Review of Life and How to Live it

[Barry Jones 2]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Life and How to Live it" by Chaz Holesworth.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Chaz Holesworth chronicles his painful upbringing in Life and How to Live It: Volume One. His childhood was spent in a home that dealt with poverty, addiction, and rigid religious restrictions. His father was a known heroin addict, such that he had no stability, and his mother adopted fundamentalist Christianity, which created a fearful household.

Battling with religion and poverty through an uncertain time full of trauma, exploring his identity standing between religion and poverty, his life was trapped. The book is filled with real insights into household conflict and abuse patterns and the role addiction and religion play in a developing child's attempt to make sense of his world.

This book takes readers into the author's recollections, which he told with immense emotional strength, using painful words with a touch of humorous delivery. How Chaz Holesworth relates his challenging experiences makes his storytelling powerful. He conveys the truth about the harsh reality of his past through the tough, not soft, style of his unsoftened narrative. The narrative reaches new levels of depth through his authentic storytelling, which is poignantly matched with black humor. By depicting his adorable but flawed father combined with his well-meaning authoritative storytelling, Holesworth was able to uniquely describe his parents. The memoir doesn't just tell the story; it not only allows the reader to experience the pain of each coming and going, but it also shows the collapse of the family and the fight for the survival of life.

Having found no faults in the book, I can give it four out of five stars; there's nothing wrong with the book, but there should be one more round of editing to fix a couple of grammar problems. The atmosphere made by the author kept me hooked, and so I enjoyed reading the book from the beginning. Holesworth’s voice shines through as the strongest asset among its powerful attributes.

The book appeals to readers looking for unvarnished memoirs on addiction, trauma, and family troubles mixed with the characterization of personal endurance. The book would appeal to most people because of its writing style, raw content, and thematic material. The book is appropriate for readers aged 18 and above because it has graphic descriptions of drug use, sexual abuse, and personal trauma. The memoir serves as a good example of the use of real life, especially well-written, along with the display of literary skill sets of the sociology students, psychology majors, and creative nonfiction writers.

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Life and How to Live it
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[SHARON AKINYI AGOLA]

Such an intriguing review. I am definitely interested in reading this book. I would like to explore more on the theme of identity crisis, and how the author found a footing despite all challenges the author had to go through.

[Jelani Trotter]

In Life and How to Live It: Volume One, Chaz Holesworth recounts his turbulent childhood marked by poverty, addiction, and strict religious control. Caught between his father’s heroin addiction and his mother’s fundamentalist beliefs, he struggles to find his identity. The book offers raw insights into household conflict, abuse, and the impact of addiction and religion on a child’s development.