The author starts the book by describing how she worked through the process of writing this book with family members, and after finishing it I can see why. Narayan talks about how the title came from Gerald Durrell's famous My Family and Other Animals, a favorite book of her childhood as it was of mine. The beauty in Durrell's book, however, comes from his incredible ability to mine his memories for humor, in addition to incredibly vivid nature writing.
By contrast, Narayan manages to simultaneously recapture her childhood emotions and reactions to difficult situations while interpreting them through her adult understanding in a way that is both unsentimental and compassionate.