NORMAL FAMILY

An entertaining memoir about a uniquely dysfunctional family.

In her debut memoir, Bilton tells two remarkable stories. One is the chronicle of her wildly unconventional childhood as the daughter of a woman described by a friend, without much exaggeration, as "one of the great characters of the Western world." Growing up "in Beverly Hills in the 1950s in a high-society family—the prized granddaughter of a former governor of California…and the daughter of a prominent judge in Los Angeles,” Debra Olson was many things: an Eastern spiritualist; an out lesbian in homophobic times; a master saleswoman, making and losing millions in pyramid schemes; a friend of many celebrities; Ross Perot's "civil rights coordinator”; and a hedonist and sometime addict who yearned "to overdose on everything, especially life.” Though her daughters were by far the most important part of her life, the girls’ childhoods were marked by instability and loss, with both their father, Jeffrey, and many other second “mothers” coming and going on a regular basis. Bilton's warts-and-all depiction is sometimes hilarious, sometimes horrifying, always grounded in extraordinary forgiveness and resilience. The second story is the tale of Donor 150, who was by far the most popular option for those purchasing sperm at the California Cryobank in Century City, recommended constantly by the nurses and the doctor who ran the place. In 2005, over a decade after his retirement from the sperm donation business, Jeffrey saw a headline on the front page of the New York Times: "HELLO, I’M YOUR SISTER. OUR FATHER IS DONOR 150." The author was a sophomore in college at the time, and it would be another two years before she became aware of the situation. By then, there were documentaries, magazine articles, a Facebook group, and ever more popular DNA testing. By that time, as she would soon learn, she was dating her own brother.

A wholly absorbing page-turner that everyone will want to read. You should probably buy two.