Book Synopsis:
For most of her life, Chrysta Bilton was one member of a small, if dysfunctional, family of four. There was her sister, Kaitlyn, her hedonistic, glamorous, gay mum Debra, and Jeffrey, who Debra hand-picked, in an LA hairdressers, to be the father of her children. During Chrysta’s unstable childhood, Debra struggled to keep the family afloat and Jeffrey wandered in and out of their lives.
Then, in her twenties, Chrysta discovered that her father had secretly donated his sperm over 500 times – and that she had at least 35 other siblings.
A Normal Family is a captivating coming-of-age memoir about Chrysta’s reckoning with the secrets both parents had carefully kept from her. Heartfelt, warm and funny, it’s a story of embracing the family we have, in all the forms we find it.
My Review:
This was a well written, captivating memoir which is hard to believe is a true story.
Chrysta and her family are very intriguing characters who I enjoyed following throughout their story. They had more then their fair share of problems which was fascinating to read about and definitely helped keep my interest. We follow the family through a whole range of issues from substance abuse to eating disorders which were quite poignant to witness at times.
I found it very interesting to learn more about sperm donating in the states and found it hard to to believe that someone would donate without consulting their spouse or thinking of the consequences. I found myself wondering how I’d react if I found out I had loads of half siblings.
Overall I really enjoyed this book which took me through all the emotions as I read. There were times of laughter with the family but also some quite sad moments that made me tear up. The book is well written with lots of twists that helped ensure I kept reading until the end.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Over The Rainbow Blog 