I have heard nothing but praise for this book, but to be honest, I found it deeply unsettling. Haven Kimmel relates the odd and often unfortunate details of her life with such offhandedness, it is difficult to know how to read this story, and which of the characters to sympathize with. The way she leaves many stories only partially told only exacerbates this effect. Parts of Zippy read much like the zany and touching childhood reminisces by Jean Sheppard in his various semi-autobiographical works. Zippy, however, strikes a much darker tone with stories of wanton animal cruelty, family dysfunction, and death that make it hard to laugh at the more lighthearted memories presented without feeling vaguely queasy.In all, while I found Zippy to be absorbing, and even touching at times, the overall effect is not unlike happening on to the scene of a wreck- you feel compelled to watch as events unfold, and may even be moved by what you see, but you feel ghoulish for being unable to tear your eyes away.