Title: I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway
Author: Tracy McMillan
Publisher: It Books
Publication Date: April 13, 2010
Hardcover: 352 pages
ISBN: 978-0061724657
Genre: Memoir

From the Publisher:

I love You

Television writer Tracy McMillan managed to work her way into a killer Hollywood career—a privileged world of pool houses, premieres, and big-time producer deals—despite being the daughter of a fur-coat-wearing, El Dorado–driving, smooth-talking pimp named Freddie. But success couldn’t save her from the pattern of self-destructive choices—stemming from her history with her father—that would shape all of her romantic relationships. I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway is her comic, tragic, and ultimately victorious story, the riveting true tale of how having a father obsessed with women made her a woman obsessed with men.

And I’m Leaving You

Blessed with beauty and brains, Tracy had no problem attracting men. Marrying her first husband (a kind, stable MBA) before she was out of her teens, she quickly discovered the romantic contradiction that so many women face: the “right” kind of men feel wrong. And the wrong ones feel so, so right. Alternating between the nice guys she knew she should want, and the unavailable men who were compelling, Tracy found herself repeating the hurt that began when the man who loved her the most, her father, left her for prison when she was just three years old. Freddie’s absence meant a childhood filled with foster homes, a temperamental stepmother, and near constant upheaval. It took three marriages, the birth of a son, and, most important, resolving her relationship with her dad for Tracy to discover the truth about herself—a truth that finally set her free.

Anyway

This provocative, insightful, and humorous memoir isn’t a “woe is me” story of what went wrong. I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway is a story of what’s gone right—one woman’s journey to creating a fulfilling life and raising a son who taught her everything she needed to know about men, love, and, of course, herself. Heartwarming, funny, and unflinchingly real, it is an inspiring testament to the power of change that proves we can all grow from even our most flawed relationships.

My Review:

Deeply moving, I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway by Tracy McMillan is a touching, witty, heartbreaking and endearing memoir of a young girl whose parents happen to be a pimp and a prostitute. She first was separated from her parents when her father was first incarcerated when she was three years old.  McMillan spends her childhood visiting her father in various prisons over the years and struggles with her identity and her life until the day in 1997 when her search for the perfect man ends and she gives birth to her son.

One of the most endearing qualities about I Love You And I’m Leaving You Anyway is the fact that McMillan neither feels sorry for herself nor makes excuses for her life, rather she tries to piece together her childhood, rediscover her roots and understand her behaviour.  One might think, considering the mitigating circumstances, McMillan may have gone the way of her parents, but rather she became a journalist, defied the odds and became a writer in Hollywood.  However she does have issues, mainly self-esteem and her distrust of men.  McMillan takes the reader not on a casual journey down memory lane, but rather a rollercoaster ride that will thrill the reader and keep the reader fully immersed in her life. The narration alternates between her childhood and her adult life in a no-nonsense manner.  One word of caution, there is mature language used in this memoir, it is not extensive or disrupting, however I know some people prefer to know up front.

I Love You and I am Leaving You Anyway is a beautiful, witty, articulate look at the life McMillan has lead, and the lessons she has learned through the various foster homes, schools, 3 marriages,  and her numerous visits to the various prisons her father ends up in (her personal favourite being Leavenworth with its neoclassical beauty).  I highly recommend I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway to anyone looking for poignant memoir about finding oneself and learning what it means to love and be loved.

About the Author:

Tracy McMillan is a television writer and memoirist, most recently on the Emmy Award–winning AMC series Mad Men. Previously, she wrote on Showtime’s United States of Tara, ABC’s Life on Mars, and NBC’s Journeyman. She’s also developing an as-yet-untitled series with Dreamworks Television. I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway is Tracy’s first book.

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Tracy spent years in the foster-care system. After graduating from the University of Utah with a broadcast-journalism degree, she spent more than a decade writing and producing television news for outlets such as NBC Nightly News, KNBC-TV, and Access Hollywood. Tracy’s articles and essays have appeared in a number of print publications and websites. She is a regular performer at Sit-n-Spin on the Comedy Central stage in Los Angeles.

She is the mother of a 13-year-old boy, and lives in Los Angeles.

Her not-so-secret ambition is to have a talk show.
For further information:

I received a complimentary copy of I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway by Tracy McMillan from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.