"A brilliant, funny, generation-defining memoir about the double bind of crafting perfect adversity narratives for highly selective institutions, while fumbling through the far murkier reality of actual life in foster care and inpatient mental health treatment As a child, Emi Nietfeld was caught between a hoarder mother who got her put on antipsychotic medication, but was also the only person to believe she was exceptional, and a state system exemplified...

"As a child, David Ambroz was raised homeless in New York City, the home of Wall Street and more than 100,000 homeless children. For David and his two siblings, their mother's diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia sets them in motion for a life of poverty, violence and instability as they travel across New York and New England seeking shelter. For eleven years, home for David means living in train stations, subway cars, 24-hour diners, and wherever...