Another masterpiece by a national treasure. This book is Richard Glover’s memoir about his bizarre childhood and later quest to find out who his parents were and why they did such a spectacularly crappy job at parenting. Glover is, in my opinion, one of the funniest writers of all time, so you will find yourself gasping at the cruelty of it and then laughing at the hilarity of it in rapid succession.
Beyond sadness and laughter, the bigger theme here is just pure absurdity. Case in point: Glover’s mother proudly told him throughout his childhood that he was Australia’s first ‘artificial insemination’ baby. Not because the couple had fertility troubles, but because his mother had never, and still refused to, sleep with his father (who was also, awkwardly, her husband). Weird stuff, and it makes for a fascinating read. I can once again recommend the audio version — Glover is a radio presenter by trade and his impersonations are flawless.