Destroy This House by Amanda Uhle (signed)
“Incredible…riveting.” —Dax Shepard, Armchair Expert podcast
For fans of The Glass Castle and The Liars’ Club, a tender, heartbreaking, and hilarious memoir chronicling the challenges of growing up with a desperately scheming father, a mother plagued by an acute hoarding disorder, and parenting parents while seeking independence.
The Long family’s love was fierce, their lifestyle bizarre, and their deceptions countless. Once her parents were gone, Amanda Uhle realized she was closer to them than anyone else, yet she found herself utterly confounded by the lives they had led.
Amanda’s striving fashion designer mother and her charismatic wheeler-dealer father wove a complex life together that spanned ten different homes across five states over forty perplexing years. Throughout her childhood, as her mother’s hoarding disorder flourished and her father’s schemes crumbled, contradictions abounded. They bartered for dental surgery and drove their massive Lincoln Town Car to the food bank. When financial ruin struck, they abandoned their repossessed mansion for humble parish housing, and Amanda’s father became a preacher. They swung between being filthy rich and dirt poor, devious and virtuous, lonely and loved, fake and real.
In Destroy This House, Amanda sets out to document her parents’ unbelievable exploits and her own hard-won escape into independence. With humor and tenderness, Uhle has crafted a heartfelt and utterly unique memoir, capturing the raucousness, pain, joy, and ultimately, the boundless love that exists between all parents and children.
“Sensitively crafted and remarkably perceptive…both relatable and distinctly unique.”
—Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press
“Incredible…riveting.”
—Dax Shepard, Armchair Expert podcast
“Astonishing…will resonate with anyone who has cared for a loved one in difficult circumstances…makes you laugh and wrenches your heart.”
—Anne Bartlett, BookPage
“With riveting precision, candor, and wit, Uhle mixes emotionally complex memories with research into her parents’ audacious schemes in a staggering feat of exorcism and reconciliation, a testament to loyalty, compassion, and love.”
—Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
“Refreshing. The author shares at least one quality with her parents: she can spin a good yarn.”
—Publishers Weekly
“An affecting portrait of a definitively dysfunctional family….Uhle’s book will hit home with many readers.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A heartfelt memoir of a complicated but loving relationship.”
—Library Journal
Mint hardcover copy as issued in dust jacket, first edition signed by the author.
$ 29.95
