Sam's Reviews > Wonderland: A Tale of Hustling Hard and Breaking Even

This book is cathartic, both for Nicole Treska to write and for us to read. She talks of a very specific time in her life with the final transition to adulthood: realizing that, despite all of the growth you’ve undergone as a person, you are more like your family than you realize. It’s a particularly hard realization to have when you live away from your hometown, and especially difficult when your hometown is as tough and demanding as Boston. Trust me - I would know.

Treska’s writing is earnest without being flowery. It’s humbling (and heartbreaking) to read about the people she loved so much who also are the biggest sources of her pain. It’s one thing to know that her parents are affiliated with Whitey Bulger and the Winter Hill gang - it’s another to have them lie and steal to you directly.

Overall an amazing memoir and I look forward to reading more of her work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Nicole Treska, and Simon & Schuester for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.