Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson, 2/5

This book is shallow as a parking lot puddle, full of cringey anecdotes and generic advice. The reader is encouraged, regardless of their own psychological state, to assess problematic people in their life using criteria so broad and subjective that a diagnosis of “emotionally immature” is practically guaranteed. Once their problems have predictably been blamed on childhood and upbringing, the inevitable advice to “awaken your True Self” by finding your inner child ensues. If the author is correct that who you were before fourth grade is key, then I guess my True Self is a horse?

Why I read it: Lent to me (but pointedly not recommended) by a family member who evidently knows me extremely well.