The Woo-Woo
How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family
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In this jaw-dropping, darkly comedic memoir, a young woman comes of age in a dysfunctional Asian family whose members blamed their woes on ghosts and demons when in fact they should have been on anti-psychotic meds. Lindsay Wong grew up with a paranoid schizophrenic grandmother and a mother who was deeply afraid of the 'woo-woo' - Chinese ghosts who come to visit in times of personal turmoil. Both a witty and touching memoir and harrowing honest depiction of the vagaries of mental illness, The Woo-Woo is a gut-wrenching and beguiling manual for surviving family, and oneself.
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Wow. Lindsay has been through the wringer. This memoir really hit home–not that anyone called me retarded (what the hell?!) or belittled me in the same way as Lindsay's family did. What I understood were the episodes she was having. She described what happened to me in my second year of university exactly. Our diagnosis may have been different, but it took me back to a very harrowing time which meant I was rooting for her the entire book. If you liked Educated (and I know you did), then you will also like The Woo-Woo. The snapshot of her crazy upbringing will make you appreciate your own dysfunctional family just a little bit more :D
