House Rules

House Rules

by Rachel Sontag

Genre: Young Adult Memoir

Synopsis:  A memoir of a father obsessed with control and the daughter who fights his suffocating grasp, House Rules explores the complexities of their compelling and destructive relationship as Rachel fights to escape, and, later, to make sense of what remains of her family.

from the back of the book

Review:  This was a memoir written by a woman who suffered emotional and verbal abuse by her father and her mother throughout her life. The abuse continued until Sontag decided to cut ties with her family. Her father was clearly controlling Sontag's mother and while her mother was not as abusive, she did nothing to stop the father nor did she do anything to help Sontag. I think it was hard for extended family members, family friends, people at school, etc to realize what Sontag was going through since there were no marks on her therefore she didn't get any help until she was in high school. The story was written in an easy to read way. The story moved along quickly until Sontag left her house and was on her own. At that point she was trying to figure out how to grow up, move on, become her own person, forgive and figure out the world around her. At that point the book became less interesting to me.

Rating: 3 stars