Running with Scissors meets Grey Gardens in this gripping, true riches-to-rags tale of a wealthy family who lost it all and the unforgettable journey of a man coming to terms with his family’s deep flaws and his own long-buried truths.

As a HUGE fan of Augusten Burroughs, this one is sure to be hit among those who can appreciate a dark yet humorous memoir.

This was good. The middle child of 3 boys, Kirkland Hamill, was born into old money. Yachts, vacations, multiple homes, servants and alcohol, lots and lots of alcohol, encompassed their days. He grew up believing these things were normal and anyone who had less was beneath them. And then they had less. His father lost the family fortune and shortly thereafter the marriage dissolved. Kirkland's Mother moved the 3 boys to her hometown in Bermuda and the family must adjust to a life well below what they were accustomed to. His mother drowned herself in alcohol, sinking deeper and deeper into depression while the boys grow into teens left to their own devices. At this time, Kirkland begins to question his sexuality. This memoir revolves around rich to poor, family alcoholism, and coming out. An interesting read.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy - all opinions are my own.

This is such a beautifully written memoir - it reads like a novel and pulls the reader so fully into Kirkland's life. I was fully invested in hearing about Kirkland's life, the challenges in facing addiction in his family and the interesting aspect of this being paired with wealth vs poverty.

One for any lovers of memoir, and who want to read a truly compelling story of finding yourself among the wreckage of a painful upbringing.

3.5 stars

Writing reviews of memoirs is tough because I tend to feel like I am rating the author’s life, and this author’s life in particular was described in the book as one big parade of sadness. The book started out slow, and a lot of the people in it are pretty unlikeable, but the author’s dry humor and ability to get his readers to empathize with people who on the surface seem to have few redeeming qualities kept me invested and wanting to know how the book ended. I wouldn’t say that this is one of the better memoirs I have ever read, but the author has certainly lived an interesting life that I think any fan of memoirs would enjoy. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Fantastic book. I was turning pages so quickly it's a wonder that I did not have whiplash. This is one I am going to be telling lots of other people about.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avid Reader Press, and the author for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm fairly back and forth on how I feel about this one. It's very easy to read this book and call "poor little rich boy" for what Kirkland Hamill has gone through. And to be fair, that is a valid call in many ways. For Kirkland and his family, money and status are extremely desired and at times it is clear that it is the only important thing. Almost as important as making sure you have a cocktail on hand whenever possible., and be sure to say just how important you are. This can become grating at times, and make for a rough read. But I did find that Hamill overall wrote his story well, and there are times you truly feel pity for him as you see his parents caring more about status and booze than about their children many a time.

If I'm honest, I'm not sure I would've picked this one up if I hadn't gotten an eARC to review, but it is interesting enough and a fairly quick read that, so long as you can deal with your eyes nearly rolling behind your head at times from the affluence that permeates this read, you will likely find something you enjoy about Kirkland Hamill's story.

I really wanted to get into this book, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to.

Upon reading the premise, I was pulled in. I knew it wanted to read it. I try to balance out what I read. So I like to read a mix of fiction and non-fiction. This memoir sounded perfect. I just couldn't get into the writing. I do think I'll give it another shot in the future because I do think the storyline sounds fascinating.

Sad but brutally honest memoir that left me in tears. Very disturbing. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!
I did enjoy it despite the tenor.

Kudos to Kirkland Hamill for a candid, honest and brutal look at his life that went from luxury to near poverty, from confusion to realization.

Hamill was born into a wealthy Nantucket home, but when his parents divorced, he, then 8, and his brothers quickly learned that mom Wendy wasn't much of a mother. When they returned to Bermuda, Wendy's homeland, the boys were left often without food or supervision. How does one find his place in the world when there's no structure or support, only a drunk mom too eager to move on the next man? The author was forced to find out the hard way. Surrounding by all-American athletes and no maternal support, Hamill is left alone to discover himself and try to make sense of the world.

Too poor for prep school. Too sissy to be a man. Too gentle to be surrounded by such cruelty, absence and emotional neglect. All describe the bubble in which Hamill found himself encased. What he did have, though, was a strength and determination to better himself, to be honest with himself, and to strive to be his best self.

The years, tears and triumphs are recounted with recalled with unflinching honesty. At times, it's hard to read about experiences or lack of, but readers can't help but cheer for Hamill's climb up and out.

Family stories are a big draw for most of us I think and if the author presents us a bill of fare with some family trauma so much the better. What was Tolstoy’s line alluding to happy families being a little dull? That is not the case with Kirkland Hamill’s memoir. It has lost fortunes, alcoholic parents, neglected children (soon to be alcoholics themselves), a search for sexual identity, and even a crusty Pooh bear. All of this told by a talented writer with an aside of witty repartee especially prominent in his interactions with his beloved though flawed mother. Judging from this book, I hope that the author has more stories to put on paper in the future.

What an incredible debut by Kirkland Hamill. How story is touching, sad, and joyful, all at the same time. His sense of humor makes the book compulsively readable. I highly recommend!

This book starts out really funny and quirky; I literally laughed out loud in a few places. However, as it went on, it became desperately sad. Enjoyable might not be the right word, but I thought this book was very well done.

This very sad but well written memoir has it all-- wealth and privilege, poverty and destitution, sexual abuse and sexual questioning, addiction. alcoholism, marriages, divorces, triumph, and failure. We follow the life of a family with a history of anger, betrayal, and deception going back many generations. The protagonist chronicles the heights of weath and then the depths of financial and emotional despair.

An abusive, angry father and a nasty and neglectful mother, their own parents visiting their own problems on their children. The parents effectively abandon their children after their divorce, the mother whisking her children away to her childhood home in Bermuda and living in poverty. The author goes to boarding school in the northeast US, then college in Louisiana (unaware that Louisiana was as far from New York as it is!), and continues questioning his sexuality through the end of the book.

Oh, such a sad memoir. Hamill was born into wealth. His father married his mother seemingly on a lark, while visiting family in Bermuda. Returning to New York, they led a jet-setter life and when the marriage ended Wendy (the mom) took the “filthy beasts”, the boys back to Bermuda. Struggling to make ends meet, she eventually took off with a new boyfriend and the three boys, aged 11 to17, were on their own. Along with trying to navigate their survival Hamill slowly realizes he is gay. It was a look into a world totally different than mine, which made it an engaging book of survival.

There is A LOT going on in this memoir, but not in a bad way. The author's experiences of going from a life of luxury to one of barely scraping by shows just how addiction can strike any family. I enjoyed this read immensely and admire the author's ability to be so honest in his writing.

I'm really sad that I didn't like this book. It kind of has everything I usually love. Poor little rich kid - absent parents, it's a true story....

It's hard to live up to the description of "Running with Scissors'. I went into this book expecting this type of humor. Instead, Hamill came across mean.

This is a sad story about sad people.

Complicated family dynamics is my favourite genre. That said, it’s always a little guilt-inducing for me to read about actual real life complicated family dynamics. This book brought out that guilt, but it also was (strangely) a great escape for me. Parents often wonder, “what will my kids remember or retain from their upbringing?” Sometimes those twisty memory roads bring fun stories, sometimes they leave you thinking, “whoa - that’s messed up.” I’m going to leave it to your assessment. But if you are looking for an examination of what happens to one family - one man - when all the comforts are “taken away”, this is your book. 3.5 stars

A memoir about a tumultuous life, Filthy Beasts is focused mainly on the destructive force of the author’s alcoholic mother and his own journey of coming to terms with his sexuality. After a posh and privileged childhood, Kirkland and his two brothers move to Bermuda with their mother after their parents’ divorce. What follows is a portrait of a highly dysfunctional family and how Kirkland was personally scarred by it. ⁣
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The book is very well-written and bitingly honest. Parts are funny because the family is so aggressively sarcastic it’s hard not to laugh. It’s a very sad book, though, because of the wide-ranging misery that follows in the wake of the Hamill family, brought on almost entirely by the irresponsible and harmful choices of the parents. As a reader, you feel so much for Kirkland and the weight he carries in the face of scorn and diminution. I can’t call it an uplifting story. Most everyone touched by the chaos is left worse for the wear. Kirkland emerges, but the cost is very high. ⁣
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Thank you to Simon & Schuster & NetGalley for the ARC! Filthy Beasts comes out next Tuesday, July 14th. ⁣
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✔️ Read this one if you: ⁣
- Gravitate towards memoirs that center on family dynamics ⁣
- Appreciate a reflective and honest tone in personal storytelling ⁣
- Find family drama interesting or at least mildly intriguing ⁣
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〰️ Skip it if you:⁣
- Need books to have a redemptive arc ⁣
- Are put off by highly irresponsible parenting and/or affluenza ⁣
- Listened to the podcast “S-Town” and left feeling unsatisfied ⁣
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CW: alcoholism, bigotry, child abuse, explicit sexual content, adultery

Filthy Beasts by Kirkland Hamill
What an amazing novel for a debut author! Such an insightful, emotional, and gripping read! The book opened wounds in my own heart that I thought I had closed, but I suppose the damage parents inflict upon their children last a lifetime ingrained in their psyche!
Kirklands life being raised in a wealthy society where he wanted for nothing and then all of a sudden to be thrust into near poverty had to have been a shock! Three small children are thrust into taking care of themselves and their mother and they live in a new foreign country!
Becoming aware that your parents are not the typical Leave it to Beaver Cleaver family and that there friends are not exactly even stable either didn’t exactly help the author nor his brothers have a normal upbringing! His mother usually had a drink and withdrew from her children and from life.
I had a alcoholic father who was emotionally and physically abusive not only to my mother, but to my siblings and myself! We each suffered our own personal hell and life is not easy and we grew up dirt poor because even before my dad eventually finally left for good, he never kept a job for long. We all had jobs and I know my first side job was at age 12 doing gardening, but my first job that was recorded for social security was at age 14, I was a popcorn girl at a local drive in theatre!
The author at least had financial support to a degree and was able to attend college. However, to also see his mother decline into a bottle of alcohol and his father as well was no picnic!
I felt the emotional pain for the author as he told about his discovery of his sexuality while trying to maintain a semblance of balance between his dysfunctional brothers! His parents had crazy relationships with others and the kids were dragged right into the fray!
The book is about self discovery and trying to minimize the conflict and confusion that your parents and family put upon you when you don’t know how to combat it or deflect it!
I recommend this book for anyone & everyone who has ever had a dysfunctional life relationship whether it was your own or a family member or a personal friend!! This book just helps you to see the hurt, confusion and pain!
I received this advanced copy from netgally and willingly give my words and opinions!

I didn't realize this book was non-fiction. I found it a bit boring as I just didn't find his life story that interesting. I stopped reading when he had sex with the bear. Just not my kind of book or what I was expecting. I should have read the description better I guess. I will not be posting a review on my blog.