Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata and My Crazy Mother, and Still Came Out Smiling (with Great Hair)

In this audio production of her tell-all, Perez is nothing if not expansive in her performance. She shouts, she cackles, she whispers, she gasps. This over-the-top reading is a pity, because the story Perez recounts is dramatic enough to engage listeners on its own. Abandoned by her mother as an infant, she spent the first three years of her life being raised by a loving aunt before her mentally ill biological mother returned, only to shunt Perez into a Catholic home for girls. This memoir recounts Perez’s triumph over a traumatic childhood and success as an actress and choreographer. While there are certainly some entertaining aspects of her performance, a less demonstrative narration would have allowed the powerful story to speak for itself. A Crown Archetype hardcover. (Feb.)