A review by sirhcybe
Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

2.5

Phuc had a troubled childhood with an abusive father and lots of racism and bullying directed his way. So it's no wonder he was an angry, punk  troublemaker as a teenager. I live near the town where he grew up and he's pretty hard on it.  The book ends with him finally achieving his longed for goal of getting out of Carlisle and going to college so we never quite see him mature into the teacher he becomes or find out if he ever reconciles with his parents, which made the book feel inconclusive to me. I also didn't personally relate to his teenage troubles and I don't particularly enjoy reading stories about other people's sad lives. Finally, while generally well written, it did annoy me occasionally that Phuc writes like he's trying to get high school English teachers to assign his book because it has so many good SAT vocabulary words.
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