“Coming out was the hardest, smartest thing I’ve ever done. There was no way to know if they would ever get over their own rules of living and bend to accept the ones I was establishing for myself especially when there was no precedent for establishing your own rules in our family. Once I’d done it, I felt invincible. Do you know what’s scary after destroying the hopes and dreams of the people who created you? Literally nothing. It was the exact moment my adult life began.”

A thoughtful, if conventional memoir. Akhavan has some interesting insights on the vulnerability that art and expression requires. Her journey is not just about pushing up against parental or cultural expectations. The story goes through time in film college and coming into her own in New York, London, and in the worst screening rooms on the indie film circuit. The most unique aspect of the memoir in my opinion was her dynamic with parents who are neither arch villains nor perfect pinnacles of acceptance.