I decided to DNF this book around 124 pages in which is around the halfway mark.
I wasn't feeling the book, I didn't like the way the author told her story and I found myself not interested in finding out her story. It's not that I don't care about her life, I just feel like I did not get enough of what I wanted to enjoy the memoir and for that reason I couldn't connect to it. I did not think I could get through another 150 pages of this so I decided to DNF it.

I read this as assigned reading for my Victimology class. The writing style is beautiful, but it was hard to read because of the content so check trigger warnings.

Well... I don't know what to say here. I was very intrigued when I saw a segment about Munchhausen by Proxy on one my favorite daytime doc shows. I immediately added Sickened to my TBR list. Checked a copy out of my local library & away I went...
At first I was moving right along at a fast pace but as I went on, whenever I put the book down I struggled to pick it back up. Something started to rub me the wrong way about this. I can't say for sure but I was getting that little voice inside asking, "really"? What I mean by that is the author really had some super good memories to write with such intense detail. I started to wonder if some or a good portion of this book was somewhat embellished? I'm not saying that is the case, I actually hope that it is because you would not wish this on any child! Before adding this review to Goodreads I actually googled to see if I could find any other reviews & I found that I was not alone...
I'll end on this note & you can come to your own conclusions if you read or have read the book -

Parts of a review by Christi Cassel April 2015:

...My biggest beef about the book, however, is that it hinted of inauthenticity. I’m a bad person for questioning a victim, I know . . . especially because I can’t pinpoint a particularly false-sounding paragraph or inconsistency. For me, the overall vibe of the book just seemed a little too over dramatic and, thus, made it hard for me to take it at face value....

...You can draw your own conclusions, but after my “research,” here is my take: Did Gregory embellish certain stories/details for dramatic affect? It’s certainly possible. But this is not a case of A Million Little Pieces (the book that was originally released as a memoir that became an Oprah’s Book Club pick and #1 bestseller . . . and then was exposed as having been fabricated). The mom denies the allegations of abuse . . . and who wouldn’t?! Münchausen syndrome by proxy is extremely difficult to diagnose, “because of the dishonesty that is involved.” ...

...In short: The book is likely completely true, but it’s so poorly and dramatically written that it seems fake. Just as bad, if you ask me (and, honestly, probably worse).

Like many memoirs, this is a book that had potential. It’s certainly a fascinating topic. And the inclusion of medical records was somewhat interesting. But the overall tone of the book is extremely over dramatic, heavy-handed, and woe-is-me...

I had no idea this memoir was so controversial when I ordered it from the county library. But it is. If you do read it and want to go online to find out more of what happened to Julie and her crazy family, don't. You won't find anything except a lot of accusations and bitching.

Did this nightmarish life with abuses for children, seniors, dogs and horses really happen or not? This is one of those stories where the truth will never be found out.

The important thing is that Munchausen by proxy is a real and incurable mental illness -- and also one of (if not the) most difficult to diagnose. The thing about metal illnesses and being abused is that no one believes you -- least of all, YOU. I'm a victim of domestic abuse (left him in 2004 and never went back) and he had me doubting my memory every day. No one believed me (until one day I was found half-dead by a fellow homeless person and he called the ambulance.) My Mom wants me to write a memoir of my abuse but FORGET IT -- I know I was abused but details are fuzzy. Anyway, I really do not want to have to remember it all over again -- no matter how real the memories are.

The second most important thing is how good of a reading experience this is -- and it's absolutely riveting. It's one of the most horrifying books I've ever read. I cannot guarantee that you will find it as genuinely disturbing and nightmare-inducing -- especially if you're the kind of reader that considers books about Auschwitz to be "light reading."

So, why do I recommend this memoir since very little in it can be verified? As a domestic abuse survivor and struggling with major depression I find it comforting (in an odd way) about reading how people manage to survive very bad shit. Gregory does write about how she managed to survive. That's the most valuable bit for me and why I'm giving this four stars.