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 drink-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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[Lene Lena]

I find “Numb: A Memoir” deeply moving based on your review. I appreciate Boland’s courage in sharing his trauma and struggles with addiction. I believe his story can inspire others facing similar challenges, showing that healing is possible despite overwhelming darkness. Thank you for this great review!

[Louis Donald]

The raw honesty in Boland’s story sounds intense. It’s hard to imagine living through so much pain, but I can see why his journey would keep readers invested.

[Pearl Flourish]

Jeffrey Boland’s memoir offers a raw and honest account of his struggles with trauma and addiction, aiming to guide others toward hope and recovery. While the narrative is compelling, the mixed tenses and occasional sentence structure issues slightly detract from the reading experience.