Personally - Podcast Rankings and reviews

This is a truly fascinating story and I’m frankly quite shocked it was only 5 episodes. The host is a reporter but I don’t think she should’ve told her own story. I wanted more details from an outsider perspective that she just couldn’t provide. Plus it was unnerving to have her be so at peace with the subject. This man ruined her mothers life, and perhaps her and her brother could move on and get out but it’s devastating that she never could. Stan’s horrifying lie is hard to explain away with just a posthumous diagnosis. The fact that he was just living with his wife when he claimed to be at the place of hope chilled me to the bone. This story was deeply disturbing and perhaps the book gives more detail but this podcast glossed over a lot in favor of just saying “oh haha wasn’t that a wild time”. Deeply deeply traumatizing and I don’t think I could forgive the way she seems to have.

Fascinating story and well-told by Pauline. This would have gotten four stars from me except the audio is hard to hear at times. When she interviews her brother and a few others, their voices are so low it’s just hard to hear. If the audio was better, this would be four stars.

This is a strange and difficult story. Some reviewers have called the author's mother "stupid". This is a story of deep trauma, mental illness and how we dig and process trauma shared through generations. There is a story buried here, about desperate, lonely and depressed single mothers in the big cultural wave of divorce and single motherhood -- a greater exploration of this would be interesting and give some context. P and T's was definitely a chaotic and psychologically abusive childhood. Therapy, anyone?

I really liked this pod! So interesting and unpredictable. I would love to know more about the effects of Pauline and Ted’s childhood on their adult lives, beliefs and mental health (maybe that’s too intrusive and personal). So many families have secrets though few as extensive as this family!

This is an interesting story and I would think a third party could really do some digging and figure out what was going on. The narrator/journalist is too close to the story here. She clearly needed an answer that would be less painful than at least considering that Stan was a sociopath and her mother had Borderline Personality Disorder. In the end, it’s more a story of the lies we tell ourselves to avoid what we don’t want to hear.

Shame on whichever editor at CBC greenlit this. I don’t fault the author for framing this this way. It’s clearly a trauma response, and how she’s learned to survive.
CBC is irresponsible for giving this a platform without giving resources and explaining the majority of things happening to these children are crimes. If you or anyone you know are experiencing the treatment described in this podcast, CALL FOR HELP. I’m glad the author thinks it’s funny now, but there are events described that could have resulted in death. There’s no reason to make excuses for the adults in this story. Untreated mental illness isn’t a party trick.
If you believe a child is suffering from abuse or neglect report it immediately to your local authorities. Nothing described in this podcast is a safe environment for a child.