content: This book is genuinely mean-spirited. The author is full of her "poor little gorgeous me" self-pity, which she amplifies with cardboard characterizations of her unliked relatives and tiresome references to old movies - not that she brings any original insights to these.The great sin of this novel is that the writer/narrator sets herself up as a diva of pain. It takes a while for you to realize that everyone in the book except this woman is in pain. She it seems is thin, rich, happily married and scornful. All those around her are fair fodder for her cruelty. And while I daresay the childhood she describes was awful, her total lack of interest in anyone other than herself serves as an effective dampening to your pity.I'm a very non-critical reader and I love almost all books. I hated this.