I have not read Antrim's other books and this one is dysfunctional on the order of Mary Karr or Jeanette Wall (I had no idea who they were either!) but everyone's gotta have a memoir these days and chronicle their crazy parents, so it's all good. Antrim spends a LOT of time going off on tangents and then catching himself and getting back on topic. Precariously endearing in a conversation, but can be downright tiresome in print...over and over again. I liked the story and it is a very fast read, so I gave it 4 stars...at least he didn't maunder on for 500 pages.