When Lauren Ruth Wiener was six, her mother died without warning. More interested in dating than child-rearing, her father left her in the care of a violent, unhinged nanny. A riveting first-person account, Riding the Cyclone careens like the Coney Island roller coaster from gut-wrenching sadism to hilariously caustic commentary as Lauren tries to make sense of her world. Growing up in extreme isolation amid suburban affluence, she suffers...