Although each member's reaction was unique, the points of consensus were that this book is well written and poignant, filled with interesting characters and situations, and that the writer is very good at painting a picture in just a few words - "our eight toothbrushes in a ceramic cup in the bathroom," for example. While nearly all of us enjoyed reading it, some members did not feel that the author's life experience was noteworthy or exceptional enough to warrant a memoir. Some reactions, "Well, a lot of people move a lot" and "a lot of people have a dysfunctional parent" and "a lot of successful people have risen above very difficult childhood circumstances." The book led to a great discussion about the universal quest for the approval of one's parents, regardless of the way the parents have treated the child. Some members found it dark, depressing and gloomy; others felt that it was uplifting and inspiring, proof that the human spirit can triumph over one's experiences and sketchy upbringing.

Our group found this book strange but pointless. The photographs were entertainingly creepy and we appreciated the author\'s imagination, but we did not think he did enough with the overall concept of peculiar people. Many years ago, the autistic, those with Downs or Tourette\'s Syndrome were considered peculiar and very well could have been sequestered as were these children. There was a great metaphor there to be developed, but the author did not run with it. We also saw the beginnings of allegories, with the Nazis being the monsters, etc, but again, the author did not develop this theme. Our group thought there were a lot of loose ends and some of us found parts of the book to be gratuitously gory, gruesome, and just too weird. We are a bunch of middle-aged women, though, and we can understand why teenagers might like this type of book. We are glad we read it because it\'s great to try genres in the context of a book club that one would otherwise never read, and all of us did feel somewhat enriched by the experience of reading a YA fantasy book. But it\'s not really our cup of tea and would not care to repeat the experience anytime soon.