Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff

This review can also be found at the Canon City Daily Record.


Yard sale season is in full swing and you can find numerous treasures and delights. Tupperware canisters just like your grandmother had, the exact right size light fixture for the bathroom, and the perfect pitchfork for - well, you know... But there are also books - lots of books.

"Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey through His Son's Addiction" is one I found this summer. Published in 2008, David Sheff's book became an instant bestseller and Entertainment Weekly's Best Nonfiction Book of the Year. It is the raw and vulnerable memoir of a father's unconditional love, receiving high praise from Anne Lammott and Mary Pipher.

What causes a child to try drugs? Divorce? Remarriage? Illness? Parents' experimentation in their youth? Finances? Opportunity?

What causes a child to become addicted to drugs? To steal, lie, and hide? Who does your child become when they are addicted to meth? Can they ever escape? And what does a parent do when "everything in their power" doesn't seem enough?

David Sheff opens his heartbreak to us - sharing with humility and candor the long road of loving a child in, and through, his addiction. He tells us with intimate detail his own private experience, welcoming us into his home, family, and his own sense of frailty and inadequacy. Sheff writes about his son's light and humor and brilliance before meth commandeered him. Weaving through this tale are threads of the red flags - hot spots - he wished he had attended to earlier, especially since they might have led to his son's decision to experiment and, ultimately, fall victim to addiction. Sheff examines his own past drug experimentation, his divorce from Nic's mother, and the science behind addiction and recovery.

Sheff's love for his oldest, his desire to rescue him from desperation, and his analytical mind seek for answers while also searching for healing. How to help his son becomes an obsession that does not allow him to rest or relax for years at a time. Al-Anon, therapy, and addressing codependency are all helps, leaving him with the feeling that, though this excruciating pain is hard to describe and convey, it needs to be shared. There is comfort in sharing and in hearing the stories of others who have walked the same road. There are tears, yet there are also smiles and answered prayers.

I was surprised by the depth and sheer humanity of this riveting memoir. I could not put it down...

Out there, this summer, is a book in a yard sale box or on a book sale table waiting for you to come and be pleasantly surprised as well.

Photo Credit:  https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/418ZByk-NEL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Tullus: Adventures of a Christian Boy in Roman Times by Joe Newton and Bob Magnusen

Tullus: Adventures of a Christian Boy in Roman Times is a reprint of a Sunday Pix comic by the Christian publishing company, David C. Cook.  It was originally released in 1952.  Joe Newton is the writer and Bob Magnusen is the artist.
 
I embarked on this reading with my upper-elementary-aged son, a reluctant reader, each of us taking turns reading aloud one cell.  I was impressed with how quickly he began to read with expression, emphasizing the adventures as they built up in speed and climax.  He would even jump ahead to find out what would happen next!

These adventures are "swashbuckling", almost like reading a comic about a 1950s MGM Technicolor film.  While the men and boys were larger than life - great heroes, and the villians deserved boos and hisses, we found ourselves giggling at Helena, the lead female.  In keeping with the times of the original comic, she was portrayed just as over-the-top feminine as the men were over-the-top masculine.  It wasn't problematic at all, just amusing.

Though a Christian comic, the text is not preachy.  Doctrine is casually dropped into conversation.  It fits.  And ultimately, the story is the focus.  Charity, faith, trust, prayer are introduced as helps in time of need.  These are principles acceptable by all Christian faiths.

This is a great book to add to a parent's arsenal, helping children keep still and reverent during church meetings, and for reading during Sundays to help keep the day focused.  The pictures are just as entertaining and important to the story flow as the text, and young ones may find it interesting as well.  The audience that will love it best are readers between the ages of 8 and 12, who love adventure comics.

Photo Credit: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61AqF6fmJtL.jpg

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero

"Orange Is the New Black" actress, Diane Guerrero, has written a memoir.  She circles us into her intimate group and tells us, quietly - without shame, about her heartache and loss, growing up In the Country We Love as the child of illegal immigrants.  At the tender age of 14, she comes home to find her parents are deported.  Young Diane is left alone to finish her high school career and create a new life - as an orphan.

This is an intriguing tale about a small-time girl who hits it big.  It is also the story of abandonment and loneliness.  It is a piece about immigration and children's rights - but do not fear!  The call to action is saved until the end.  And this way of organizing affords Ms. Guerrero the opportunity to share her experience, to reach out and connect with us, to allow our hearts to break with hers - to make people listen and care... to let others in a similar situation know that they are not alone.

The tone of the book is conversational, and though it deals with some heavy ideas and emotions, it is highly accessible.  There were times when I could feel a discrepancy in voices (the ghostwriter on this book is the talented Michelle Burford), but the story was absorbing and I could ignore it.  

A quick read, and a thought-provoking story - I recommend this to be on a summer book list.

Photo credit: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41di5xVtktL._SX328_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

This review can also be found in the Canon City Daily Record.


The Light Between Oceans is a complex tale, simply told, about a desire, a lie, and the hearts that break in consequence. In her debut work, M.L. Stedman creates a historical novel, defying obviousness and offering instead an intimate look at a man and a woman, both bearing deep wounds in post-World War I Australia. The events unfold against the backdrop of a harsh location - a lighthouse between the Indian and the Great Southern Oceans.

At times deceptively unaffected, and at times poetic, Ms. Stedman has done her research. Between the beautiful imageries of a land and sea that collide, she brings readers into a time and place where xenophobia is thick and controlling, solitude is desired by soldiers returning home, and a decision can wreak havoc for so many souls. Using the unique setting and its attending laws, a story is crafted; an ex-serviceman returning from war brings his bride to a remote lighthouse where he will be keeper and she will be his companion. After numerous miscarriages, their grief is deep and inconsolable. A dead man and an infant, wrapped in a sweater, wash up on Tom and Isabel's isolated shore and a choice made in despair offers them brief, incomplete happiness.

And then, of course, tides change, and secrets and lies can no longer be kept.

"On the day of the miracle, Isabel was kneeling at the cliff's edge, tending the small newly made driftwood cross." In this lovely romantic tale, questions arise. Can a tragedy also be a miracle? What makes a mother? Is deceit ever excusable - acceptable? Is love and loyalty more important than integrity? Shall we have faith in our own dreams and desires, or in what is or must be? What is grace - or betrayal? What does love really look like? What is the right decision after so many wrong choices?

In the telling of this story, Ms. Stedman has allowed readers to come to their own conclusions, even at times challenging a notion they once held as truth. The use of a vernacular peculiar to the area and time encourages readers to connect to each character and their dilemmas. Readers will be intrigued as they come to clear and definite conclusions as to what is right - what is just.

Waiting for the lies to come to light, waiting for an ending that leaves one satisfied and comfortable is difficult, but worth every page of this stunning and unassuming work. "The light will reappear" and the reader will be better for this journey into the hearts of a man and woman who dare to love a child


Photo Credit: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zES0qTvqL._SX320_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

The Hole Story of Kirby the Sneak and Arlo the True by Greg Williamson

Greg Williamson has written a book-length poem in fantastic couplets.  At first glance, one might assume this is a book for children - the wonderful title for starters...  But all it takes is a one-minute-read and it becomes clear that this book is for intelligent adults wishing to find the joy and pleasure they found as a child, reading Dr. Seuss, Bill Peet, and Lewis Carroll.  

Under the covers of this book is found the story of a dog, Kirby the Sneak, stealing the beloved hole, belonging to Arlo the True.  With quick and clever rhymes, masterful plot woven through astute poetry, and intelligent humor, Mr. Williamson is reminiscent of a bard, with talent that is rare and wise.  With imaginative illustrations by Brian Bowes, the story of the dogs and the hole, can be thoroughly enjoyed by a younger audience, especially if held and read to by their favorite adult bedtime story-reader.  The sounds alone are enchanting.

I enjoyed myself - chuckling and laughing out loud until page 54.  It was then that I became tired of reading a very long poem and I lost interest in the direction the book was headed.  I finally put the book down by page 68.  This is not a reflection on the book or Mr. Williamson, as far as I am concerned, but about myself as a reader.  I needed to invest more time and mental effort to continue the book, and I chose not to. The joy I received in reading as much as I did still makes it quite easy to praise this book.

Photo credit: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51gK9TTHvpL._SY376_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Authors thank reviewers: Charles Monagan

You can find the review for Carrie Welton here.