Wow! This book mesmerized me. This really should have a major trigger warning on it. But what an absolutely traumatic upbringing. I liked being able to see Alice transform and find herself by the end of this book. She showed she could get through the hard times and really could adjust to find what would make her happy.

*Read this on the kindle and formatting was a little off

Ok so I read this quick as hell in between breaks at work and in the evenings. Yeah. I think this is gonna be a 4 star. It's sort of tough to explain why because it really came out of the blue?? I discovered this entirely through a Goodreads giveaway and requested since it was intriguing. And that can be tricky - having that intrigue with an author so unknown to me and a book that I hadn't heard anyone else talking about.

Detailed review will be posted within 2 weeks or closer to the pub date. Thank you.

WOWWWWW this book is equally horrifying, gut wrenching, incredibly touching and a bit unbelievable. I could not believe this was a work of non-fiction (so much so I googled the mentioned paintings) and I cannot believe Alice lived through this.

Much like the Glass Castle, Educated, and Brain on Fire, this book discusses trauma/mental illness through memoir. What sets this book apart is that the author comes from WEALTH. Raised by a nanny, rarely sees her mother, visits her father overseas and basically is a child living like an adult with no rules or any semblance of order for long stretches of time. She has all the connections, gets into MULTIPLE great colleges and can’t finish - and the journey is so heartbreaking.

It takes a second to get into, but once I started I finished this so quickly. highly recommend.

I didn't come into this book with many expectations. I read the synopsis on Netgalley for an advanced copy, and figured I'd give it a shot. And I truly am SO glad that I did.

Alice tells a story of an unconventional upbringing in Greenwich Village, raised by a distant, famous artist mother and an ambiguous, unpredictable father. Alice's mother alleges that she was a victim to ritualized sexual abuse in her early years, and as Alice grows older she's becoming increasingly skeptical of her own father's behavior. This, coupled with chronic mental illness and substance use, unravels Alice in a slow disappearing act of her psyche.

Not only was the writing excellent, but the way that Alice portayed her Dissociative Disorder was so gripping and eye-opening. I'm a clinical social worker, and I have experienced so many clients who would resonate with the way that Alice portrayed her experience. Her writing is candid, vulnerable, and, at times, incredibly visceral. There were so many times that I teared up, laughed out loud, and physically cringed (at parts that were intentionally cringe worthy, I think l:) ) I changed my mind about everyone in this book about 100 times, and by the time I finished it, I realized that I think that was largely the point.

All and all, BEAUTIFUL. I will absolutely be buying the physical copy to have on my 'hall of fame' shelf.

Lots of trigger warnings though-- be warned. Talk of sexual abuse, incest, emotional neglect, and substance use.

This was a moving memoir of a woman who was brought up by some very unconventional parents and the damage it did to her mental health later on. How she found her way through it after some really tough years and healed the relationships in the end. Excellent reading, I enjoyed the writing very much.

Somewhat confusing to follow as some parts very scattered and bizarre, but a true representation of the mental state. Also includes valid critique of the failure of our mental Healthcare system.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

What intense and breathtaking reading experience. Alice Carrière unfurls vivid scenes from her fantastically absurd childhood in which she was raised by artist parents (with the help of a devoted Nanny) in a surreal atmosphere of extravagance and neglect. The sentences are beautiful even as scene after scene breaks your heart. In addition to offering the author’s story, this book is also a key addition to the growing body of memoirs detailing the myriad ways the American psychiatric/medical system plays fast and loose with patients’ lives, flinging unpredictable drugs at struggling people with little regard for the impact. Not an easy read, but a good one.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book.

A super interesting story and it was very well crafted. I think Carriere did a fantastic job writing about difficult topics and family struggles. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Four stars.

What a magnificent work of author Alice Carrière of this book…
I couldn’t stop reading it ..it’s honestly telling us about child abusing and trauma ,
which defined in depression in older age…
Story about relationship between mother and daughter,daughter and father as abuser..
Alice Carriere is a very talented novelist and I’m very glad to read her book…

Thanks a lot to SPIEGEL & GRAU to provide me with the opportunity
to review this novel…

“I need to know what really happened to me,” says a young Alice Carrière to her parents during a long overdue family therapy session. This sentence, which she finally says while staying at a psychiatric hospital for the ultra-privileged, captures the lifelong search at the center of Carrière’s powerful, at times disturbing forthcoming memoir. Everything/Nothing/Someone recounts her unstable young life growing up in the shadow of her eccentric, unpredictable parents, renowned artist Jennifer Bartlett and European actor Mathieu Carrière. In this world, lines between truth and imagination are blurred, causing Carrière to question her memories as she begins to lead her own life.

Divided into three parts, the memoir follows Carrière from the age of seven—when she first realizes that her home life in an extravagant converted warehouse in Greenwich Village is not exactly “normal”—into her thirties, after decades of struggling with self-harm, addiction, and mental illness. Drawing on an impressive archive of documents including journals (belonging to her, each of her parents, and her beloved caregiver, “Nanny”), psychiatric evaluations, and divorce court records, Carrière pieces together a lifetime of traumatic memories that triggered her descent into an all-consuming dissociative disorder. She writes, “Everyone told a different version of what happened, what I needed, and who I was. Everyone seemed like a credible narrator, but how could so many things be true at the same time?”

While many readers will find the story itself engrossing, perhaps most striking is Carrière’s commentary on what she calls the “American psychiatric complex.” As she reaches out for help, she is failed by doctors, who insist on prescribing her more and more medication (Adderall, the dangerously addictive Klonopin, and Zoloft, to name a few) rather than having a real conversation with her about what she’s going through. She writes, “As I was prescribed more pills, I was diagnosed with more disorders, whose symptoms often resembled the side effects of the pills.” The memoir deals with issues of sexual abuse, false memory, inherited trauma, mental illness, identity, and drug dependency. This one won’t be for everyone, but it offers a thought-provoking look at the lonely, sometimes life-threatening consequences of privilege, excess, and neglect.

Thank you NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau!

Fascininating! Alice Carriere tells her story of growing with famous parents, both of whom suffered from emotional issues. Alice describes her own mental illness as a teenager and young adult, and her struggles with dissociation, medications, and psychiatrists. I appreciate her candor and her ability to get her incredibly complex feelings on the written page. This book is difficult to read in that Alice's relationship with her father was horribly inappropriate and disturbing. I wish her all the best as she moves forward and continues her recovery.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this memoir.

I scarcely know where to begin. Some parts are so bizarre and fantastical I could barely follow them. I had no idea where it was going, I truly felt bad for the Nanny and that staying with these people was her best choice in her retirement,