Official Review: Why? by Joseph Hempsey

[Cee-Jay Aurinko]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Why?" by Joseph Hempsey.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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Why? is a non-fiction novel by Joseph Hempsey, a true account of the author's life, his bout with depression, and his quest for elusive happiness. Born in Scotland, the author has had a harrowing childhood. His father, a naval officer when he is first introduced, started developing a seemingly insatiable thirst for alcohol after what the author stated as being his earliest memory of life. "Going to bed that night was different; something had changed." Months after the aforementioned night, things went from bad to worse as Joseph, his four siblings, and his mother, became victim to a man whose unpredictable moods occasionally resulted in physical violence.

He survives life with an abusive father as well as with an abusive stepfather; however, he doesn't come out of his childhood entirely unscathed. Beginning with the abuse of his own father, who died suddenly due to a work-related injury, he became increasingly withdrawn and utterly incapable of expressing his emotions. After joining the military though, he began to learn how to express himself better, albeit not in a good way. He began drinking. He began throwing punches. Years later, Joseph finds himself in India, trying his best to get an interview with a holy man who, like his deceased father, doesn't even want to acknowledge that he exists.

More than anything else, Joseph's tale is one of perseverance in the face of extraordinarily bad circumstances. One of the things I liked about this book is that it has a lot of food for thought when it comes to all things relating to depression and alcoholism. Everything the author wrote about these two things is totally believable. I understood most of what I was reading, but found everything else too chaotic to follow. To put it gently, reading this book is like being trapped inside an overly stressed individual's mind in dire need of a good dose of anxiety pills.

Apart from grammatical errors and typos, there are a lot of other things that influenced my overall rating. Some of the stuff I read just seemed a bit too farfetched for me to conceive as actual facts. The organization of this novel is poor as details and characters were introduced in the later parts of the novel that left me staring at the pages utterly dazed and mentally numb. Don't get me started on the fact that thirty percent of this book seems to be devoted entirely to the making of flight plans.

Readers who've fallen in love with Elizabeth Gilbert's 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love will find something similar in this book. I dare not say that they will love it. This book just has too many wrongs for me to say that. Areas of improvement include better organization and a good deal of editing. My rating is 1 out of 4.

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Why?
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[Lisalovecraft]

This definitely sounds like an interesting premise. It does sound like the author may need an editor to help with grammatical errors and overall flow of the book. I think it is important for the reader to be able to follow what is going on to actually be able to get something out pf the book. What kind of flight plans did the author make?

[bookowlie]

Insightful review! As Lisalovecraft mentioned, the premise sounds interesting. I get frustrated reading a book that is not organized well. An author can have a bunch of creative ideas, but the final product has to flow well for readers to want to continue reading it. I have given up reading some books after a few chapters due to poor flow. I lose interest.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Wow, this book sounds depressing. Great review! I can tell you're holding back and refraining from being critical, and I admire that.

[H0LD0Nthere]

Great review. I hope that, if nothing else, the book was cathartic to write. I have heard it said that everyone should write their own life story, not necessarily for publication, but just to make sense of it.

[Cee-Jay Aurinko]

@Lisalovecraft
To be honest... I don't know... The author traveled back and forth to India so much that I mind kinda fused and blanked out on me. It starts in Scotland, then he's off to Germany, then he's back to Scotland, then in Africa, to India, and then the real trouble begins.

@bookowlie

I considered it on more than one occasion; should've listened to my gut.

@zeldas_lullaby
It is every bit as depressing as it sounds. And then some. Quite a doozy.

@holdonthere
I think someone's diary accidentally ended up in cyber space as an ebook.

[bookowlie]

I agree with Zeldas_lullaby. There is probably more that you could have said, but no one likes to pile on.

I am getting dizzy thinking about the author's travels back and forth to India, Scotland, Germany, back to Scotland, Africa, and then India again. Whew!

[Cee-Jay Aurinko]

@ bookowlie

Sorry about the dizziness. Take a deep breath. It'll pass.

[bookowlie]

I can't imagine what it would be like to read about all those trips, particularly if the story didn't have a good flow.

[Lisalovecraft]

@Lisalovecraft
To be honest... I don't know... The author traveled back and forth to India so much that I mind kinda fused and blanked out on me. It starts in Scotland, then he's off to Germany, then he's back to Scotland, then in Africa, to India, and then the real trouble begins.

.

Sounds confusing!

[Cee-Jay Aurinko]

@ Lisalovecraft

It is. In CAPITAL letters.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Holdonthere....

I have to disagree... I wrote all the horrors from my life once, and it had the effect of opening a Pandora's box... (there's really something to that myth.) I couldn't unwrite it once it was on paper with ink. It took me over ten years to recover. Of course, I'm not entirely blaming myself for that. But I'm of the belief that some things are better left unwritten. As awful as this must be for the author of this book, Hempsey, I just don't think he should've written this or published it, for that matter. And I say that from a place of having been there (minus the publication... this was back before self-publishing, not that I would have done that, but anyway).

-- July 14th, 2015, 12:40 pm --

@holdonthere
I think someone's diary accidentally ended up in cyber space as an ebook.

Oh, right. I initially overlooked this. Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm thinking!!

[ananya92]

"To put it gently, reading this book is like being trapped inside an overly stressed individual's mind in dire need of a good dose of anxiety pills." Ha, ha, loved this line.
Well-detailed review. The premise of the book sounds pretty interesting, though the execution has fallen flat, I guess.

[Cee-Jay Aurinko]

@ zeldas-lullaby

Maybe we share a twin mind. Which would be spooky, of course.

@ anaya

Flat like the surface between a mountain and the thing just underneath the mountain, whatever that is.

[H0LD0Nthere]

Holdonthere....

I have to disagree... I wrote all the horrors from my life once, and it had the effect of opening a Pandora's box... (there's really something to that myth.) I couldn't unwrite it once it was on paper with ink. It took me over ten years to recover. Of course, I'm not entirely blaming myself for that. But I'm of the belief that some things are better left unwritten. As awful as this must be for the author of this book, Hempsey, I just don't think he should've written this or published it, for that matter. And I say that from a place of having been there (minus the publication... this was back before self-publishing, not that I would have done that, but anyway).

OK, I bow to your experience and expertise, since I have never written my memoirs seeking catharsis.

I am sorry you had to go through all that (twice, as it were).

I have had a similar experience, not with writing my own story, but with someone writing about me. They did not know the whole story, but once written down, their assumptions became authoritative.

One good thing that came out of that experience ... I will be MUCH more careful what I write about others in the future.