A friend of mine loaned me this book a few years ago, and since I’d never been into the Sex Pistols and therefore didn’t give a rat’s ass about Sid and/or Nancy, she pretty much had to bully me into reading it. Then I got started, and I was sucked into this vortex of twisted hostility called Nancy Spungen.

The book was written by her mother after Nancy’s death. It’s a story of the experiences of Nancy’s entire family from when she was a small child all the way up till she died. She was so full of rancor and bile and CLEARLY mentally ill, but it’s absolutely fascinating to read about her. You feel so badly for her family, who tried to love her even when she gave them nothing to love.

Even if you, like me, think “Who cares about Nancy Spungen?”—give it a shot. At the least it will help put your own family’s problems into perspective.