Disaster Preparedness, Heather Havrilesky
Disaster Preparedness, Heather Havrilesky
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Disaster Preparedness
A Memoir

Author: Heather Havrilesky

Narrator: Karen White

Unabridged: 7 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/30/2010


Synopsis

This is a stunningly perceptive, hilarious memoir of the transformative humiliation of childhoodand adulthoodfrom a truly original, already beloved voice.When Heather Havrilesky was a kid in the seventies, it seemed there were only disaster movies. Burning towers, devouring earthquakes, careening airliners, alien pod invasions. To be prepared, she and her siblings fabricated elaborate plans to escape any and every emergency. But what began merely as a childhood game grew into a way of life where something shocking lurked around every corner. A brave and hilarious memoir, Disaster Preparedness charts how the most painful moments in Havrileskys life prepared her for a cautious but honest adulthood. From her nave take on her parents DIVORCE, to losing her virginity in less than ideal circumstances, to losing her father way before she was ready, in chapter after chapter Havrilesky peels back the layers of her childhood innocence and reveals the wounds that have shaped her, the lessons that havedespite her thickheadednessmanaged to sink in, and the laughter that has carried her through. By laying bare her bumps and bruises, Havrilesky offers hope that anyone can create a frazzled and unruly, desperate and wistful, fabulously frayedattheedges plan to stare disaster in the face, to meet it headon. Uproarious, sophisticated, and wise, Disaster Preparedness is a field guide to personal disasters from an irresistible voice that gets to the heart of it all.

About Heather Havrilesky

Heather Havrilesky writes the popular Ask Polly advice column on Substack and is the author of What If This Were Enough?, How to Be a Person in the World, and Disaster Preparedness. She has written for the New Yorker, the Atlantic, the New York Times Magazine, and NPR’s All Things Considered, among others, and also maintains the Ask Molly newsletter, written by Polly’s evil twin. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs.


Reviews

Goodreads review by David

Salon.com is just so much duller ever since Heather H. left. Their new TV critic has yet to write a column that maintains my intereest. Hell, I can't even remember his name. Unlike the vastly overhyped "Bossypants", which IMO barely qualified as a "memoir" at all (Fey told us nothing about her life......more

Goodreads review by Tracy

This was a good memoir about growing up the 1970s. It was generally a series of essays. The book was not a compelling read in that I didn't constantly want to get back to, but it was solid. I thought overall, it was generally a 3-star book, but I loved the last essay so much, I bumped it up one notc......more