"In this thoughtful, funny memoir about surviving the real and imagined perils of childhood and early adulthood, Havrilesky charts how the most humiliating and painful moments in her past forced her to develop a wide range of coping strategies, some adaptive, some piteously ill suited to modern life. From early boxing lessons to the competitive grooming of cheerleading camp, from her parents' divorce to her father's sudden death, Havrilesky explores a dark path from innocence and optimism to self-protection and caution, bravely reexamining the injuries that shaped her, the lessons that sank in along the way, and the insights that eventually carried her through" --Dust jacket flap.