Review of Numb: A Memoir

[Catherine Sweet]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Numb: A Memoir" by Jeffrey Boland.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Numb: A Memoir by Jeffrey Boland is an account of battling through trauma, addiction, and suicide attempts for many years. Boland’s main reason for writing this book is to help others in similar situations by showing them that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Having kept a lot to himself in the past, he decided to tell the unvarnished truth.

Boland is six years old when his mother dies, and he is the one to find the body. The hurt and feelings of abandonment from this leave him struggling to cope. His father remarries, and he feels like an outsider in his own home. When his behaviour gets out of control, he is sent to a centre for children in crisis, where he stays for six years until he is nineteen. He is not welcome to return home, so he tries living and working in different places. His life is chaotic, and he gets stopped for
drunk driving and shoplifting. The reader lives through the turmoil of his story and wonders what on earth will happen next.

Throughout the book, Boland has a string of girlfriends and many casual sexual encounters. He takes drugs, drinks heavily, and self-harms. He feels very remorseful for the violence between him and his first wife and for the rage that led to him kicking a dog and killing it. Boland takes the reader on his journey and delivers an authentic account of his life. Whatever his faults, I felt invested in his story and I wanted him to find peace and contentment.

The writing style is conversational and easy to read. Sometimes, tenses were mixed up. An example is, “Her name is Sharon. She was my age with 3 teenage kids.” Also, sentences sometimes weren’t structured properly. These two sentences would work better as one, “I felt embarrassed and didn’t want to talk to anybody. So I ignored all calls and texts and just stayed in bed all day.”

Numb: A Memoir will appeal to readers with an interest in true stories about loss, addiction and recovery. I was immersed in the story and felt Boland was an engaging and honest narrator. I admire that he wants to share his story to help others. I have taken one mark off for mixed tenses and sentence structures and have awarded this book 4 out of 5 stars.

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Numb: A Memoir
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[Kutloano Makhuvhela]

This seems like a heartwarming review that touch on very sensitive topic. People should be able to relate to it on a higher level. Your review was engaging.

[Yasmine Zaki Muhieddine]

It's amazing how Boland found the strength to sit and write about his life despite everything he went through. I hope he healed and is in a better space now. I applaud the author for sharing his story. Perhaps it will inspire many others who are in the same situation.

[Umesh Bhatt]

The book seems quite inspiring for the people who are trapped in the web of addictions, drugs, and other vices but want to come out of that. The review is well made and I could understand the theme of the book well. Thanks.