Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to provide an honest review of Filthy Beasts.

Not everyone's life needs to be written as a memoir and this is an example of that fact. It was as if Kirkland Hamill spent his teens and twenties; telling stories of his family disfunction and friends suggested "you should write a book". Overall, it seemed his life and challenges were pretty average, his wealth or poverty were not extreme and whereas I was empathetic to the idea of the story and of children having to deal with their parent's alcoholism, Hamill has not written himself as particularly sympathetic.

Maybe I've read too many of these "I survived and thrived" memoirs, but I didn't find this one as compelling as others in the genre. What I found interesting was day to day life in Bermuda, which I, like most previous visitors, remember for unending beautiful weather, smells, tennis courts and madras.

Thanks to author,publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free,it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Filthy Beasts was really sad. Kirkland is the middle child. His memoir is like a Greek tragedy. His parents divorce created a rift within the family. His mother disengaged and developed issues with alcohol. His father struggle with his own relationships. Kirkland's brothers also had relationship issues and his youngest brother battled alcoholism. It's a heavy read about a family that disintegrates.

I requested this book because I saw it got a starred Kirkus review. I mostly agree with the review, but you have to be willing to wait for the book to heat up, which generally happens around chapter 6. If you start reading and feel like it may not be your cup of tea, don't despair, just keep going. The payoff happens in the carefully rendered characters, the ridiculous things they do, and the fascinating energy between them, particularly the narrator's mother. The book spans a massive period of time, so we get to see the narrator's late-in-life coming out story as well as his 8 year old antics and much in between. Definitely a book for those who love thumbnail portraiture and beautifully rendered scenes. The dialogue keeps you going, and though he's hard on himself and the people around him, you get an opportunity to really understand the work of--and beyond--a dysfunctional, addicted family. Really dark, lovely, funny.

I devoured this one in two days! It quickly drew me from the way he writes about his life, which was so different than my quiet Midwestern upbringing. The book made me think deeply about how complicated families are and the obligations we have to our own. It covered love, loss, addiction, and persevering in spite of difficult circumstances so eloquently.

𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒔𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈.

Kirkland Hamill was born to old money, and the elitist snobbery that comes with it. His father’s family has “secured a seemingly permanent foothold in society’s upper echelons”, living in a family compound, owning Park Avenue apartments, second homes. His father’s relatives with their superior blood are always looking down upon the rest of the world especially those who cater to them, but how is a child to live when there is a fracture in his parent’s marriage and he is meant to navigate his mother’s native Bermuda? Born to a working class family, his beautiful mother married up, her origins a thing that was never discussed, as if the very words “working class” are shameful and tasteless. His mother’s life and family remain a mystery until he is plunged into her past.

When his father purchases and moves the family to Sky Step Farm in Clinton, Kirkland’s mother is forced out of the New York social set and flounders around the high society of the ‘quaint’ town. She isn’t the only family member unable to adjust to the drastic change, Kirkland may succeed at school (a clever boy) but he hasn’t any friends and home isn’t any better. The spark is gone, along with the laughter. Too, Kirklands longs for his Jamaican Nanny (his second love, more mother than his own). His siblings, older brother Robin and the youngest Monty aren’t much company, brothers differing in ages and temperaments orbiting their own worlds. Monty, mostly ignored and unwanted by his big brothers and the eldest Robin mean or disinterested. The distance between the siblings grows wider through the years, as they try to escape the dysfunction of their parents.

Their life of privilege disintegrates when they touch ground in Bermuda, feeling like exiles, uprooted from their father. Despite living in a pretty home and attending private school, they are now living beneath the means they were born to. Water for bathing and drinking no longer an endless stream from a tap, their life becomes one of conservation. The beauty and kindness of the natives is a salve, despite racial tension, Bermuda feels far more welcoming than the home they left but inside the family there is dissension. With their mother full circle, back around the family she thought she had escaped, she tries to cling to the vestiges of wealth and privilege she has grown accustomed to in their former life. The stink of unhappiness and disappointment clings to her, no longer the self contained society wife she is unfiltered, a more bitter yet freer version of herself.

Kirkland’s father creates a new life, minus his boys and ex-wife, with another woman. Now that his father is remarried , Kirkland spends time between his father’s horse farm and Bermuda. With Barb (stepmother) on the scene, there is a new dynamic in place, too time spent with his father is a plunge back into ‘the collective family organism’. His dad is as distant as ever, a wound for any boy looking for affection and guidance, giving birth to a conflicted self.

Back home it’s enthusiastic morning screams of, “Wake up, you filthy beasts!” and “It’s time to face the beauty of a brand-new day.” Despite days spent on the beach, there isn’t enough sunshine to staunch their mother’s enormous depression, nor keep her from sinking into her drinking. Dysfunction that in fiction should bond brothers together in real life only pushes them further apart as it’s every man (or boy) for himself. The consequences of her decline and their father’s fickle attention leads to a lifelong struggle for Kirkland, Robin and Monty.

The truth about poverty is, there are many versions. Pain is pain is pain and certainly it’s a harder struggle coming of age dirt poor, hungry, homeless or abused but certainly it’s no picnic living with any parent who is in a ‘self-imposed exile’ and in a fragile state of mind. There are many poor children who have very present, loving parents- but a lack of love and attention can be a different type of poverty. It truly eats away at the mind, self-esteem. A child of any circumstance, more than fanciful things, longs for love, guidance, structure and acceptance. What a parent can do to their children’s head-space is a powerful thing, there isn’t enough money in the world to fix rejection. How hard is it to escape turning into them, thinking and speaking like they do? A bad childhood, needy self-centered parents can remain with a man or woman to the end of their lives. It’s a bitter seed to swallow, a parent’s neglect. We have a tendency to look at those dandy, “story book perfect” families with envy, never imagining how cold things are backstage.

If only the brothers could have been a support system for one another, maybe things could have been different. I felt so awful for little Monty. I wondered about what his memoir would reveal if he wrote one, because we all live a different story in the same home. This memoir speaks of the struggles of Kirkland- a conflicted, lonely little boy who comes of age and learns to crawl out of the wreckage of his parent’s marriage and their unraveling. It’s not pretty, but it’s honest. I enjoyed it.

Publication Date: July 14, 2020

Avid Reader Press/ Simon & Schuster

This book made me realize my mother is normal. It's a cross between Grey Gardens and Normal People. I did not overly enjoy the read. To be honest I had to set it aside a couple of times for a few days. The abuse whether unknowingly or knowingly was enough to make me cry for these boys. I could not understand the care he had for his mother after how she treated him. I know this was his story and I shouldn't criticize. Maybe I dont understand this man's story because I can not relate. I did finish reading and despite all his determination and will impressed me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this memoir (to be published in July). I was hooked immediately, reading about the author’s experiences growing up with his brothers on the “family compound” in upper-class New York and then later in Bermuda following his parents’ divorce. The author juxtaposes the wealth and selfishness of his parents with the poverty and neglect that he and his brothers endure. Although the book is tragic at times, it is laugh out-loud funny at others with the descriptions of “Froggy,” the ugly but wealthy stepdad, the French speaking grandmother, and OMG the Winnie the Pooh scene! I highly recommend the book especially if you love the memoir genre as I do! Kristin Ogburn 4/29/20

Here's my thing about memoirs - I'm only drawn to ones that leave you saying, "wow, that was messed up." Kirkland Hamill's Filthy Beasts is presented as Running with Scissors meets Grey Gardens, which is, IMHO, the perfect sweet spot. Hamill was born into extreme wealth with two very interesting parents - his father who squandered the family money, and his mother, a beautiful, emotionally abusive alcoholic who moved the boys to her native Bermuda and wears sunglasses indoors.

I read this book in one shot and highly enjoyed it. Hamill tells stories from his childhood with a darkly comedic lens, which is probably the result of years of trauma. The depravity of rich people never ceases to amaze me!

I loved how his relationship with his mother and his brothers evolved over the years - how his emotions flow from hate to love to resentment and back again so quickly, and so freely. Throughout the book, Hamill grapples with his self identity and sexuality while trying to navigate his place in his own family.

4 stars from me! Note that this book can be very triggering and contains depictions of alcoholism and abuse (both physical and verbal). Thank you to Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a huge fan of memoirs, but was kind of skeptical about this one since it seemed a bit cliche, but I was pleasantly surprised by Filthy Beasts. While the premise of absent, addicted parents is one that is fairly common, the things that separate Hamill's memoir from others about similar issues is his writing and his unique perspective.

His writing is humourous but raw, and you feel the real pain and confusion Hamill felt as he was growing up. The tragic declines and left turns of not only his mother, but the rest of his family was moving. Hamill grapples with loving his mother, hating her addiction, and accepting who she is as she is. His desparation for approval comes through clearly, but the catharsis of finding freedom at the end gave me hope for the writer. There were certain moments where I thought it seemed too detailed and the pacing was slow, but overall was a great read.

The novel about poor little rich kids began interestingly enough and did get my attention. However, it lagged for me and I just couldn't finish it.

I was super disappointed by this one. The story was one we have all read many, many times (absent, addicted parents) with a bit of poor little rich boy thrown in. I felt like the author thought he was being rather droll and dryly funny in his prose but it came across as caustic and mean-spirited. It was really a story of a bunch of sad, angry people living in misery. I don't understand how he got a book deal to write this. No one was likable, it wasn't funny, relatable or even interesting. A dark hole of a memoir.

This memoir by Kirkland Hamill is both moving and very funny. Kirkland is born into a wealthy, upper crust family which is completely dysfunctional. He questions his sexuality, and struggles with a mother who is alcoholic, plus a distant father. After many years of denial, he embraces his homosexuality, much to the chagrin of his family.
Great read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, there are a lot of ups and downs in this memoir. Everything from neglect, divorce, alcoholism, sexuality, and more. The author tells all in an honest way and his life's story is quite fascinating. The tragic declines and deaths of his parents were so sad as alcoholism played such a large part of their undoing.

This is the story of Kirkland Hamill, recounting the 2 most significant strands of his life, his discovery of his homosexuality and his mother drowning in alcohol.

His story is one we have read many times, the horror of being the child of an alcoholic and the neglect and abuse that goes with it. Though born to a family that had been considered wealthy and elite, they soon fell into dire financial straits. Kirkland’s mother and father both became alcoholics and the 3 brothers suffered horribly under their erratic care.

Eventually, his mother married the very wealthy John Outerbridge ( I love the fact the the Outerbridge Crossing between SI and NJ is named for that family, I always thought it was geographic). Ultimately, she did succeed in dying as a result of her alcohol abuse.

I enjoyed this,, but the story is sadly familiar.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this memoir.