Diary of a Misfit
A Memoir and a Mystery
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Narrated by:
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Casey Parks
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By:
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Casey Parks
About this listen
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2022 by The Washington Post, Boston Globe, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, New York Public Library, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Part memoir, part sweeping journalistic saga: As Casey Parks follows the mystery of a stranger's past, she is forced to reckon with her own sexuality, her fraught Southern identity, her tortured yet loving relationship with her mother, and the complicated role of faith in her life.
"Most moving is Parks’s depiction of a queer lineage, her assertion of an ancestry of outcasts, a tapestry of fellow misfits into which the marginalized will always, for better or worse, fit."—The New York Times Book Review
When Casey Parks came out as a lesbian in college back in 2002, she assumed her life in the South was over. Her mother shunned her, and her pastor asked God to kill her. But then Parks's grandmother, a stern conservative who grew up picking cotton, pulled her aside and revealed a startling secret. "I grew up across the street from a woman who lived as a man," and then implored Casey to find out what happened to him.
Diary of a Misfit is the story of Parks's life-changing journey to unravel the mystery of Roy Hudgins, the small-town country singer from grandmother’s youth, all the while confronting ghosts of her own.
For ten years, Parks traveled back to rural Louisiana and knocked on strangers’ doors, dug through nursing home records, and doggedly searched for Roy’s own diaries, trying to uncover what Roy was like as a person—what he felt; what he thought; and how he grappled with his sense of otherness. With an enormous heart and an unstinting sense of vulnerability, Parks writes about finding oneself through someone else’s story, and about forging connections across the gulfs that divide us.
©2022 Casey Parks (P)2022 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Diary of a Misfit is at once dewy-eyed and diligent, capricious and capacious, empathetic and exacting. It’s as richly textured as a pot of gumbo. As a work of autobiography, it’s maximalist; subtitled A Memoir and a Mystery, it certainly is both of those things, but it’s also an assiduous family history, a decades-spanning community chronicle à la Sarah Broom’s The Yellow House, a coming-out narrative, a dive into Christian denominations, a wrestling with Southern heritage... Most moving is Parks’s depiction of a queer lineage, her assertion of an ancestry of outcasts, a tapestry of fellow misfits into which the marginalized will always, for better or worse, fit."—Michelle Hart, New York Times Book Review (cover review)
"Parks...[is] a vivid storyteller...Readers familiar with her work in the New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine know her as a thoughtful, precise journalist who communicates her characters’ humanity and the stakes of a story through evocative details....Parks’s writing shines in the story that she can meticulously report: her own...Parks is an exceptional chronicler of her family and experience. She leans into the beats of stories she’s expertly honed over the years...She manages the rare feat of writing about her family with both an awareness of its flaws and a respect for privacy. She chooses revealing anecdotes carefully, alluding to family challenges that aren’t hers to share. A self-described listener, she chronicles her pain at a remove...Some scenes feel straight out of Mary Karr, but without the raw rancor...a compelling triumph"—Charley Locke, The Washington Post
"[A] stunning work of memoir and reportage.... Delving deep into ideas of sexuality, identity, otherness, and love, Diary of a Misfit is a must-read."—Sarah Neilson, Them
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In her best-selling memoir North of Normal, Cea wrote with grace about her unconventional childhood - her early years living in a tipi in Alberta with her pot-smoking, free-loving counterculture family. But her struggles do not end when she leaves her family at the age of 13 to become a model. Honest and daring, Nearly Normal reveals the many ways that Cea's unconventional childhood continues to reverberate through the years.
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This one is just not for me
- By Pamela Plimpton on 03-15-19
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After Visiting Friends
- A Son's Story
- By: Michael Hainey
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Michael Hainey had just turned six when his uncle knocked on his family's back door one morning with the tragic news: Bob Hainey, Michael's father, was found alone near his car on Chicago's North Side, dead, of an apparent heart attack. Thirty-five years old, a young assistant copy desk chief at the Chicago Sun-Times, Bob was a bright and shining star in the competitive, hard-living world of newspapers, one that involved booze-soaked nights that bled into dawn. And then suddenly he was gone.
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Son's Search for Father Brings on Self-knowledge
- By sheila kehoe on 08-15-13
By: Michael Hainey
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After the Eclipse
- A Mother's Murder, a Daughter's Search
- By: Sarah Perry
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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A fierce memoir of a mother's murder, a daughter's coming-of-age in the wake of immense loss, and her ultimate mission to know the woman who gave her life.
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True crime memoir
- By Julie on 11-03-17
By: Sarah Perry
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The Hour I First Believed
- A Novel
- By: Wally Lamb
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 25 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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When high-school teacher Caelum Quirk and his wife, Maureen, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, while Caelum is away, Maureen finds herself in the library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed. Miraculously, she survives. But when Caelum and Maureen flee to an illusion of safety on the Quirk family's Connecticut farm, they discover that the effects of chaos are not easily put right.
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excellent all around yarn
- By G. on 01-10-09
By: Wally Lamb
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To See the Moon Again
- By: Jamie Langston Turner
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The first step to letting go of the past is forgiving it …Every day of her life Julia Rich lives with the memory of a horrible accident she caused long ago. In the years since, she has tried to hide her guilt in the quiet routine of teaching at a small South Carolina college, avoiding close relationships with family and would-be friends. But one day a phone call from Carmen, a niece she has never met, disrupts her carefully controlled world.
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Beautiful Story of Forgiveness and Selfless Love
- By sharon on 09-20-14
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The Wednesday Letters
- By: Jason F. Wright
- Narrated by: Art Allen
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Jack and Laurel have been married for 39 years. They've lived a good life and appear to have had the perfect marriage. With his wife cradled in his arms, and before Jack takes his last breath, he scribbles his last “Wednesday Letter.” When their adult children arrive to arrange the funeral, they discover boxes and boxes full of love letters that their father wrote to their mother each week on Wednesday. As they begin to open and read the letters, the children begin to uncover the shocking truth about the past.
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EXCELLENT!!!!!
- By Boomer on 02-28-15
By: Jason F. Wright
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God-Shaped Hole
- A Novel
- By: Tiffanie DeBartolo
- Narrated by: Rachael Warren
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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When Beatrice Trixie Jordan replies to a personal ad, she meets Jacob Grace, a charming, effervescent 30-something free-spirit writer passionately seeking life. He possesses his own turns of phrase and ways of thinking and feeling that dissonantly harmonize with Trixie's off-center vision. As they rollercoaster through the joys and furies of their wrenching romance, they try to come to terms with the hurt brought about by both of their distant fathers who, in different ways, forsook them.
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To see a fortune teller or not to see one...
- By Renee on 08-08-18
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Confessions of a Latter-Day Virgin
- A Memoir
- By: Nicole Hardy
- Narrated by: Nicole Hardy
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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When Nicole Hardy’s eye-opening "Modern Love" column appeared in the New York Times, the response from readers was overwhelming. Hardy’s essay, which exposed the conflict between being true to herself as a woman and remaining true to her Mormon faith, struck a chord with women coast-to-coast. Now in her funny, intimate, and thoughtful memoir, Nicole Hardy explores how she came, at the age of 35, to a crossroads regarding her faith and her identity.
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This Book Spoke to Me
- By Allison on 04-08-14
By: Nicole Hardy
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The Good Sister
- By: Wendy Corsi Staub
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In New York Times best-selling author Wendy Corsi Staub's electrifying new thriller, a mother races to save her daughter before her darkest nightmare comes true. Sacred Sisters Catholic girls' school has hardly changed since Jen Archer was a student. Jen hoped her older daughter would thrive here. Instead, shy and studious Carley becomes the target of vicious bullies. But the real danger at Sacred Sisters goes much deeper.
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This was an okay book
- By Erica on 05-09-15
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How to Be an American Housewife
- A Novel
- By: Margaret Dilloway
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington, Emily Durante
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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How to Be an American Housewife is a novel about mothers and daughters and the pull of tradition. It tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI, and her grown daughter, Sue, a divorced mother whose life as an American housewife hasn't been what she'd expected. When illness prevents Shoko from traveling to Japan, she asks Sue to go in her place. The trip reveals family secrets that change their lives in dramatic and unforeseen ways.
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big disappointment
- By Kirsten on 04-12-12
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The Opposite of Loneliness
- Essays and Stories
- By: Marina Keegan
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Marina Keegan's star was on the rise when she graduated magna cum laude from Yale in May 2012. She had a play that was to be produced at the New York International Fringe Festival and a job waiting for her at the New Yorker. Tragically, five days after graduation, Marina died in a car crash. Even though she was just 22 when she died, Marina left behind a rich, expansive trove of prose that, like her title essay, captures the hope, uncertainty, and possibility of her generation.
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Probably buy the book too.
- By Soupergirl on 09-14-15
By: Marina Keegan
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The Last House on the Street
- A Novel
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Architect Kayla Carter and her husband designed a beautiful house for themselves in Round Hill’s new development, Shadow Ridge Estates. It was supposed to be a home where they could raise their three-year-old daughter and grow old together. Instead, it’s the place where Kayla’s husband died in an accident - a fact known to a mysterious woman who warns Kayla against moving in. The woods and lake behind the property are reputed to be haunted, and the new home has been targeted by vandals leaving threatening notes.
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✫✫ 5 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 01-12-22
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Chanel Bonfire
- By: Wendy Lawless
- Narrated by: Wendy Lawless
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time Wendy Lawless turned 17, she'd known for quite some time that she didn't have a normal mother. But that didn't stop her from wanting one.... Georgann Rea didn't bake cookies or go to PTA meetings; she wore a mink coat and always had a lit Dunhill plugged into her cigarette holder. She went through men like Kleenex, and didn't like dogs or children. Georgann had the ice queen beauty of a Hitchcock heroine and the cold heart to match.
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Not an Engaging Listen
- By Sobriquet on 03-13-13
By: Wendy Lawless
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The UnAmericans
- Stories
- By: Molly Antopol
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Again and again, Molly Antopol’s deeply sympathetic characters struggle for footing in an uncertain world, hounded by forces beyond their control. Their voices are intimate and powerful and they resonate with searing beauty. Antopol is a superb young talent, and The UnAmericans will long be remembered for its wit, humanity, and heart.
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Sensational stories! Brilliant new author.
- By MidwestGeek on 05-04-14
By: Molly Antopol
What listeners say about Diary of a Misfit
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ellen Langford
- 09-07-22
Great story and so well read!
This moving memoir is so well-written and compelling. Heartbreaking and hope-giving. And the writer herself does a wonderful job of reading it to us.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mia Caliendo
- 09-06-22
My favorite book of 2022
This was absolutely stellar. Beautifully written, a story of identity, family, and belonging. A story that opens up the south like I haven’t read before. I hope Casey gets all of the accolades she deserves. I laughed, cried, questioned, and thought all throughout this book.
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- Hal on wheels Ballard
- 07-02-23
Great story, Casey
It is good to hear your voice again. It was also good to hear your reference to our meeting, if even obliquely, when you mentioned covering the story about the “multi-modal” center in Hillsboro. I loved the story, and will read it again.
Best wishes,
Hal on wheels Ballard
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- pathways
- 09-23-22
Reader
Loved the story and the writing .The reading was a bit mono toned for me.
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- Anonymous User
- 10-25-23
One of my fav memoirs, ever
I love memoirs and this one is superb. I’m a queer person from Mississippi, and I’ve never read an account that made me feel so seen. Perfectly captures the complicated relationships between family/home and wanting to feel seen and loved for who you are.
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- Brenda
- 07-03-24
Excellent story
This is a beautiful story about life and how difficult it can be and yet how wonderful
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- Laura Heller
- 01-20-23
Fantastic parallel stories
Seeking to learn about a person, and about oneself, is a journey that never ends and sometimes never has a final resolution. I really enjoyed reading this book!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Chelsey Nicole Miller
- 10-25-22
A must read
I liked the full documentary, a very good teaching in todays world! WE ARE ALL GODS CHILDREN! Never be ashamed of who you are’
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- E. Jankowski
- 12-15-22
All Misfits Will Identify.
Historically all those who were different in some way had to leave for the cities if they couldn’t be invisible or at least seen as benign, or else fall outside the social umbrella of protection. The police aren’t called when they are part of the potential violence that can occur, or blame you for being attacked bc you’re dressed like a _________ (man, whore, foreigner..).
This audio version of the book is very good. It really makes the difference w regional accents and here the Southern cadences come through where a paper book wouldn’t do so enough.
How many Roy’s in this country over the many decades and centuries becoming what’s expected just to not be murdered. Wearing the dresses, getting married, becoming spinster sisters, working night shifts to be less visible etc. etc.
This speaks to severe poverty and class issues as much as gender & sexual orientation.
Will listen again as it’s a very experiential process, and I often felt a like a silent witness there with them.
I’m certain I’ll get a whole different book going in a 2nd time around.
Be aware - this book may not be the best thing to read right now if you are finding life very hard, are depressed etc. This is most often a fluid narrative, but can be very emotional heavy to endure, at time if feel very sad and emotionally weighted even when not listening.
That fear and shame and trauma and guilt and disassociation that humans can experience is all here, and is sometimes left in your lap or heart and you only know bc you’re aware immersed in and now living it only slightly how they did.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Kathryn Usher
- 12-12-22
Let people be their authentic selves!
Such a good book. The author’s narration is excellent! Casey’s story made me remember, again, not only how conservative our area is (she writes about a Louisiana that’s only 137 miles from my Louisiana) but how stifling it is. Years ago my daughter and I discussed if you lived in a conservative area, liberals probably weren’t as liberal as they could be because of the environment of repression.
Casey writes about Roy’s struggles to be accepted for who he was. I empathize with Roy. And I’m thankful Casey spent years working to tell Roy’s story. Bullying still happens today. And today we have social media, which gives cyber bullies huge a platform.
It’s really important to hear the stories from and about the people who are bullied. But, damn, it would be really great if people would stop bullying and cyber harassing people. This sh** destroys lives and the potential people have in life.
What happens when someone is bullied? This passage from Casey’s “Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and a Mystery” sums it up ~
““You know,” Mark said, “one thing about Royce, the way she was treated by some people and the way her life went, society was robbed of potential. How many potentials does our society rob by bullying and treating people like Royce was treated? Royce could have been a nurse. She could have been, for all I know, a journalist because of the way she loved to write. That’s sad, isn’t it?””
(Casey writes about Roy with he/him pronouns. In this passage Mark calls Roy Royce and uses she/her pronouns.)
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