Thank you to netgalley for the audiobook. I struggled to get into this one and ultimately get through it. I felt it was slow at some times and rushed at others. I couldn’t keep my attention on it. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the physical copy of the book: it’s very much an important topic that needs to be discussed

The first thing to know about Helen Naylor's memoir is that this is a case of her mother's mental disease and how it affected the author. We often read about children whose caregivers make them sick, but this is the opposite. And that makes it disturbing on a different level. Due to her mom's perceived illnesses, and they were numerous, Helen is left alone to basically raise herself and care for her mom. Her childhood---and life---were robbed by a woman who never should have been a mom.

It's obvious that Helen felt betrayed by the one who was supposed to love her most. Unfortunately, there was little awareness of Munchausen's at the time, and Helen was left with little to no support.

I was privileged to take in Helen's life as an audiobook. The narrator added depth and nuance to the author's frustrations. By the last passage, all you can do is wish Helen a kinder life.

This one was exceedingly hard to get through, most likely because the illness is so tragic. I found the audiobook achingly personal, so it was hard to manage for me and took me a long time to finish.

This is the author's story of growing up with a mentally ill mother. It was a difficult read, and should be read with great care by anyone who grew up with a mentally ill parent. It took me a couple of weeks to work my way through it because I kept having to put it down and read something lighter.

Not the exact subject matter I was expecting, due to my initial thought that it would be a Munchausen's by proxy case. It was not. But it's also no less heart breaking to see the effect on the child.

The writing in this book is engaging, and there are some beautiful phrases throughout. I don't think this is a common topic of conversation, although I may be wrong.
Even though I was once duped by a student with Munchausen syndrome, I couldn't quite empathize with the author. If someone's entire sense of self is based on their Munchausen via proxy lie, it might be difficult to sympathize with them. However, Naylor does a commendable job of allowing us in on a daughter's complicated emotions.

Her spouse seems like a saint, and I would have liked to know more about him. How did she manage to have such a successful marriage? But one can only cram so much into a book, and Helen Naylor makes a solid decision, and executes it effectively.

I had a few download issues with the book and by the time it was sorted, the file had unfortunately been achieved.

I have always found Munchausen’s to be so interesting so when I saw a memoir, I knew I wanted to read it.

I enjoyed the excerpts from her mothers diary the most. I wish we could have gotten more of those, but overall, it was a very good look at someone who grew up with a mother that struggled with mental health issues.

A fascinating, heartbreaking account of growing up with a parent who cannot be who you need them to be. I really enjoyed hearing Helen's story, though I did feel the writing was overly poetic at times and the book was a bit longer than it needed to be.

This book pulled me in from Page 1! This compelling memoir details the heartbreak, anxiety, and emotional distress caused by a mother who clearly suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder, hypochondria, and Munchausen's Syndrome. The tone of this memoir is perfectly set - and you can definitely understand the tortured tone of being raised in a household with a mom who has all of these disorders (none of which are properly diagnosed or officially acknowledged). I couldn't stop reading and listening to this book and I am grateful that the author took the time and effort to put all of her experiences on paper so that she can help other family members whose relatives also have this disorder.

this was such an interesting and incredibly heartbreaking book to listen too. I cannot even imagine how hard it was to live everyday in this siuation. I was brought to tears several times, I loved that it was narrated by the author as the pain and suffering and sense of survival was palpable. i learnt so much whilst listening to this book.

What an interesting book and audiobook on so many levels.

First, I loved that Helen Naylor narrated it herself. I find that especially with non-fiction when an author reads their story, there is just so much more that they give to the delivery of the book than if someone else narrated it.

Then the actual story. My only "experience" with Muchausen's is through tv and film and when it is portrayed it is typically that an adult is manipulating a child into looking/being sick to get attention for themselves and the child, so to read a book where the person with Munchausen's is manipulating on their own behalf was so eye opening. I kept talking to everyone I knew about this book I was listening to because it described Munchausen in a way I had never heard and to hear it from someone who experienced it first hand was just interesting.

The best part about this book is the narrator’s honesty and emotions, which really come through in the audio book, as the author is the narrator. Hearing about Naylor’s experience growing up with a mother with Munchausens was very interesting, it’s not a perspective I’ve read from before. I also can’t remember the last time I read a true account of someone who was impacted by Munchausens—usually I’ve come across this in fiction works. I think I may have been expecting a little more about Naylor’s mom and less about Naylor’s life itself, but once I readjusted my expectations it was a very intriguing read.

My Mother, Munchausen's and Me by Helen Naylor was a dark, heart breaking, deliberate and deep retelling of a desperately sad upbringing. At times this story did move slowly and felt a bit repetitive but I realized at the end that it was all necessary for appropriately demonstrating the magnitude of the issue, harm, damage and destruction caused.

This is a really interesting insight into living with a parent with Munchausen’s syndrome.

Helen’s life in entirely dominated by her mothers illnesses and disabilities, but she learns they were all made up.

Helen takes us through her life from childhood to her mother’s death.

Her story is shocking, harrowing and heartbreaking, though her resilience shines through.

I mainly read this in audiobook form which is narrated by the author herself. Helen did a fantastic job narrating and doing so really brought her story to life for me.

There’s an awful lot of trigger warnings and I would recommend looking them up before reading.

Helen Naylor takes us on a journey from her childhood through adulthood that is consumed by her mother's undiagnosed Munchausen's. We are with her as she realizes that her life is not typical, normal, and neither is her mother. Well-narrated, My Mother, Munchausen's and Me is worth going along for the ride.

My Mother, Munchausen's, and Me is a fascinating memoir by Helen Naylor. Brutally honest, it covers Helen's relationship with her mother from childhood to adulthood.

We've all heard of Munchausen's by Proxy; however, not so much about a woman actually suffering from Munchausen's. When Helen turned seven, her mother began to suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome. It's the perfect illness for someone suffering from Munchausen's. As long as Helen and her father catered to her mother, life ran fairly smoothly.

When Helen married and her mother was no longer Helen's first priority, Parkinson's became the disease of choice. Due to her mother's fantasy illness, Helen's life became a nightmare as she struggled to care for her family while dealing with her mother.

This title was absolutely fascinating, and I would highly recommend it . In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free digital audio copy of this title to review from Net Galley.

#MyMotherMunchausensandMe#NetGalley

I loved this to this non fiction work as a I walked. A mother daughter relationship strained over a Mother just desiring to be sick. She strived to be illl with what we know as fibromaylgia. Ultimately diagnosed with Parkinsons and she has never been so elated. A horrific and sad look at a strained mother daughter relationship.

What's a daughter to do when she finally realizes that her mother has kept a terrible secret all her life?

This book was eye-opening, emotional, frustrating, and extremely informative about Munchausen's. Helen spent her whole entire life thinking both her parents were disabled, but upon her mother's death, she discovers the truth.

Excellent non-fiction that fans of books like Hillbilly Elegy, Educated, or The Glass Castle will definitely enjoy.

Books like this are hard to review. My mother, Munchausen's, and me written and narrated by Helen Naylor, is a memoir of coexistence with her very sick and toxic mother. Munchausen's in a nutshell is when a person goes to extreme measures to get attention and care for a sickness they don't have. Naylor's mother spent her life falsifying symptoms, taking prescriptions she didn't need, manipulating doctors, and weaving a social circle of people who would dote on her.

All of that at the expense of Helen Naylor's childhood then her grandchildren's. Helen was often dismissed, ignored, and pretty much raised herself while her mother laid in bed "ill." Helen somehow grows up to be a seemingly lovely wife and mother who very consciously loves her kids in the ways she never received, but she didn't get a diagnosis for Munchausen's until just before her mother passed.

How do I review such a tragic story??? The book is well written and organized. It was fascinating how she had her mother's diaries to interject within Helen's story, sharing with the reader the gaping chasm between mother and daughter. I also appreciated that she also narrated the audiobook. That must have been hard, but there's always a little extra magic and meaning when an author does it themselves.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thread Books for an audiobook copy to listen to and review.

I've only heard about this psychological disorder with a girl named Gypsy Rose Blanchard who killed her mother, but besides that, this was learning process for me. This book is about regular Munchausen in the author’s mother Elinor, who made her childhood so difficult while pretending a disabling illness. Helen's mother, Elinor, faked illnesses all her life just to revel in the sympathy people showed her.

This book was definitely difficult to read at times and very sad, but also a really interesting, eye opening and informative book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Thread Books for allowing me to review this arc.