Teetering On Disaster by Michaela Renee


Publisher:  Bowker (January 11, 2019)
Category: Memoir/Self-Help/Non-Fiction
Tour dates: March/April, 2020
ISBN: 978-0578430805
Available in Print and ebook, 316 pages

Description Teetering On Disaster by Michaela Renee

Michaela Renee Johnson was just 12 years old in 1992 when a financial slump forced her family to move from an upscale area in Sacramento to a 27-ft trailer in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, with no electricity or running water — so no Nintendo or MTV. It wasn’t exactly the life that every adolescent dreams of, but it was, in fact, their reality.

Michaela chronicles these formative years (and beyond) in her often humorous, constantly candid true story, Teetering on Disaster. As the young Michaela navigates her way through the inherently melodramatic teen years, she must come to terms with relieving herself in the woods, shaving with a 10-cent borrowed razor in an irrigation ditch and taking what she called “bird baths” with a jug of water.

Somehow, in the midst of disorienting change, she learned to focus on what she was gaining instead of what she had lost. And in the end, she gained profound wisdom about her family and the world around her, and uncovered the truth about her own ability to thrive in the face of life’s inconveniences.

But the effects of her unorthodox upbringing don’t end at adulthood, and Teetering takes readers along as a grown Michaela stumbles upon a few “Mr. Right Nows,” gets divorced in her twenties, and ends up right back where she started: a small mountain town in the middle of nowhere.

Teetering on Disaster is a heartfelt, coming-of-age story written to inspire others to live a courageous life of authenticity and to speak their truth with grace. Michaela’s book is an unapologetically honest, authentic tale that will make readers laugh out loud and cry — sometimes at the same time.

My Thoughts Teetering On Disaster by Michaela Renee

I don’t think I’ve ever read a memoir quite like this one. Never have I laughed and cried and held my breath quite so much while reading about the life of someone that I didn’t know. What a life the author has had!

Michaela Renee Johnson experienced her first major upheaval in 1992 when her parents decided to sell their house to cover the expenses for their fledgling construction business. After this, Johnson’s parents moved their entire 5-person family into a 27-foot trailer with no running water or electricity in Northern California. At 11 years old, Michaela was perfectly poised to be the most uncomfortable of her siblings with the new living situation.

The book actually starts with a story about her shaving her legs for the first time in an irrigation ditch. A shift of the familiar rite of passage that I think most of us are happy we cannot relate to. Michaela turns many of her semi-horrifying childhood moments into funny stories and it’s clear she has found a way to look at it through rose-colored glasses.

The second portion of the book is more focused on stories from Michaela’s adult life, and these were a bit more emotional and heartbreaking. At times, this part was hard to follow as it just didn’t have the flow of the first part. However, it was still worth reading.

Leading such an unsettled childhood certainly affected her emotionally as an adult and lead her to do some interesting things. I definitely felt for her with what she dealt with during her marriage and it’s clear by the end of the book that she has worked a lot on herself and her own personal growth.

I admire her a lot and found myself rooting for her. Johnson writes beautifully, with just enough wit and humor to make most of the book sing. The detail and atmosphere she added to her stories were well-executed. The heights that she achieves in her career after such a challenging childhood are inspirational. I give it 4 stars.

I received the ebook for my honest opinion.

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