Moments of pain leavened with unexpected humor set Waking Up Cattywampus apart from other memoirs. In this unflinching examination, the author ponders the impact of being bullied as a child. He examines how, as the oldest of eight children, he coped with his father’s alcoholism. He discusses with admirable frankness his successes and his failures.

Joyful and heartbreaking in turns, Cattywampus details the search for self – and provides a roadmap in seven delightful appendices. The search for meaning is a life-long quest and never straightforward. We are all born “cattywampus.”