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Everything/Nothing/Someone
A powerful literary debut that tells of a young woman’s coming-of-age in the bohemian ’90s, as her adolescence gives way to a struggle with dissociative disorder.
Alice Carrière tells the story of her unconventional upbringing in Greenwich Village as the daughter of a remote mother, the renowned artist Jennifer Bartlett, and a charismatic father, European actor Mathieu Carrière. From an early age, Alice is forced to navigate her mother’s recovered memories of ritualized sexual abuse, which she turns into art, and her father’s confusing attentions. Her days are a mixture of privilege, neglect, loneliness, and danger—a child living in an adult’s world, with little-to-no enforcement of boundaries or supervision.
When she enters adolescence, Alice begins to lose her grasp on herself, as a dissociative disorder erases her identity and overzealous doctors medicate her further away from herself. She inhabits various roles: as a patient in expensive psychiatric hospitals, a denizen of the downtown New York music scene, the ingenue in destructive encounters with older men—ricocheting from experience to experience until a medication-induced psychosis brings these personas crashing down. Eventually, she finds purpose in caring for her Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother as she descends into dementia, in a love affair with a recovering addict who steadies her, in confronting her father, whose words and actions splintered her, and in finding her voice as a writer.
With gallows humor and brutal honesty, Everything/Nothing/Someone explores what it means for our body and mind to belong to us wholly, irrevocably, and on our own terms. In pulsing, energetic prose that is both precise and probing, Alice manages to untangle the stories told to her by her parents, the American psychiatric complex, and her own broken mind to craft a unique and mesmerizing narrative of emergence and, finally, cure.
Alice Carrière tells the story of her unconventional upbringing in Greenwich Village as the daughter of a remote mother, the renowned artist Jennifer Bartlett, and a charismatic father, European actor Mathieu Carrière. From an early age, Alice is forced to navigate her mother’s recovered memories of ritualized sexual abuse, which she turns into art, and her father’s confusing attentions. Her days are a mixture of privilege, neglect, loneliness, and danger—a child living in an adult’s world, with little-to-no enforcement of boundaries or supervision.
When she enters adolescence, Alice begins to lose her grasp on herself, as a dissociative disorder erases her identity and overzealous doctors medicate her further away from herself. She inhabits various roles: as a patient in expensive psychiatric hospitals, a denizen of the downtown New York music scene, the ingenue in destructive encounters with older men—ricocheting from experience to experience until a medication-induced psychosis brings these personas crashing down. Eventually, she finds purpose in caring for her Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother as she descends into dementia, in a love affair with a recovering addict who steadies her, in confronting her father, whose words and actions splintered her, and in finding her voice as a writer.
With gallows humor and brutal honesty, Everything/Nothing/Someone explores what it means for our body and mind to belong to us wholly, irrevocably, and on our own terms. In pulsing, energetic prose that is both precise and probing, Alice manages to untangle the stories told to her by her parents, the American psychiatric complex, and her own broken mind to craft a unique and mesmerizing narrative of emergence and, finally, cure.
288 pages, Paperback
First published August 29, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 693 reviews
December 26, 2023
yes i read nonfiction (literary memoirs).
this was a wildly honest and borderline unreadable book. a lot of the times memoirs make me ask the following questions:
1) can i rate someone's life?
2) can i deem "publishable" someone's life?
3) is there a threshold for how interesting someone's life has to be in order to be publishable?
this made me ask all three, and also i didn't enjoy reading it.
but damn did it not shy away from itself!
bottom line: i do recommend this. also, i do not.
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
this was a wildly honest and borderline unreadable book. a lot of the times memoirs make me ask the following questions:
1) can i rate someone's life?
2) can i deem "publishable" someone's life?
3) is there a threshold for how interesting someone's life has to be in order to be publishable?
this made me ask all three, and also i didn't enjoy reading it.
but damn did it not shy away from itself!
bottom line: i do recommend this. also, i do not.
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
November 23, 2024
I didn't come into this book with many expectations. I read the synopsis on Netgalley for an advanced copy, and figured I'd give it a shot. And I truly am SO glad that I did.
Alice tells a story of an unconventional upbringing in Greenwich Village, raised by a distant, famous artist mother and an ambiguous, unpredictable father. Alice's mother alleges that she was a victim to ritualized sexual abuse in her early years, and as Alice grows older she's becoming increasingly skeptical of her own father's behavior. This, coupled with chronic mental illness and substance use, unravels Alice in a slow disappearing act of her psyche.
Not only was the writing excellent, but the way that Alice portayed her Dissociative Disorder was so gripping and eye-opening. I'm a clinical social worker, and I have experienced so many clients who would resonate with the way that Alice portrayed her experience. Her writing is candid, vulnerable, and, at times, incredibly visceral. There were so many times that I teared up, laughed out loud, and physically cringed (at parts that were intentionally cringe worthy, I think l:) ) I changed my mind about everyone in this book about 100 times, and by the time I finished it, I realized that I think that was largely the point.
All and all, BEAUTIFUL. I will absolutely be buying the physical copy to have on my 'hall of fame' shelf.
Lots of trigger warnings though-- be warned. Talk of sexual abuse, incest, emotional neglect, and substance use.
Alice tells a story of an unconventional upbringing in Greenwich Village, raised by a distant, famous artist mother and an ambiguous, unpredictable father. Alice's mother alleges that she was a victim to ritualized sexual abuse in her early years, and as Alice grows older she's becoming increasingly skeptical of her own father's behavior. This, coupled with chronic mental illness and substance use, unravels Alice in a slow disappearing act of her psyche.
Not only was the writing excellent, but the way that Alice portayed her Dissociative Disorder was so gripping and eye-opening. I'm a clinical social worker, and I have experienced so many clients who would resonate with the way that Alice portrayed her experience. Her writing is candid, vulnerable, and, at times, incredibly visceral. There were so many times that I teared up, laughed out loud, and physically cringed (at parts that were intentionally cringe worthy, I think l:) ) I changed my mind about everyone in this book about 100 times, and by the time I finished it, I realized that I think that was largely the point.
All and all, BEAUTIFUL. I will absolutely be buying the physical copy to have on my 'hall of fame' shelf.
Lots of trigger warnings though-- be warned. Talk of sexual abuse, incest, emotional neglect, and substance use.
January 19, 2025
Can you imagine being 15-years old, taking your SATs, and the entire English Composition portion of the test is all about your own mother? That's the kind of world this author grew up in. Her mother a famous artist, her father a well-know European actor, her home filled with drug-and-alcohol parties around the indoor swimming pool, Alice was thrown too early into the adult mix. By the time she was in HS (and surprisingly, in my sister's HS class — I was at their graduation), the disturbing lack of boundaries from her overstimulating and often sexually inappropriate father, and the cold neglect of her mother, created such an intense experience of disassociation that she ended up hospitalized.
I was appalled by the failure of the mental health world in contemporary NYC by even a privileged and well-connected family. I wish I could turn back time and send this vibrant, bright, gifted woman to my psychiatrist-father, who never would've added to the pile of medications without first weaning her off what she was on.
Alice's writing is deep, sensitive, thoughtful and first-rate. The abuse is in a gray area that creates a kind of confusion in a child that is barely written about, easy to brush under the rug, making things worse until it's impossible to ignore. The cast of people she comes into contact with include Patti Smith, Steve Martin, Joan Didion and Jean-Luc Godard, and it feels so natural. The book starts off beautifully, but gets to be a little much: you really need be be interested in the intimate struggles of a young woman in poor mental health. I am the reader for this one, and even I had to titrate my visits after first gobbling it up.
My biggest criticism comes when she suffers a bout of paranoia that went on for too long: I found this boring because I got the idea quickly, and I knew it wasn't real. Everything else was so real and intimate and revealing that I found myself relating, and really getting a full sense of who this woman was — even if she, at the time, could not. And the story ends well, showing how bravery and commitment to one's mental health can truly turn things around.
I also thoroughly enjoyed this because Alice was living on my turf. I was literally around the corner from her at the time, on Washington St. between Charles and 10th in Greenwich Village. Much like her, I went to Ace Bar (I have pics!) and Veselka, and laughed at the nostalgia of my sister's fashion-sense, roaming her HS halls with straightened hair and pajama-bottom pants. And my mom was also an artist in NYC, although 20 years prior, and there were familiar parallels in both lifestyle and the lack of emotional boundaries.
Overall, I say Bravo. But I also know that this won't be for everybody.
I was appalled by the failure of the mental health world in contemporary NYC by even a privileged and well-connected family. I wish I could turn back time and send this vibrant, bright, gifted woman to my psychiatrist-father, who never would've added to the pile of medications without first weaning her off what she was on.
Alice's writing is deep, sensitive, thoughtful and first-rate. The abuse is in a gray area that creates a kind of confusion in a child that is barely written about, easy to brush under the rug, making things worse until it's impossible to ignore. The cast of people she comes into contact with include Patti Smith, Steve Martin, Joan Didion and Jean-Luc Godard, and it feels so natural. The book starts off beautifully, but gets to be a little much: you really need be be interested in the intimate struggles of a young woman in poor mental health. I am the reader for this one, and even I had to titrate my visits after first gobbling it up.
My biggest criticism comes when she suffers a bout of paranoia that went on for too long: I found this boring because I got the idea quickly, and I knew it wasn't real. Everything else was so real and intimate and revealing that I found myself relating, and really getting a full sense of who this woman was — even if she, at the time, could not. And the story ends well, showing how bravery and commitment to one's mental health can truly turn things around.
I also thoroughly enjoyed this because Alice was living on my turf. I was literally around the corner from her at the time, on Washington St. between Charles and 10th in Greenwich Village. Much like her, I went to Ace Bar (I have pics!) and Veselka, and laughed at the nostalgia of my sister's fashion-sense, roaming her HS halls with straightened hair and pajama-bottom pants. And my mom was also an artist in NYC, although 20 years prior, and there were familiar parallels in both lifestyle and the lack of emotional boundaries.
Overall, I say Bravo. But I also know that this won't be for everybody.
July 23, 2023
Four Stars
This was a very interesting memoir from a young woman named Alice Carriere who was born to successful artistic parents. Her mother was artist Jennifer Bartlett and the father was German actor Mathieu Carriere. Post divorce, Alice lived with her mother in NYC in what sounded like an amazing property featuring an upstairs bedroom with a pool and floor to ceiling windows leading out to a garden. However, her mother was distant and self-absorbed with her artwork. Alice's nanny seemed more of a mother to her, and there didn't seem to be any structure or responsibilities grounding her life. There also was a simmering sexual innuendo with the father when they would have visitations.
The book is a wild ride of Alice's psychological struggles including bouts of cutting, panic attacks, paranoia, and much more. Like her mother, Alice loved to listen to audiobooks growing up, and was fastidious about keeping journals. She clearly is a gifted writer and this was a seeringly honest and compelling read.
Thank you to the publisher Spiegel & Grau who provided an advance reader copy via NetGalley.
This was a very interesting memoir from a young woman named Alice Carriere who was born to successful artistic parents. Her mother was artist Jennifer Bartlett and the father was German actor Mathieu Carriere. Post divorce, Alice lived with her mother in NYC in what sounded like an amazing property featuring an upstairs bedroom with a pool and floor to ceiling windows leading out to a garden. However, her mother was distant and self-absorbed with her artwork. Alice's nanny seemed more of a mother to her, and there didn't seem to be any structure or responsibilities grounding her life. There also was a simmering sexual innuendo with the father when they would have visitations.
The book is a wild ride of Alice's psychological struggles including bouts of cutting, panic attacks, paranoia, and much more. Like her mother, Alice loved to listen to audiobooks growing up, and was fastidious about keeping journals. She clearly is a gifted writer and this was a seeringly honest and compelling read.
Thank you to the publisher Spiegel & Grau who provided an advance reader copy via NetGalley.
September 30, 2023
currently reading jennette mccurdy september pick.She posting me on her story while reading this book made my whole year.My 10 yo self is screaming rn:')
Read
October 27, 2023Carrière's memoir is a good example of how an outwardly privileged looking upbringing can internally be crushing and devoid of much of the needed connections and nurturing. It's also a story of love that can bloom in spite of everything (addiction, mental health struggles, illness and loss).
No rating because I decided that rating memoirs feels icky.
No rating because I decided that rating memoirs feels icky.
November 27, 2024
Who is Alice Carriere?
The daughter of a New York artist and German actor, Alice Carierre grew up in ‘90s New York to a life of privilege. Primarily raised by “Nanny,” she struggles with feelings of loneliness, neglect, and danger. Alice must deal with her mother’s recovered memories in a sex cult and the confusing attentions of her father. Living without any boundaries or supervision, she rebels in her adolescence and teenage years, slowly losing a grasp on herself to a dissociative disorder. She spends time as a patient in psychiatric hospitals, where she is prescribed dozens of medications, eventually leading to a medication induced psychosis.
Alice must confront her parents and find a way to heal their relationships in order to heal herself.
Read by the author, Everything/Nothing/Someone is a brilliant memoir written by a woman with an incredible grasp of the English language. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, as Carrierre is a fantastic reader. It is unbelievable what this extraordinary woman endured! Beautiful and heartbreaking, this brutally honest and thought-provoking memoir is not to be missed.
BEWARE! This memoir includes ALL of the trigger warnings!
5/5 stars
The daughter of a New York artist and German actor, Alice Carierre grew up in ‘90s New York to a life of privilege. Primarily raised by “Nanny,” she struggles with feelings of loneliness, neglect, and danger. Alice must deal with her mother’s recovered memories in a sex cult and the confusing attentions of her father. Living without any boundaries or supervision, she rebels in her adolescence and teenage years, slowly losing a grasp on herself to a dissociative disorder. She spends time as a patient in psychiatric hospitals, where she is prescribed dozens of medications, eventually leading to a medication induced psychosis.
Alice must confront her parents and find a way to heal their relationships in order to heal herself.
Read by the author, Everything/Nothing/Someone is a brilliant memoir written by a woman with an incredible grasp of the English language. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, as Carrierre is a fantastic reader. It is unbelievable what this extraordinary woman endured! Beautiful and heartbreaking, this brutally honest and thought-provoking memoir is not to be missed.
BEWARE! This memoir includes ALL of the trigger warnings!
5/5 stars
September 24, 2023
Brutally honest but overwritten.
May 16, 2023
I won an advanced reader copy of this book from Goodreads and I am so grateful that I did.
Alice Carriere is an amazing writer. The descriptions and word choices are so beautiful. I was particularly interested in reading this book as a mental health provider. Her story deals with severe mental illness, a flawed mental health system, generational trauma, enmeshed and estranged relationships with parents and finding yourself. It's both heartbreaking and inspirational.
Fans of "I'm Glad My Mom Died", "In The Dream House", "Heavy", and "Crying in the Bathroom" will love this book. However Everything/Nothing/Someone: A Memoir definitely holds it's own. It's quite possibly my favorite book of 2023.
Alice Carriere is an amazing writer. The descriptions and word choices are so beautiful. I was particularly interested in reading this book as a mental health provider. Her story deals with severe mental illness, a flawed mental health system, generational trauma, enmeshed and estranged relationships with parents and finding yourself. It's both heartbreaking and inspirational.
Fans of "I'm Glad My Mom Died", "In The Dream House", "Heavy", and "Crying in the Bathroom" will love this book. However Everything/Nothing/Someone: A Memoir definitely holds it's own. It's quite possibly my favorite book of 2023.
December 3, 2023
This probably reflects more badly on me as a reader, but I felt it was hard to summon up sympathy for someone who didn’t ever reflect on the ridiculous amount of privilege she had.
August 28, 2023
I requested this book as an advance reader's copy to fufill a challenge prompt but it is definitely one outside my normal reading genres. I do enjoy memoirs, however, so thought that this one might be a good one to try. Despite that, however, I really struggled with this book.
I think anyone who reads this one will be sympathetic and empathetic to the difficulties Alice Carriere went through in her early life and into her 20s. While she was the very priviledged child of affluent, creative parents, she did not have an easy childhood and her mental health issues that began in early adolescence certainly contributed to many difficult years as she struggled with disassociative episodes, became a cutter, started using/abusing drugs and alcohol and eventually was institutionalized. The book highlights the great divide between people with money who can pay for resort-like conditions in a full-service inpatient experience and those who cannot. The author was one of the lucky ones whose family could afford to pay for any and all treatments for her.
Despite the fact that I can appreciate and admire the difficult path the author walked, I'm not sure that I learned much from this memoir and I had a hard time connecting with the author on almost any level. Throughout the book, I kept thinking to myself "If she didn't have the wealth of her parents backing her up, she'd be on the street or in the morgue and how many other people with mental health difficulties are experiencing that?" I'd wager a LOT more than someone like the author who moved in rarified circles. So that leads me to ask what the point of this book is. I feel sure it was a cathartic and emotional way of moving past her earlier demons, but I wonder what the draw for the average external reader might be. Most of the book felt like the poor little rich girl struggling along but again, there are many MANY people with severe mental health issues who have even less support than the author did for hers.
I'm glad the writer was able to find some closure and treatment that worked to improve her life and certainly that is of value to her, but this book was a bit of a disappointment for me. I wanted more from this title than I got.
I think anyone who reads this one will be sympathetic and empathetic to the difficulties Alice Carriere went through in her early life and into her 20s. While she was the very priviledged child of affluent, creative parents, she did not have an easy childhood and her mental health issues that began in early adolescence certainly contributed to many difficult years as she struggled with disassociative episodes, became a cutter, started using/abusing drugs and alcohol and eventually was institutionalized. The book highlights the great divide between people with money who can pay for resort-like conditions in a full-service inpatient experience and those who cannot. The author was one of the lucky ones whose family could afford to pay for any and all treatments for her.
Despite the fact that I can appreciate and admire the difficult path the author walked, I'm not sure that I learned much from this memoir and I had a hard time connecting with the author on almost any level. Throughout the book, I kept thinking to myself "If she didn't have the wealth of her parents backing her up, she'd be on the street or in the morgue and how many other people with mental health difficulties are experiencing that?" I'd wager a LOT more than someone like the author who moved in rarified circles. So that leads me to ask what the point of this book is. I feel sure it was a cathartic and emotional way of moving past her earlier demons, but I wonder what the draw for the average external reader might be. Most of the book felt like the poor little rich girl struggling along but again, there are many MANY people with severe mental health issues who have even less support than the author did for hers.
I'm glad the writer was able to find some closure and treatment that worked to improve her life and certainly that is of value to her, but this book was a bit of a disappointment for me. I wanted more from this title than I got.
September 23, 2023
2.5 started really strong and then just became the weird narcissistic tell all.
June 29, 2023
I found I had to read this book slowly, in small doses, or I would get depressed. It’s a harrowing and brave story of childhood neglect, drug abuse, madness. I wanted to cry, to hug little Alice, and teenage Alice and young adult Alice, and scream at her parents, her doctors, all the people who failed her.
There are gorgeous sentences in this memoir. Beautiful metaphors. And a lot of writing with little embellishment that is all the more harrowing for it. I really appreciated the descriptions of what it felt like to dissociate, or to be propped up and down by prescription drugs like Adderall, Klonopin, and a whole host of other psychopharmaceuticals.
There were also some places where I was confused about the whens or the wheres. Some, what felt to me to be major, parts of the story that got dropped, like Jennifer’s cancer. I can’t imagine that memoir is ever easily written, though. And I’m grateful to have read this one.
Thank you to Spiegel & Grau for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.
There are gorgeous sentences in this memoir. Beautiful metaphors. And a lot of writing with little embellishment that is all the more harrowing for it. I really appreciated the descriptions of what it felt like to dissociate, or to be propped up and down by prescription drugs like Adderall, Klonopin, and a whole host of other psychopharmaceuticals.
There were also some places where I was confused about the whens or the wheres. Some, what felt to me to be major, parts of the story that got dropped, like Jennifer’s cancer. I can’t imagine that memoir is ever easily written, though. And I’m grateful to have read this one.
Thank you to Spiegel & Grau for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.
December 17, 2025
3.5 ★
It was okay. I wish the author had gone more into depth about the research of her mental illness. Also, it was hard to figure out the truth because the narrator was unreliable. Maybe that was the point.
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Short Synopsis
Alice discusses her unconventional childhood and having a dissociative mental disorder.
It was okay. I wish the author had gone more into depth about the research of her mental illness. Also, it was hard to figure out the truth because the narrator was unreliable. Maybe that was the point.
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Short Synopsis
Alice discusses her unconventional childhood and having a dissociative mental disorder.
May 2, 2023
“I need to know what really happened to me,” says Alice Carrière to her parents during a long overdue family therapy session. This sentence captures the lifelong search at the center of Carrière’s powerful, at times disturbing forthcoming memoir. Everything/Nothing/Someone recounts her unstable young life growing up in the shadow of her eccentric, unpredictable parents, renowned artist Jennifer Bartlett and European actor Mathieu Carrière. In this world, lines between truth and imagination are blurred, leading Carrière to question her memories as she begins to lead her own life.
Divided into three parts, the memoir follows Carrière from the age of seven—when she first realizes that her home life in an extravagant converted warehouse in Greenwich Village is not exactly “normal”—into her thirties, after decades of struggling with self-harm, addiction, and mental illness. Drawing on an impressive archive of documents including journals (belonging to her, each of her parents, and her beloved caregiver, “Nanny”), psychiatric evaluations, and divorce court records, Carrière pieces together a lifetime of traumatic memories that triggered her descent into an all-consuming dissociative disorder. She writes, “Everyone told a different version of what happened, what I needed, and who I was. Everyone seemed like a credible narrator, but how could so many things be true at the same time?”
While many readers will find the story itself engrossing, perhaps most striking is Carrière’s commentary on what she calls the “American psychiatric complex.” As she reaches out for help, she is continually failed by doctors, who insist on prescribing her more and more medication (Adderall, the dangerously addictive Klonopin, and Zoloft, to name a few) rather than having a real conversation with her about what she’s going through. She writes, “As I was prescribed more pills, I was diagnosed with more disorders, whose symptoms often resembled the side effects of the pills.” The memoir deals with issues of sexual abuse, false memory, inherited trauma, mental illness, identity, and drug dependency. This one won’t be for everyone, but it offers a thought-provoking look at the lonely, sometimes life-threatening consequences of privilege, excess, and neglect.
Thank you NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau!
Divided into three parts, the memoir follows Carrière from the age of seven—when she first realizes that her home life in an extravagant converted warehouse in Greenwich Village is not exactly “normal”—into her thirties, after decades of struggling with self-harm, addiction, and mental illness. Drawing on an impressive archive of documents including journals (belonging to her, each of her parents, and her beloved caregiver, “Nanny”), psychiatric evaluations, and divorce court records, Carrière pieces together a lifetime of traumatic memories that triggered her descent into an all-consuming dissociative disorder. She writes, “Everyone told a different version of what happened, what I needed, and who I was. Everyone seemed like a credible narrator, but how could so many things be true at the same time?”
While many readers will find the story itself engrossing, perhaps most striking is Carrière’s commentary on what she calls the “American psychiatric complex.” As she reaches out for help, she is continually failed by doctors, who insist on prescribing her more and more medication (Adderall, the dangerously addictive Klonopin, and Zoloft, to name a few) rather than having a real conversation with her about what she’s going through. She writes, “As I was prescribed more pills, I was diagnosed with more disorders, whose symptoms often resembled the side effects of the pills.” The memoir deals with issues of sexual abuse, false memory, inherited trauma, mental illness, identity, and drug dependency. This one won’t be for everyone, but it offers a thought-provoking look at the lonely, sometimes life-threatening consequences of privilege, excess, and neglect.
Thank you NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau!
October 18, 2023
I’d basically had it with this book when the memoirist’s father, German actor Mathieu Carrière, talked about his dream of making a film in which he and his teenage daughter Alice would star as lovers. There would, of course, be a sex scene. Could it become more sordid than that? Well, yes, perhaps it could. The “banality of evil” is the phrase that came to mind once I’d reached that point. I had struggled to find a sympathetic human in the text and realized it wasn’t gonna happen. (Okay, maybe the nanny, but her time on stage was brief.) Alas, there’s just too, too much of Alice and her dysfunction.
Also, contrary to the comments of many, I don’t think the writing is anything special at all. The author is perhaps less interesting than she thinks she is. There’s something flat about the whole endeavour. I question the book’s being published. To what end? Sensationalism? By turns dreary and debauched, this memoir could not and in fact did not end soon enough for me. I simply stopped at the one-third point. Two hundred more pages seemed like unnecessary torture. Cannot recommend.
Also, contrary to the comments of many, I don’t think the writing is anything special at all. The author is perhaps less interesting than she thinks she is. There’s something flat about the whole endeavour. I question the book’s being published. To what end? Sensationalism? By turns dreary and debauched, this memoir could not and in fact did not end soon enough for me. I simply stopped at the one-third point. Two hundred more pages seemed like unnecessary torture. Cannot recommend.
November 24, 2023
Binge read this memoir in 3 days. I loved it! One of the best books I’ve read this year. If you’re a fan of memoirs such as The Glass Castle, I’m Glad My Mom Died and Wild Game this book is for you.
March 30, 2024
I absolutely hated this book. An insufferable privileged rich kid detailing her life with abusive/negligent artist parents and subsequent descent into substance abuse, self-harming behaviour and debilitating mental health issues exacerbated by meds prescribed to her.
It felt like salacious trauma porn, almost delighting in the smorgasbord of triggers to I don’t know what—impress or horrify her readers? This was another memoir that tricked me into reading detailed accounts of psycho/sexual child abuse without any mention of it in the synopsis or back cover text. Surprise! Here’s the most sickening trauma you can think of! I think it’s particularly egregious not to let readers know what they’re getting into when it’s something of this nature. But, more disheartening is the author’s attempt to explain away and be ok with her father’s abuse at the end of the book. Just. What are we reading here? Why do I feel gaslighted?
The writing was fine, but not particularly outstanding and of course I can feel for her struggles but she seemed particularly self-indulgent in writing about her life, uninterested in recovery, selfish with seemingly no outside perspective to herself and just I don’t know, everything about her was off putting to me. I hated every moment of this book, I really should have DNFed it but for some reason I continued to struggle on.
Not every person with a bad life story should write a memoir is what I’m saying. I think this book in particular if you’re interested in memoirs about mental health would actually actively cause you harm the way she writes about it if you’re not careful.
Felt gross finishing this one. Do not recommend.
It felt like salacious trauma porn, almost delighting in the smorgasbord of triggers to I don’t know what—impress or horrify her readers? This was another memoir that tricked me into reading detailed accounts of psycho/sexual child abuse without any mention of it in the synopsis or back cover text. Surprise! Here’s the most sickening trauma you can think of! I think it’s particularly egregious not to let readers know what they’re getting into when it’s something of this nature. But, more disheartening is the author’s attempt to explain away and be ok with her father’s abuse at the end of the book. Just. What are we reading here? Why do I feel gaslighted?
The writing was fine, but not particularly outstanding and of course I can feel for her struggles but she seemed particularly self-indulgent in writing about her life, uninterested in recovery, selfish with seemingly no outside perspective to herself and just I don’t know, everything about her was off putting to me. I hated every moment of this book, I really should have DNFed it but for some reason I continued to struggle on.
Not every person with a bad life story should write a memoir is what I’m saying. I think this book in particular if you’re interested in memoirs about mental health would actually actively cause you harm the way she writes about it if you’re not careful.
Felt gross finishing this one. Do not recommend.
September 5, 2023
A coming of age story about family, identity, mental health, psychiatric malpractice, and human connection.
Alice grew up with an extremely confusing childhood, a daughter of two self absorbed parents who offered no rules and no consequences. In early adulthood, she was diagnosed with dissociative disorder and was left convinced that she was nothing— unable to recognize herself in the mirror or understand where the words that she was speaking were coming from. In her memoir, we see Alice make her way through many roles and learn how these roles shaped her identity of herself.
This was a truly remarkable read. A gift, a true treasure. Carrière is unflinchingly honest and I adored it. Her writing is beautiful and eloquent, even when describing the worst moments of her life. Through the hardships, she gives readers a glimpse of beauty as well. It’s the perfect balance of dark and light.
Alice grew up with an extremely confusing childhood, a daughter of two self absorbed parents who offered no rules and no consequences. In early adulthood, she was diagnosed with dissociative disorder and was left convinced that she was nothing— unable to recognize herself in the mirror or understand where the words that she was speaking were coming from. In her memoir, we see Alice make her way through many roles and learn how these roles shaped her identity of herself.
This was a truly remarkable read. A gift, a true treasure. Carrière is unflinchingly honest and I adored it. Her writing is beautiful and eloquent, even when describing the worst moments of her life. Through the hardships, she gives readers a glimpse of beauty as well. It’s the perfect balance of dark and light.
October 24, 2023
DNF — I came to this based on a recommendation, without any prior knowledge of the author. As memoirs go, I expect there is serious redemption/lessons to be learned in the end—but by the time I read 50% I still felt uninvested in the author’s life. I understood that the author had heavy mental health burdens—just awful—but she also reflected on her wealth and privilege and relationships without much self-awareness. If she writes that perspective into the second half, it might be easier to relate to her, but I think memoirs should show their cards a little bit earlier—why am I rooting for you? Why should I read your story instead of someone else’s?
October 1, 2023
Am I the only one who found the few days in Paris- hashing out the absolutely horrific pyscho/sexual abuse her dad wielded throughout her life extremely disturbing? I found it vague and hard to accept. I’m happy for her, that she’s found some peace, and it’s her life, but no way can I feel anything but angry by that tidy conclusion to a lifetime of cruelty leveled on a child. Maybe I missed something, but it kind of ruined the book for me.
September 16, 2023
2.5 stars. This was very hyped, and I was intrigued by the psychologic aspects of this memoir, but I ultimately found it to be just kind of bizarre and only “okay”. I read the ebook on Libby, but because I wasn’t that into it, I almost didn’t finish before time was up. I can’t say that I recommend this.
September 11, 2025
one of my favorite memoirs and one of my favorite reads of the year. it was captivating while still managing to grapple with difficult subjects, and the author has such a unique and beautiful voice. will be thinking about this for a while
read again !!!! truly brilliant what a masterclass in writing about mental health. coming at this after being in grad school for counseling has introduced another fascinating layer to this and truly amplified its importance to me.
read again !!!! truly brilliant what a masterclass in writing about mental health. coming at this after being in grad school for counseling has introduced another fascinating layer to this and truly amplified its importance to me.
July 22, 2023
Alice’s story is very heartbroken. She has to go through a lot of difficulties throughout her life. At an early age Alice has to go through sexual abuse, neglect, loneliness, drugs, alcohol, and having to live with little to no rules. Alice’s story is very heartbroken.
She has to go through a lot of difficulties throughout her life. At an early age Alice has to go through sexual abuse, neglect, loneliness, drugs, alcohol, and having to live with little to no rules. This book is well written and I couldn’t put it down. It's also sad and shocking at the same time. In her adult life Alice has to live through her mental health, including being in an in-patient treatment.
This book is well written and I couldn’t put it down. It's also sad and shocking at the same time.
Thank you to Spiegal & Grau and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in order to do a review.
She has to go through a lot of difficulties throughout her life. At an early age Alice has to go through sexual abuse, neglect, loneliness, drugs, alcohol, and having to live with little to no rules. This book is well written and I couldn’t put it down. It's also sad and shocking at the same time. In her adult life Alice has to live through her mental health, including being in an in-patient treatment.
This book is well written and I couldn’t put it down. It's also sad and shocking at the same time.
Thank you to Spiegal & Grau and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in order to do a review.
June 8, 2023
WOWWWWW this book is equally horrifying, gut wrenching, incredibly touching and a bit unbelievable. I could not believe this was a work of non-fiction (so much so I googled the mentioned paintings) and I cannot believe Alice lived through this.
Much like the Glass Castle, Educated, and Brain on Fire, this book discusses trauma/mental illness through memoir. What sets this book apart is that the author comes from WEALTH. Raised by a nanny, rarely sees her mother, visits her father overseas and basically is a child living like an adult with no rules or any semblance of order for long stretches of time. She has all the connections, gets into MULTIPLE great colleges and can’t finish - and the journey is so heartbreaking.
It takes a second to get into, but once I started I finished this so quickly. highly recommend.
Much like the Glass Castle, Educated, and Brain on Fire, this book discusses trauma/mental illness through memoir. What sets this book apart is that the author comes from WEALTH. Raised by a nanny, rarely sees her mother, visits her father overseas and basically is a child living like an adult with no rules or any semblance of order for long stretches of time. She has all the connections, gets into MULTIPLE great colleges and can’t finish - and the journey is so heartbreaking.
It takes a second to get into, but once I started I finished this so quickly. highly recommend.
December 17, 2023
DNFd.
Picture this: an idiot, also known as me, decides it’s a good idea to take a nice stroll from uptown to gramercy on a Saturday early evening the week before Christmas. I’m weaving through massive crowds of tourists, listening to what feels like the author’s millionth story of being hurt and neglected, hurt and neglected, hurt and neglected… I get to a point where I genuinely don’t wanna listen anymore. Every chapter is not only very overwhelming and sad but also repetitive and predictable. I wouldn’t even say her writing is particularly good. 66% felt like I gave it a fair enough chance. I wish Carriere all the healing she deserves.
Unfair I make this DNF call under these circumstances? Possibly. But life’s too short for books that stress me out. I’ve got midtown during the holiday season for that.
Picture this: an idiot, also known as me, decides it’s a good idea to take a nice stroll from uptown to gramercy on a Saturday early evening the week before Christmas. I’m weaving through massive crowds of tourists, listening to what feels like the author’s millionth story of being hurt and neglected, hurt and neglected, hurt and neglected… I get to a point where I genuinely don’t wanna listen anymore. Every chapter is not only very overwhelming and sad but also repetitive and predictable. I wouldn’t even say her writing is particularly good. 66% felt like I gave it a fair enough chance. I wish Carriere all the healing she deserves.
Unfair I make this DNF call under these circumstances? Possibly. But life’s too short for books that stress me out. I’ve got midtown during the holiday season for that.
February 7, 2024
Everything/Nothing/Someone is the brutal and honest memoir of Alice Carriere that shows us all the ways things can go wrong when a life of affluence lacking in boundaries and supervision collides with mental illness and a bohemian culture of drugs and self destructive behavior.
It's a miracle that Alice Carriere survived. I can't stop thinking about how different the story would be if she had been born into poverty. Everything/Nothing/Someone is a difficult but important book. 4*
Trigger warnings: self harm, substance abuse, sexual abuse.
I received a drc from the publisher via NetGalley.
I
It's a miracle that Alice Carriere survived. I can't stop thinking about how different the story would be if she had been born into poverty. Everything/Nothing/Someone is a difficult but important book. 4*
Trigger warnings: self harm, substance abuse, sexual abuse.
I received a drc from the publisher via NetGalley.
I
September 20, 2023
One of the most harrowing but hopeful memoirs I can remember reading -- with writing so exquisite and surprising that part of the suspense comes not just from wondering what will happen next but wondering how Alice Carriere will explain and describe it. Like Educated, it tells the story of a childhood that seems both implausible and impossible to have transcended. Yet there the words are, and the pages turn themselves.
February 22, 2024
Have you ever listened to a story being told by a compulsive liar? This feels very much like a desperate plea for attention from a competent writer with absolutely no sense of self-awareness or how the world works. If that’s your thing, then just watch Saltburn, at least the cinematography is interesting. If you want a decent book about mental health, I recommend the Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer.
One star for decent prose. She’s a competent writer, but not a particularly gifted one.
One star for decent prose. She’s a competent writer, but not a particularly gifted one.
July 11, 2023
An extremely powerful and moving book about family relationships, disassociative disorder, and our desire to be loved in our own way. Carrière is a beautiful writer, and I found myself rereading certain passages because they were so beautiful, despite the subject matter. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
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