A NF about an amazing family and their resilience to make life for theirselves after fleeing from an abusing husband/father. They live in an abandoned ?house? in New Jersey backed by 15 acres of woods. An amazing story of how they survived and became a refuge for abandoned animals. Kirkus: An adult survivor of domestic violence recounts her experience starting an animal rescue farm in honor of her courageous mother.When Zaleski was a child, her neighbors thought her family was perfect. Her mother, ?a happy homemaker, demure but fashionable in her minidresses and capris with beautifully coiffed hair and flawless makeup,? was well matched with her charming, economically successful husband. But behind all the society page?worthy parties, the family harbored a dark secret: Zaleski?s father was dangerously violent. Finally, after two unsuccessful attempts at fleeing, Zaleski?s mother packed the children in the car and relocated to a house in the New Jersey woods that was so run-down it was almost uninhabitable. There followed years of abject poverty, continued harassment from her father, and a long line of adopted animals (?an endless litany of sad stories?). Zaleski?s mother rescued so many animals that she nicknamed their home the Funny Farm, a name the author would use when she formally opened an animal rescue farm in her mother?s honor weeks after her untimely death. ?She had rallied, like Lazarus, after her brain surgery, so much so that we started believing in miracles,? writes Zaleski. ?But�her decline, when it came, was swift. She faded before our eyes like a Polaroid in reverse.? The narrative alternates between a chronological account of the family?s experiences living just 10 minutes¥yet a world away¥from their wealthy, abusive father and vignettes about the animals living at the current Funny Farm. The author expertly balances humor and vulnerability while sharing the details of her harrowing childhood, making the book feel like a conversation between friends. Although the interspersed anecdotes about the Funny Farm?s most famous rescued animals provide welcome moments of levity, they sometimes lack a connection to the main story. On the whole, however, the book, both heartwarming and heartbreaking, is an enjoyable read.An affirming memoir about surviving domestic violence with the help of furred and feathered friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What I expected was a lot of stories about the animals rescued and adventures on a rescue farm with a little background of her life and how she got there. What the book really was about was her life growing up and all of the heart-ache and struggle of her life with a few animal stories thrown in here and there; there was little animal story at the end of each chapter which was nice but that was pretty much it. I have started following their social media accounts which I think is what will give me the stories I want. It wasn't bad per say but just not what I was expecting. I also feel there needs to be some content warnings going in (maybe this is because I read mostly fiction but knowing it's a nonfiction makes this difficult to deal with?) for domestic abuse, child abuse, cancer, animal murder, and parental death (a few of those are alluded to in the description but not all of them and I might be missing some).

Sometimes this felt a bit disjoined and it didn't always flow very well. I would have also like more description but that was probably my fault for reading a 250 page nonfiction book directly after reading a 1000 page historical fiction and 700 page fantasy book. ( )

This is a book recommendation for anyone. I started it last evening and woke early to finish it this morning. I love this story, about an extraordinary woman who left an abusive marriage and started a new life with three small children (the middle one is the author), and who opened her heart and home to abandoned animals and people. Laurie writes about her mom, growing up poor with her siblings and all these rescues in a ‘shanty’ and on the original Funny Farm, as her mom called it, and about the current Funny Farm Rescue and Sanctuary in South Jersey. This story is an inspiration, it’s funny and sweet, it’s difficult in parts but ultimately touches your heart and has a happy ending.

P.S. I just started watching the most recent Sunday live video Laurie and the sanctuary volunteers post on their Facebook page. I’m in love with this place, and the people there. ( )

I highly recommend this book. Heartwarming and honest. ( )

This is so much more than just the story of the Funny Farm animal rescue organization. It’s also a wonderful tribute to the author’s mother and the fiercely honest memoir of a true survivor. I loved the 'Animal Tales' snippets about life on the farm that were scattered throughout the audiobook - but the audiobook narration itself, not so much. I think the narrator pitched her voice to sound childlike in the chapters about the author’s childhood and to me she sounded like Sandy, the squirrel from SpongeBob. Once that part was over, though, it was fine. Also, I’ve got to add a content warning for depictions of domestic violence, child neglect, and animal cruelty that might be too intense for younger readers. I don’t mean to sound like I didn’t enjoy this - I did - in fact it went far beyond what I expected. ( )