Melanie's Reviews> Small Fry: A Memoir

Guys, you don't have to read this book. Utter crap. This book is only relevant for people obsessed with Apple and Steve Jobs like he's some kind of genius or a god. Lisa is a very minor story in his life and this novel reads as such. I mean no wants to read about ordinary things done by ordinary people like a journal entry sans critical reflection. Like, my mother bought a car, we called Steve to pay the bill. I mean, just no. There's a lot of sentences like this, we called him up to ask for rent, we called him up to get his sofa....come on! Read the last two chapters or so and that's enough. I'll even make it easy for you - here's the Vanity Fair link of a chapter:https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/....You're welcome.

Yes, this was a very cleaned up memoir of Steve Jobs (I say this kindly because you are reading this because of him and NOT Lisa a really minor player in the Apple world!), too clean when in fact, he was an abusive asshole to her as a child up until his death. It was unclear to me what she wanted, to be loved by an abusive person, or to resolve to get away from obviously a hot-cold parent. Come on girl, stand up! Steve didn't even pay a lot of her tuition fee in Harvard (she got in because she dropped the name OMFG). Lisa was taken in by kind neighbors who put her through school and housed her for several years and she didn't even invite them to her graduation because Steve was invited. What?! Who are these people?

As you can see, the money and the Jobs name is obviously the path to wealth and fame, and I wouldn't mind if she chose that. She should cry it out over the rooftops. I just wanted her to be honest upfront. Not sanitize it. I want to hear if she grappled with it. But no. Not a peep. It is like the narrator is an outsider looking in and it reads as such. We moved here, my mom painted in a school...

If a parent never really loved you and is psychologically abusive( "come to the circus with us or else, you can just pack up and leave the house..." ) why stick to him (aside from the money)? Why append a last name that doesn't mean anything except being unloved? I really would not begrudge her for doing so, in fact, I would respect her for that, after all, she is entitled to it as his kid. She should fight for it. But you don't read that. I actually wish she got a portion of his estate as the ultimate third finger but NO this is not that kind of factual story. No figures or anything, completely rambling journal accounts. This clean account sounds like a dishonest shill.

If you want to find a resolution that he may not be a crappy human being to absolve you of his meanness in life, sure, you might find it in the pages. The only good part was the conversation with Jobs at his deathbed. Even then, the stepmom goes to say, I don't believe in deathbed ramblings. What?! Who are these crappy human beings and why is she STILL around them? What I wanted to hear and read is if she has really moved on out of the clutches of his meanness, etc. You don't read that. Why? So where's the closure here. Jeez, appending his name to hers. Is that it?

If you want a dramatic memoir with all the angst and resolution, just read Cheryl Strayed's Wild, by god, that's some M*F*ng writing and a stupendous life redemption.