Acceptance
A Memoir
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4.4 • 75 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“Nietfeld’s gifts for capturing the fury of living at the mercy of bad circumstances, for critiquing the hero’s journey even while she tells it, make Acceptance a remarkable memoir.” —The New York Times Book Review
A hard-hitting and hilarious memoir of ambition, desperation, and the dark side of grit
Growing up in a house filled with dirty feather boas and fearless mice, Emi Nietfeld dreams of escaping to the Ivy League. Emi’s single mom believes in her, but can’t stop hoarding—catapulting Emi into the underworld of troubled teen treatment, foster care, and homelessness. When her shot arrives to trade sleeping in her car for the hallowed halls of an elite college, Emi must decide: How far will she go to market herself as a perfect “overcomer” when her problems are far from over? And what will it cost to maintain that illusion at Harvard and into adulthood?
From journalist, mental health advocate, and software engineer Emi Nietfeld, this searing coming-of-age story is both a chronicle of the American Dream and an indictment of it. Exposing the price of trading a troubled past for the promise of a bright future, Nietfeld explores whether any amount of success can make trauma worth it. With a ribbon of dark humor, Acceptance challenges our ideas of what it means to overcome—and live on your own terms.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In her heart-wrenching debut memoir, Emi Nietfeld recounts her miserable adolescence dealing with a mentally unstable mother. Young Emi, a gifted student, bounces between foster care and a bleak Methodist clinic for treating eating disorders. After seeking help from a series of doctors, teachers, and advocates who come across as either astonishingly callous or truly inept, Emi eventually makes her way to Harvard. Acceptance refuses to tie a ribbon around this hardscrabble story, showing how childhood wounds take a lifetime to heal. Despite her resilience and remarkable success, Nietfeld leaves us with the stark impression that the road forward will never be easy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nietfeld debuts with a heart-pounding look at her path out of homelessness and the flawed systems she had to navigate along the way. Raised in Minneapolis in the early 2000s by a single mother, Nietfeld's home was "filled to the top with garbage, and... covered with mouse and dog excrements." Despite the glaring signs of abuse, Nietfeld's mother convinced therapists her daughter was mentally unwell. "No one would listen to me. No one would trust me," Nietfeld writes, describing in unsparing prose the revolving door of mental institutions she spun through before being put into foster care in her teens. Though her foster parents belittled her academic pursuits, she excelled in her studies and secured a scholarship to boarding school, where she spent school breaks alternating between prestigious academic camps and living in her car. After being accepted to Harvard, Nietfeld was sure her life would change, but as she reckoned with the school's elitist culture and, later, the disillusionment that came from working in Silicon Valley, she realized the trauma "ingrained into my nervous system" couldn't be eradicated by the fleeting thrills and rewards of finding "status" in America. It's a sobering narrative, and Nietfeld's raw resilience and candor will keep readers enthralled until the very last page. This hits hard.
Customer Reviews
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Deeply personal and revealing.
A compelling and chilling story
Bravely written and hard to put down. A gift.
Great read
Very interesting book, really enjoyed it