While Tori Murden writes a fascinating description of her personal journeys (inner and outer), she fails to share with us the causes of her emotional torments. Reading between the lines, it looks as though this woman grew up feeling unprotected, unsupported, and very …more probably unloved. Who beats up their daughter and throws her into a dog kennel to teach her a lesson? Because she constantly feared corporal punishment, she was unable to seek help from her parents during her most vulnerable years. As readers we need to know that through her journeys, she was able to come to understand her behavior by facing what happened to her as a child. That appears to be entirely missing from her read on her own experience. Surely, the book cries out for the real explanation as to why she was so driven and why she felt so worthless. (less)