Official Review: Little Victories: A Tale Of Divorce, Deb...
- ladylioness
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Official Review: Little Victories: A Tale Of Divorce, Deb...
Little Victories-A Tale of Divorce, Debauchery, and Finding Happiness written by Chris Akin is a nonfiction autobiography of a self-proclaimed “metal head” that overcomes what he describes as the worst year of his life and how he finds happiness.
The book is told from the authors point of view and opens up with him telling how his marriage of 23yrs came crashing down on him in what he perceived at the time as unexpected. He went into great depth on his feelings as he contemplated suicide, revenge, bargaining, and pretending that everything was alright. Chris does begin his road to recovery in an unlikely source that teaches him a new way to look at life and examine himself to see his mistakes and faults that is most likely the reason he had ended up full of hatred/rage, overweight, alienated from his family for 12yrs and now his wife leaving him. He eventually began to open up to friends as they helped him get past his pain and showed that he was in fact loved whether he thought he deserved it or not. Upon opening himself up, he was also encouraged by friends and his own guilt to repair the rift between himself and his parents and brother just before it was almost too late.
I liked how the book began, it really grabbed my attention and his description of how he felt and what he was going through was really easy to relate with at times. The chapters on repairing his relationship with his family and the sickness of his father were extremely well written to the point I almost felt I was there.
The author warns up front that this book was written over a long period of time and how his attitude changes over the course. I found this very difficult to follow at times, especially when he was describing his feelings on the divorce. He would move forward a few months and then make back statements that made me think he was describing the first 2 weeks after his wife filed again. I think he spent way too much time talking about the divorce and then revisiting it. I would have liked to read more about the debauchery and finding happiness.
I give this book a rating 2 out of 4 stars. Overall, I enjoyed reading it but I found the flow difficult at times and the majority of the book to be filled with anger, self loathing, and depression, a negative feel to it per say. I am sure some people will read it and relate to it better than I did, as they may have had similar experiences and can use what they learned from Mr. Akins to better their own life.
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- chrisakin
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It's Chris Akin, the author of LITTLE VICTORIES. Thank you for the review. I found it to be very fair and honest, and to be sure, I understand your criticisms of the book as a whole.
To clarify one brief point that you made about wanting to read more about the debauchery and the finding happiness aspect of it, I just wanted to state something that I may not have explained well enough in the book. I wrote for 1 year, not even 13 months or 12 months and a day. I set a stop point at June 21st, 2013 - 1 year to the day from the day of my breakup. There was more happiness to come, as I'm in a much better place now than when I stopped writing. That said, the fixing of things with my family, friends, etc. all led me to a great place mentally.
To the debauchery part, I just kind of felt things were competitive to rehash more and more events. I wrote at length in the book about my birthday party where I went off the rails with booze and being a complete ass. I wrote about Atlantic City and randomly having sex with a total stranger. There were more of these situations that I wrote about and left out in the end, because I felt they were different stories but of the same repeated behavior. I appreciate your point though.
Overall, I'm glad you enjoyed the book...regardless of the score. This thing is very personal to me, and it's already a success because it's an accomplishment I never assumed I could make.
Thank you again for taking the time to read it and for providing such a comprehensive review.
Chris Akin