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Surviving the Odd
Surviving the Odd is a dark comedy memoir written by the daughter of a once prominent stand-up comic, who is herself a very accomplished entertainer. In 1968, Governor Ronald Reagan emptied California's mental hospitals, leaving hundreds of thousands of mentally ill and emotionally disturbed people on the street. With no medical training or higher education, Tony Milo brought them into a home he called Milo Arms. He cared for and treated them like his own family. Tony ran the home with his five children underfoot, and Candi, his middle child - bright, curious, and mouthy, watched and learned from her father the real definition of family and the value of an open heart.
- GenresMemoirNonfiction
202 pages, Paperback
Published October 4, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 16, 2022
a triumph of humor and guts
I just finished the book and I’m sobbing. What a extraordinary story and an extraordinary story teller. Candi Milo is so whip-smart and hilarious and the story moves like gag busters.
I just finished the book and I’m sobbing. What a extraordinary story and an extraordinary story teller. Candi Milo is so whip-smart and hilarious and the story moves like gag busters.
April 17, 2023
"I got Candi Milo's book through Goodreads!!!"
"Who?"
"CHEESE!"
"OMG NO WAY I LOVE CHEESE!"
Yes, I loved watching Foster's as a kid (and who am I kidding, as a not so kid!), but I had no idea of the person behind the voices! After reading this, I can't help but see more than a bit of Milo Arms in Foster's.
Candi had quite the interesting, and often, traumatizing childhood and lays it all out in this deeply insightful and moving book. She intersperses her trademark humor into very real discussions of the mental health crisis. The book focuses on her childhood with her father, entertainer Tony Milo, and his second career running a home for the mentally ill. Candi gives the mental health crisis several very real and very touching faces and shows us the kindhearted people behind the diagnoses.
Read this book! It will definitely change your perspective on those who are far too often dismissed as the "crazy hobos on the street".
"Who?"
"CHEESE!"
"OMG NO WAY I LOVE CHEESE!"
Yes, I loved watching Foster's as a kid (and who am I kidding, as a not so kid!), but I had no idea of the person behind the voices! After reading this, I can't help but see more than a bit of Milo Arms in Foster's.
Candi had quite the interesting, and often, traumatizing childhood and lays it all out in this deeply insightful and moving book. She intersperses her trademark humor into very real discussions of the mental health crisis. The book focuses on her childhood with her father, entertainer Tony Milo, and his second career running a home for the mentally ill. Candi gives the mental health crisis several very real and very touching faces and shows us the kindhearted people behind the diagnoses.
Read this book! It will definitely change your perspective on those who are far too often dismissed as the "crazy hobos on the street".
January 20, 2024
This book takes my breath away. If there was ever a book about childhood that didn't rely on sentimentality but went straight to ugly truths, humorous truths, and beautiful truths, it is this memoir by actor and voiceover artist Candi Milo. And truth is the operative word here. My pet peeve with memoir is when writers don't have the guts and insight to write bravely and show us their beautiful imperfections. THEIR imperfections, not what the world has done TO them. The writing in this book is stunningly perspicacious about who Candi Milo is at the very heart, and what built her. The equitable amount of aversion AND deep love Child Candi has for the mentally-challenged residents of Milo Arms will move you deeply, make you laugh out loud, and break your heart, for the struggles that come with having to process all of this through a child's mind, heart and self-regard. It's also clear that Adult Candi still holds the most loving space possible for the people she grew up knowing intimately. Most touching of all is Child Candi's epiphanies about empathy and the discovery of how this experience began to shift her for the better (even if it sometimes felt like worse). Writing as an adult from the perspective of the child is not an easy thing to do without falling into preciousness. Candi Milo leaves preciousness completely behind to tell this story, and manages to capture moments with both the playfulness and confusion of the child and the insight of the adult telling it, as in this breathtaking line, "The wind felt great against my tears as I grinned and twirled." Ultimately, SURVIVING THE ODD is a love letter to Candi's father, the proprietor of Milo Arms, and proprietor of the wild ride known as Candi Milo's childhood. It's a taut, impactful read. And the story it tells is a unique, batty, brilliant one. You will not regret have gone on this journey. Brava, Author!
February 4, 2023
This is a fantastic read! Touching in a way that might catch you off guard; written such that one hearts Candi speaking through the entire book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews