Wonderfully Dysfunctional,
it must be genetic
by
Buffi Neal
Quote: "To be dysfunctional, you have to not function as a family. We function great as a family." ~ Randi pg. 92
Started: June 22, 2018
Finished: June 30, 2018
paperback~ 198 pages
From the cover:
Buffi's mother refused to wear a bra and her father refused to leave his first wife. Her brother slept in a kitchen cabinet, her sister was kidnapped by her grandmother, and the rest of the family had an uncontrollable urge to laugh at funerals. Buffi always knew her family was unusual, but she was lucky enough to have escaped that gene. Or was she? In a nursing home, seated next to her dying grandmother, Buffi looked around at her family and realized she fit right in; no bra, dirty sneakers and a new ex husband. Maybe it really is genetic- maybe she never had a chance. Buffi began a journey to find normal, but found herself instead.
My Review:
This book had me hooked from page one!
I absolutely loved it from cover to cover.
Buffi Neal is unashamedly honest and quirky. That is my kind of girl!
She now embraces her odd, unusual...dysfunctional family.
Aren't we all somewhat dysfunctional?
I think that is what drew me in, and why I loved it so much. Through out her life she was fighting,...running from what was, in her own mind, "not normal".
Through ups, downs, ins, outs, and life...she realizes she is, has become, exactly what she thought was dysfunctional. What wasn't the norm. And is now accepting of that, and of herself.
The book is written in clips/chapters of memories and events of her life. It has everything most families have.
Buffi Neal shows us that no matter what strange things or people you share DNA with, we all have the same concept that our family is the odd one, the dysfunctional one, the strange one.
Guess what? That makes us all the same. Just filled with different people and places.
Does that make dysfunctional...normal? Who know?
We all have the eccentric aunt, the criminal uncle, the hermit grandpa, the hoarding friend, the crazy cousin, the weird sister, the forgetful grandma, the annoying brother, the dangerous nephew...
They are all among each of us, maybe, somewhere?
Buffi has opened up Pandora's box into her own family and now embraces who she is. Who she shares her genes with. Even if we don't agree with them or desire to be like them. They are a part of who we are. Genetics are no joke.
I liked that each chapter starts with a quote. There are several great ones!
"While people may never change, the way you see them often does."
"Which is stronger: the physical will to live or the mental will to die?"
"People have both good and bad in them; you can choose to see either."
This book, for me, was one where I had a lot of those moments where I kept catching myself laughing out loud or thinking, Oh, I know where she's coming from! I love a book where I can connect with the author or the story. this definitely was one of those books! It will stick with me...probably when I am thinking of something...odd about my own family.
I hope you've enjoyed my review and that you will give this book a read, if you haven't.
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