that had happened to her as a child.

This is a story of overcoming hardship and trauma to become someone more and learn how to live and how to love and be loved which draws you in and makes you see life in a different light, as well as gain an insight into the lives of those around you and help you learn how to be able to offer your support to people in a similar situation. in an appropriate way.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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