Official Review: The Book of Joel by Joel Carroll
Posted: 11 Jun 2020, 09:16
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Book of Joel" by Joel Carroll.]
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” The above statement guided Joel after he completed a program that helped him recover from his drug and alcohol addiction. When someone recovers from addiction, several questions arise, and in Joel's case, it is no different. It would be interesting to know how Joel developed these addictions. Also, how did these addictions affect him negatively? How long did he struggle with them? How did it affect his family? How did the program help him recover? Has he recovered for real?
The Book of Joel, by Joel Carroll, is a true-life story that follows the life of the author from his childhood through his time as an addict to the point of writing, where he is seven years sober. The author, in this book, answers all the previous questions raised and also writes to prove that recovery from addiction is possible while giving addicts a sense of belonging to realize that they are not alone in their battle. The book also gives us a peek into all the poor decisions that Joel made as he struggled with paranoia, homicidal, and suicidal ideation, all excerpts from his addiction.
Firstly, I must commend the author for sharing his complete story, holding nothing back, no matter how unpleasant it sounded. For me, this increased the credibility of the story. This story will also serve as a source of inspiration not only to people who are struggling with addiction but to everyone. I loved the way the author went back in time to tell us about certain events in his childhood, and as a result, I got a better understanding of who he really was, and I was able to draw a better conclusion on the root cause of his addiction. Additionally, I appreciate the author’s descriptive prowess, as this made me have a good mental picture of the author's message at every point.
I also admired the strength and patience that Joel's wife showed. I know the story was about Joel’s struggles, but I was inspired by her. It’s never easy for a woman that has a husband that does not provide for his family because of addiction, especially when there are children involved. I was pleased to read that her patience with her husband paid off in the end after he recovered. It was also admirable that Joel recognized that all he had accomplished during and after that program was only possible by God's grace. Furthermore, this book seemed to be professionally edited, as I found only three minor grammatical errors throughout the text.
However, I was a bit uncomfortable with the number of people that were mentioned in this novel. Although I agree that they all may have played some role in the author’s addiction journey, I felt that mentioning some of them was unnecessary. For example, mentioning the names of the people he got his drug supplies from was not necessary, and this made it difficult to keep up with the characters that really mattered, making the text longer than it should have been. With the pros and cons in mind, I have decided to rate The Book of Joel 3 out of 4 stars, and I recommend it to everyone, especially people that are struggling with any form of addiction.
******
The Book of Joel
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” The above statement guided Joel after he completed a program that helped him recover from his drug and alcohol addiction. When someone recovers from addiction, several questions arise, and in Joel's case, it is no different. It would be interesting to know how Joel developed these addictions. Also, how did these addictions affect him negatively? How long did he struggle with them? How did it affect his family? How did the program help him recover? Has he recovered for real?
The Book of Joel, by Joel Carroll, is a true-life story that follows the life of the author from his childhood through his time as an addict to the point of writing, where he is seven years sober. The author, in this book, answers all the previous questions raised and also writes to prove that recovery from addiction is possible while giving addicts a sense of belonging to realize that they are not alone in their battle. The book also gives us a peek into all the poor decisions that Joel made as he struggled with paranoia, homicidal, and suicidal ideation, all excerpts from his addiction.
Firstly, I must commend the author for sharing his complete story, holding nothing back, no matter how unpleasant it sounded. For me, this increased the credibility of the story. This story will also serve as a source of inspiration not only to people who are struggling with addiction but to everyone. I loved the way the author went back in time to tell us about certain events in his childhood, and as a result, I got a better understanding of who he really was, and I was able to draw a better conclusion on the root cause of his addiction. Additionally, I appreciate the author’s descriptive prowess, as this made me have a good mental picture of the author's message at every point.
I also admired the strength and patience that Joel's wife showed. I know the story was about Joel’s struggles, but I was inspired by her. It’s never easy for a woman that has a husband that does not provide for his family because of addiction, especially when there are children involved. I was pleased to read that her patience with her husband paid off in the end after he recovered. It was also admirable that Joel recognized that all he had accomplished during and after that program was only possible by God's grace. Furthermore, this book seemed to be professionally edited, as I found only three minor grammatical errors throughout the text.
However, I was a bit uncomfortable with the number of people that were mentioned in this novel. Although I agree that they all may have played some role in the author’s addiction journey, I felt that mentioning some of them was unnecessary. For example, mentioning the names of the people he got his drug supplies from was not necessary, and this made it difficult to keep up with the characters that really mattered, making the text longer than it should have been. With the pros and cons in mind, I have decided to rate The Book of Joel 3 out of 4 stars, and I recommend it to everyone, especially people that are struggling with any form of addiction.
******
The Book of Joel
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon