Reviewing memoirs is always a sticky spot. I want to acknowledge what the author went through and never want to give a poor review, because it was their experience.
I was hoping for more depth on how she was deeply effected by her mothers hoarding habits and her fathers multiple failed business ventures. We are given bits and pieces, at times, but I wasn’t drug through the anguish of her childhood with her.

It takes courage and bravery to put a memoir out there for all to read. For that reason I continued reading and gained some insight into her dysfunctional family and it’s dynamic.

Destroy This House is a memoir following Amanda's journey growing up with parents that fabricate whatever truth suits them best. This form of control, as well as her mother's hoarding habit, made for quite a journey!

She tells her story through the lens of a journalist, trying to uncover facts and gain the truth of events. I didn't quite enjoy this in her early years since it completely left out her emotions and, therefore, was confusing in what her thoughts about her upbringing were. The only time some personal thoughts came through was about her mom's hoarding of food.

The journey of finding your own way in life versus the ideals that your parents taught you is one most of us can relate with.

Overall, I give this ⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was fascinating, but it also missed a personal element that I would have liked to see.

This book was SO much in one little book! I found myself in awe at so many stories in the book and saddened by the extent of disfunction in every aspect of the author’s early life. I still have several parts of this book that still rent space in my mind, weeks after I finished the book. I feel like this memoir is such a good entrance into a book that celebrates a life that is both unconventional and full of love. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

It's so difficult to rate a memoir.

I enjoyed the nostalgic aspect of life in the 1980s and seeing how much life has changed since the time period which was my own childhood.

Because of the subject matter, I kinda felt like I was rubbernecking a horrendous trainwreck. I have some concerns with Amanda airing all of her parents dirty laundry when they are gone.

I would have appreciated if some research on hoarding was included.

Loveeeee this book. It was such a quick read in the best and worst way (the worst way meaning I didn’t want it to end!) As a fellow “messed up family” member, I really related to this book.

Destroy This House is gripping and deeply personal. The book masterfully captures the chaos, love, and survival within a fractured family. Amanda Uhle’s writing is sharp, poignant, and impossible to put down— I devoured every page.

Wow. Just wow. This book was outstanding and I enjoyed every minute with it! I enjoyed the writing style, the humor, the relatability, the list goes on. Family relationships are so interesting and the dynamics of a family really shapes the people we all turn out to be, in some way or another. This author should write, write, write...I would read every single book from her!

I hate reviewing memoirs - its someones life! How can we judge that?

In any event, here I am, reviewing a memoir.

I think making a life story worth reading is taking your readers along in the most vulnerable way. What is hard here, is that Uhle has given us pieces of herself - and at times, it feels like it is lacking heart and soul that makes a memoir so so great. Yes, you rode in the car with your dad and through these mini-sermons we learned a lot, but there are SO MANY MORE DETAILS we could have had. Tell us what happened with that fateful phone call, tell us about how your family dynamic shifted after he heard his business partners planning without him. Tell us more, in some ways, but tell us the things we don't know. I hate even saying it!

Uhle gives us an insight to another type of family dynamic- and it is one, like the others have said, that is filled with trials and successes just like any other family...but not quite. If you like memoirs, pick this one up. This was not it for me, but it will be IT for someone else.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and the author Amanda Uhle for the opportunity to read Destroy This House in exchange for honest review. The memoir started out slowly for me but then took off and I could not put it down. Destroy This House would be good for book discussion groups. I look forward to the release of the book when we will have chance to hear the author talk more about her life story.

#Destroy This House #SimonBooks #AmandaUhle

3.5 ⭐️
I am always so drawn to dysfunctional family memoirs, especially when there is any focus on mothers. I assume this is my trauma manifesting and looking for some common ground and relatability. I can only imagine how healing it must be to finally get it all out in a memoir and to see so many others live that same experience so I will never fault someone for putting themselves out there in the most vulnerable ways.

There were aspects of this that were incredibly fascinating and others that I wish were focused on a bit more. There were times I felt like details were being given that didn’t pertain to much and then moments in which time skipped over a lot once Uhle reached adulthood. Trauma on a developing brain is so intense and will lead to lifelong issues that unfortunately victims have to take control of themselves and wish there were aspects of this talked about in the book. So much time was spent in her childhood to young adult years, in college, but I wanted more from her time married and as an adult.

Things that make books like Educated and I’m Glad My Mom Died so popular is just how much the authours put of themselves in the book. And while Uhle does this to an extent, I wish it focused more on her and less on her parents. There was so much of her parents history, stories, lies, decisions that I wanted a lot of refocus on her instead of them.

This wasn’t bad by any means and you will feel for Uhle in all the ways and I’m so happy for her to be healing and writing this. But it also wasn’t my favourite memoir.

3.5 stars, rounded up. This story is an eldest daughters' worst nightmare. I hope the author and her brother live the most happy, struggle-free lives after all that they endured and did to support their parents. The author was successful in conveying the weight of her guilt, and the impossibility of making any improvement to the situation describing the living conditions and financial recklessness of her parents. I finished eternally grateful for my stable upbringing and my similarly aged parents' health, presence of mind, and fiscal responsibility. I enjoy memoirs for perspectives like Amanda's that fill me with gratitude.

I appreciated that Destroy This House was an unusual type of family trauma memoir that I haven't seen before. Her parents' madness didn't result from a cult or religious sect, they were passing for many years as a 'normal' middle class family. The trajectory of her father from visionary inventor to MLM salesperson to Lutheran minister to therapy student was fascinating. The many Lutherans I know are more the steady, rational presence, and the author's father couldn't have been more opposite.

There were times this book really drew me in, but I found my interest waning after the second move in Indiana. Some redundancies that could have been edited out to keep the pacing, like multiple mentions of raccoons eating food on their balcony, could have brought this up to a 4 for me.

This memoir reminded me of The Glass Castle with the author as a young girl coming of age under the influence of her parents' mental illnesses. She and her younger brother are loved and cared for but growing up amidst her mother's incessant shopping and hoarding and her father's erratic career changes and financial scheming, her perception of normal is skewed. This was a fascinating look into a challenging childhood, filled with well-written details and compelling stories of a married couple going through life trying to parent in the best way they know how without full regard for their mental inadequacies. The details get a little buried as the author enters adulthood and becomes more aware of the dysfunction and irrational behavior of her parents. It felt rushed toward the end and I couldn't help but feel I was missing key elements when her parents succumbed to the final deterioration of their mental abilities. This was an interesting story written with compassion and love.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC in exchange for an honest review. Destroy This House is an aptly-named memoir of Amanda uhle's childhood and adulthood until her parents die. She has feelings of responsibility and guilt for the messes her parents put themselves and the family through, mostly of a financial nature. Her mom was a hoarder, although didn't allow herself to be called such, and when all other business opportunities in life failed her father, he became a preacher, so that the family could live in the parsonage with no rent. Rental after rental, house after house, Ms. Uhle's parents continue their downward spiral until the roof literally caves in. Destroy This House is a harrowing tale of a childhood in which the children are not responsible for their parents' actions but feel the guilt anyway.

This is a deeply moving and beautifully written exploration of family, trauma and the complexities of caregiving. As someone who has also found themselves in the role of parenting the very people who were supposed to parent me and help ME through life, this book truly hit home. Amanda’s writing captures the weight of these experiences with raw honesty, portraying the inner conflict of loving and caring for those who have failed to do the same. The narrative unfolds with such heartbreaking clarity, giving voice to feelings I often struggled to put into words myself. It’s a tragic reflection on the impact of broken relationships and the ways we carry those burdens throughout our lives. I really liked this memoir.

ARC for review. Thank you NetGalley & Simon & Schuster

If you grew up in a household where you had to parent your parents, this book will feel like your diary. Amanda Uhle paints a vivid and honest picture of growing up with two emotionally immature parents. Her story left me frustrated, captivated, and feeling protective of her parents with every turn of the page. It was at times tragic and laughable with the decisions her parents made. I found myself wanting to reach into the book to shake the adults and get them to see what Amanda (and all of her readers) could see so clearly.

Though I’m one who typically reaches for memoirs about people who endured extreme situations, Uhle’s story kept my attention, even at times where it felt mundane. She has the unique ability to see her story from her own eyes and the eyes of a journalist. This balance makes a truly great book. I was pleasantly surprised!

Destroy This House by Amanda Uhle

Destroy This House is a heartfelt memoir. Amanda is clearly trying to understand herself, as well as her parents as she writes the experiences of living with two dysfunctional and mentally ill parents. She is a little disjointed in the first half of the book, but smoothes out in both the reporting and the writing for the second half of the book. One can certainly feel her anxiety as she starts to understand and reject her mother’s hoarding of food and fabric and her father’s cheerful lies. Their financial attitudes are incredible as she reports them. It is amazing that neither she, nor her younger brother, seem to have taken on these problems, but gone the opposite way- she as a minimalist and an MBA in business for her brother. It is also fascinating how her parents tolerated each other’s foibles. The only similarity with Educated and Glass Castle that I can see is how couples support each other’s mental illnesses. Ms. Uhle is not yet of the writer caliber of Jeannette Walls or Tara Westover.

Destroy This House is a poignant story of how the actions of parents are so critical to children's lives.

How are you supposed to realize that some things are wrong if the very people who brought you into this world assure you that certain things are just fine, that nothing is wrong at all? How do you grapple with growing up under the influence of unjust people who don't treat others well, including you, their own child?

This is a real account of what it is like to have to overcome an upbringing. To open your eyes and find the strength to continue on even when the hand you have been dealt means working twice as hard. Amanda writes a real account of her thoughts and feelings through it all, pulling no punches.

This memoir is beautiful and difficult. An exploration of how we are often bound to still love those who raised us the best they knew how. Along with what it's like to experience the heartache that comes with their shortcomings.


Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing an eARC of Destroy This House in exchange for my honest opinions.

Publishing August 26, 2025

<i>Destroy This House</i> hooked me from the prologue and kept me engaged until around the halfway mark. The storytelling is straightforward with the occasional fact-checking of what she was able to find about her parents while writing the memoir. Unfortunately, I found myself speed-reading because the story became jumbled/repetitive and disorganized.

I sympathize with Amanda and know I cannot fully understand what she went through. Her tolerance of her parent's emotional manipulation and abuse was frustrating to read. Since it was not mentioned in the epilogue, I hope she has sought therapy to help address her complex grief and guilt because she gave so much more to her parents than they deserved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC!!

This book was so good! A true emotional depiction of a girl learning to grow up in an unstable environment. It was interesting reading about growing up with a hoarding house and how one learns to see the light in their own life.

Uhle's memoir is unlike anything I have ever read. It was fascinating to get glimpses into her life. The content is authentic and heartbreaking, but hopeful. I'm still thinking about it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.