CW for review: mention of rape and sexual assault

This book is a very difficult book to listen to. Lisbeth is a Danish economist and activist who was previously on the council for children's welfare and her adult life has been spent working to improve conditions for children, especially marginalized children. Her motivation for her career path was her very traumatic childhood that was spent in between orphanages and " foster " homes and her emotionally abusive and neglectful mother and her multiple physically and sexual abusive partners.

This book is told from Lisbeth's point of view as a child growing up to 18 and it's one of those things where it's exceptionally hard to listen to. I mean we have what we perceive as the voice of a child explain sexual assault in the way that a child understands sexual assault. We listen as 3-year-old Lisbeth doesn't understand why her mom doesn't want her and meeting a new stepfather and trying to follow all of his rules and not understanding why her brothers are acting out etc. We listen as child aged Lisbeth is sexually assaulted for the first time and then the second time and then the third time. We listen as teenage Lisbeth is sexually assaulted for another time. We listen as she is a teenager begging people to listen to her and all they see is her anger. We listen as she is continuously put back into the hands of people that are harming her despite telling others that she doesn't want to be there in both her words and actions. We listen as adults in her life let her down over and over and over again. We listen as she finally breaks down and shares some of the details about her assaults and as she finds a little bit of freedom in therapy. We listen as she starts what is sure to be a lifelong journey in working through decades of trauma.

The very itty bitty beginning of this book and the last I don't know 10% are narrated from Lisbeth as an adult where she kind of chronicles why she is writing from this perspective and why she's writing the book and then at the end she chronicles was happened in her life since then and it's a very powerful memoir.

This is my oldest NetGalley arc and I kind of wish that I'd read it before but I'm not super mad about it because I was able to listen to the audiobook which for me is a little bit more powerful. This audiobook is available for free if you have both Kindle unlimited and audible and so I was able to listen. This is a translated work that was originally published in Danish and then republished in English.

Obviously there are a lot of content warnings and trigger warnings for this specifically regarding rape and sexual assault, but if you are able to, I would definitely recommend this.

CW for book: rape, sexual assault of a child and teenager, use of alcohol and drugs, physical assault on multiple people, sex, abandonment, neglect, emotional abuse, manipulation, gaslighting

Powerful, magnificently sad, and a quick kick to the gut reminds you that this is not fiction. It's a memoir, it really truly happened to a little girl.

I often find myself struggling to review these kinds of books because I don't want to appear to pass judgement, or approve/disapprove someone's actual experiences and memories. Therefore I'm only making comments on the technicals - writing style/sentence structure/grammar. All of which was fine, overall, if not a bit disjointed in some places.. this could be due to the translation not being 100% clean, or it could just be a survivor piecing together fragments of life and memories.

4 stars. Thanks netgalley for giving me the pdf so that I can share my thoughts and opinions with y'all 🧡

A frank and harrowing detailed portrayal of a very bad childhood full of neglect and sexual assault. This cannot have been easy to write, to put into words such betrayal and I deeply respect this. So it is difficult to admit that the style was hard to get past-a sort of unevenness which is surely a relic of either translation or just true to a survivor's way of piecing together a narrative from fragments difficult to confront. This is not a book to love but it is a very real book with aching behind it.

TW: abuse, neglect, childhood & adolescent sexual assault, rape


This was a really interesting memoir about Lisbeth's life and how it has shaped her into the person she is today. She discusses what has happened to her in a matter of fact way and explains how each thing shaped her behaviour.


She explains anger as a feeling as well as a behaviour. She doesn't use her trauma as an "excuse" but as an insight into how other people not knowing or understanding can change their perception about what she is like.


It is a non-judgemental account with not a lot of emotion. It seems factual, almost clinical and I think that this is deliberate to ensure that you listen to her story.

I find it hard to review memoirs because it feels as though I am passing judgement on the author's life choices. In this case, however, I have nothing but praise for Andersen, who has overcome more than any child should, to emerge as a strong advocate for others. Andersen's parents failed her, the system failed her, so much went wrong that this is at times difficult to read. Know, however, that she is incredibly resilient and admirable. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Hard but important.

Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book.

This book was hard to get through at times, because of everything the author has experienced through her short life. The book is very open and descriptive about her story, which in some ways also makes her story more powerful in my opinion. It's amazing how children who go through so much end up surviving and living a "normal" life.
Trigger warnings: Abuse, sexual abuse, rape, alcohol use, incest

I received an ARC of Anger is my Middle Name by Lisbeth Zornig Andersen translated by Mark Mussari. This is Lisbeth's memoir of growing up in Denmark in a very dysfunctional household, dealing with neglect, sexual abuse, and physical violence. Her story was difficult to read for two reasons, the first because the content was hard to stomach. The people in her life who were suppose to protect her were the ones either putting her in harm's way or directly hurting her. Immediately, I bonded with her and felt protective of her. The other reason this book was difficult to read was the uneven narrative structure. I'm not sure if it was a translation issue but several times I would need to reread sections to try to understand what I had read. Additionally she would bring up people she had only briefly mentioned earlier without reminding the reader who they were, which I found confusing. Lastly, I found as a reader not familiar with Danish institutions, I needed a little more information. She tells us she is put in an orphanage. (Both of her parents are alive but they are neglectful so this seems the best option.) Later she mentions she is embarrassed at the orphanage because they are hosting Parent's Day and all the parents show up except hers. I need more understanding as to how Danish orphanages work. Why are all the parents showing up? Why are they putting their children in the orphanages if they are capable of showing up? I need background information. This is just one tangent but there were a few times I was confused. Her story is dark. It reminded me thematically to The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls or Educated by Tara Westover but overall the writing was a bit clunky. I gave it 3 stars.



This book will be published March 1, 2020. Thanks to Netgalley for my ARC

This book was really hard to put down. The writing style was clear, direct and unfiltered. The story of how Lisbeth Zornig Andersen endured, survived and eventually triumphed over the abuse she endured as a child is brutally honest. It was difficult to read at times because of the subject matter, I felt so helpless as her story is unveiled that i found myself wanting to exact justice and revenge for what she was experiencing. The beauty of this book is in how Lisbeth was able to overcome the impossible and not become just another statistic. She broke the cycle and was able to parent her own children the way it should be, with love, security and a sense of well being.
Lisbeth's story brings to light to taboo of child abuse, incest and sexual assault, and failures of society to protect the innocent. While she details the failures of the adults in her life, she also tells of the adults who did step in and the difference they made in her life when they did step in. This was a deeply moving story that brought me to tears.

I honestly don't even feel right about writing a review regarding something that was so incredibly heartbreaking. This memoir will rip your heart out and stomp on it. I can't even begin to put into words how devastating this read was. Thank you Lisbeth for being brave and sharing your story with us. I can't not even begin to fathom what you went through.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazoncrossing for my review copy.

Anger Is My Middle Name is a heart-wrenching, disturbing, and raw memoir about a girl who has experienced so much, and has shown immense bravery and courage to share her story with the world. She does this to educate others; to encourage people to speak up; to help people recognize the signs of someone else who may be going through it and may not be able to speak up themselves. Abuse is a horrible act that haunts victims in so many ways, and though it is so hard to read about, it is also so important for people to be aware of, be familiar with, or even be able to relate to and know that there are others out there experiencing the same thing and who may now know the signs they should be aware of and be able to reach out for help. Rating memoirs has always been something I don’t really agree with or like doing, but, in this case, it was easy to do. I think the author did a fantastic job depicting her vivid and emotional past with us, using a writing style that really captured the pain and history well.

What a fantastic, heart wrenching book. It hurt me so much reading about what the author went through during her childhood. I think this book did a great job of showing some of the errors in orphanages and what makes a decent household, even for children in the foster system. Brilliant.

I can’t imagine what Lisbeth Andersen went through growing up. She has taken the time to write this story of her growing up in an extremely dysfunctional home in Denmark.

Andersen focuses on her as a little girl to the age of eighteen. Her parents were divorced early on. She lived with her alcoholic mother and step-father. She was sexually abused by different people, which makes me sick. She was put into foster homes, and even taken away from good families.

What Andersen managed to survive is simply amazing. I know that this had to be hard book to write. My one criticism is that at times I felt like she just skimmed the surface. I wanted to understand more. However, this is her story and she must tell it the way she needs or wants to.

There are a lot of trigger warnings, as mentioned above, so this book may not be suitable for everyone. If you are somebody that can read this, I think you will get a very gritty memoir.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley..

This was a RAW, beautiful memoir. This author shared her heart and life with us. It was all easily relatable.

Lisbeth Zornig Andersen is the prime example of “when you know better, do better”. Growing up with the trauma she did, it would have been all too easy to be the same level of parent her parents and stepfigures were, but instead she turned her life into being the exact opposite. Her story of trauma, healing and ultimate success in not passing on generational trauma is inspirational and heartbreaking. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.

I admire authors who publish memoirs as raw as emotional as this one. The vulnerability with which she writes is truly touching. She sheds light on topics that are often kept under wraps and she speaks to some intense emotions.

It did, however, take me a while to really get invested in her story and to get into the book.

Wow. Books like this are why I read non-fiction and memoirs.
This is a true story about what children are going though everyday. The fear, terrible things that happen, family separating, loneliness, different adults and other kids in and out of life, lies, houses not homes and more.
As a child therapist stories like this are so important to share. At the end she gives 5 tangible ideas to “break the pattern.” Those are so important to remember.
Yes children are resilient, but they need help and love and support from caring adults. If you work with children in any capacity, please read this book as she pleads.

I had to dnf this. It just didn’t work for me. I overall didn’t mesh with the writing. I thought it was one thing and it turned into some similar but not quite what I wanted

Thank you Netgalley and Publishers for granting me early access to "Anger Is My Middle Name".

I'm currently in the middle of a major move, and will definitely come back at a later time and write out a full review and rating.

Thank you so much!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
I had a hard time getting into this book, I think because of how the translation worked, but once I did, it held my attention. Often it is hard to read because of the neglect and abuse she and her family experienced. At times it was uplifting to see the people who truly cared about her. Overall, this is a sad memoir but something that needs to be known so these children and adults get the help they need and deserve.

A powerfully engaging memoir that is sometimes hard to read but at the same time unputdownable. A reality that everyone needs to read and realize is happening all over the word. Lisbeth shows profound strength and resilience and is an inspiration.