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When all is said and done, this isn’t just a story about the abuse Shari and her siblings endured at the hands of their family—it’s a stark commentary on how the system failed them, and how, time and time again, it continues to fails children in need.

Although I didn’t have the chance to read the book before watching the recent documentary series, I would wholeheartedly recommend choosing this memoir over the Hulu doc.

It’s not a perfect work, and you can certainly tell Shari is still a young writer. But that raw, unpolished voice is precisely what gives the story its power and authenticity.

"Realizing your own mother was incapable of truly seeing you—of loving you for who you are rather than as an extension of herself—is a bitter pill to swallow. It’s the death of a fundamental childhood hope, the one where if you just try hard enough, Mommy will love you unconditionally. But in a strange way, this understanding has also been incredibly liberating. I now know that I could never have been “good� enough or “perfect� enough to make Ruby truly happy or proud."

Also want to praise Shari for continuing to protect her siblings even in her writing. Leaving space and time for them to tell their own stories and to try and heal in the meantime.