Don't Go Crazy Without Me

(Paperback)

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Don't Go Crazy Without Me tells the tragicomic coming of age story of a girl who grew up under the seductive sway of her outrageously eccentric father. He taught her how to have fun; he also taught her to fear food poisoning, other children's infectious diseases, and the contaminating propensities of the world at large. Alienated from h

Reviews

"Deborah A. LottsDont Go Crazy Without Meis funny, horrifying, and heartbreakingand often surprisingly, all three at once. Its an astonishingly vivid book, and to read it is to be caught up, just as the writer was, in an impossible, crazy, misfit family. Through grace and nerve and will, Deborah learns that you cant 'screw nature,' or 'stop time,' as her father tried to do, 'but you could turn your grief into love.' This writers love for her deeply screwed-up family is unforgettable. As the best memoirs do,Dont Go Crazy Without Memakes this writers story belong to all of us."Mark Doty, National Book Award Winner, author of the memoirsFirebird,Dog Years,Heavens Coast, and multiple volumes of poetry

"Dont Go Crazy Without Meis an extraordinary book. Deborah A. Lott writes about everythingparents, children, bodies, illness, sex, writingwith a voice that is utterly clear and beautiful and funny and original. This is a book written with honesty that will both break your heart and enlarge it."Karen E. Bender, National Book Award Finalist and author ofA Town of Empty Rooms, Refund, and Like Normal People

"Hilarious, devastating, and compassionate: Deborah A. LottsDont Go Crazy Without Meis written with a ferocious intelligence; it pulverizes memoir as we knew it. This is glorious work by a writer working at the height of her power."Paul Lisicky, author ofThe Narrow DoorandLawnboy

"Sentence by sentence, Deborah A. Lott is one of the finest writers I know. Her keen insights into the dynamics of her quirky, unforgettable family, and into family dynamics in general, make this book bound to be a classic."Hope Edelman, author ofMotherless Daughters

"Brilliantly written with grace, generosity, and a highly refined sense of the absurd,Dont Go Crazy Without Meis the harrowing account of a chaotic, bewildering childhood. This reader was enthralled from the get-go, and Deborah A. Lott is now one of my favorite writersI kiss the hem of her garment."Abigail Thomas, author ofSafekeeping,Three Dog Night, andWhat Comes Next and How to Like It

"[A] courageous and endearing memoir."Jonathan Kirsch,Jewish Journal

"A vivid, compelling, and highly provocative read,Dont Go Crazy Without Metruly showcases the memoir as an art form. Dense scene after dense scene fill the pages. Lotts pacing of information and big reveals feel spot-on. Because of masterful characterization and tender insightespecially within the chapters where the adult narrative voice entersI grew to love the characters, even as I feared for Lott and her fathers increasingly erratic behavior."Jody Keisner,The Adroit Journal

"Anyone can have a peculiar childhood, and many can even tell amusing stories about it, but how many find their voices, and 'write' themselves" Bettina Berch,The Jewish Book Council

"Dont Go Crazy Without Me is an earnest look at a misfit family struggling financially and emotionally in the 1950s and 1960s in California. Place and time weave through these eccentric characters lives. What makes us laugh in this book also makes us cry."Claire Donohue Roof,Brevity

Author Bio

Deborah A. Lotts memoirs, essays, and reportage have been published in the Rumpus, Salon, the Alaska Quarterly Review, Bellingham Review, Black Warrior Review, Cimarron Review, the Los Angeles Times, StoryQuarterly, the Good Men Project, the nervous breakdown, and many other places. Her familys legacy of hypochondria was featured on NPRs This American Life. Her first book, In Session: the Bond between Women and their Therapists, offered an unprecedented look at psychotherapy from the perspective of clients interviewed by the author. Her essays have been thrice named as notables of the year by Best American Essays. She teaches creative writing and literature at Antioch University, Los Angeles, where she serves as faculty advisor to Two Hawks Quarterly.com. She lives with her husband, Gary Edelstone, in Los Angeles.