Great Book!!!

     So, I was totally unable to post yesterday because I got sucked into a really great book and didn't want to put it down until I was finished.  I will be getting to a review of it later in this post.

     On Tuesday I ran 5 wonderful miles on the treadmill, yesterday was 3 miles on the treadmill and 7 on the bike, and today was 10 miles for my long run.  I am definitely back to normal after the unfortunate funk of last week. 

     As far as writing goes, I am a little stuck.  I have been a lot more into reading than writing for the past few weeks.  I was really excited about my new story, but I am now thinking it's not as great as I thought.  I am probably going to try to write it anyway, just to finish something.  Even if it's not as good as I had originally thought it was going to be, at least it will be good practice.

     Now for my review...

Title:
Baby Huey: A Cautionary Tale of Addiction
Author:
James Henderson
Price on Amazon:
99 cents
Number of Stars: 5 out of 5 stars

     This is the story of an average black man and his spiral into the world of crack addiction.  This is one of those stories that you know from the first few chapters isn't going to end well, but like a train wreck you can't look away.  A scarily accurate depiction of how drug addiction can happen to anybody.  A lot of people don't understand how easy it is to get sucked into drugs, and this story is a great example of how sometimes it really only takes one time.  I have known more than a few drug addicts, and I also know that sometimes people you could never imagine even thinking about using drugs can fall so far under it's spell that there is no chance for return.  It really is an amazing phenomenon, can you think of anything else in the world that has that kind of power.  There are a few situations in the book that would make it iinappropriate for school aged students, but otherwise I would say that this book should be required reading for all graduating high school students. 

     On top of the fact that this book has an amazing lesson it is also extremely well written.  The characters were all extremely believable.  It wasn't just a story about some guy addicted to crack, it was about John Dough and his struggle to live.  Every time he would start heading in the right direction, he would ruin it all by doing crack.  That's how drug addiction is, once you are an addict you will be one forever, it doesn't matter if you have been sober for 10 years, use one time and you will be right back where you were.  I could really relate to John's wife Doreen and her feelings toward him and his new addiction.  What do you do if you find out your husband has been using crack?

     The story doesn't end in a completely terrible way, but it does show you that drug addiction only leads to a few different endings, most of which are not good.  I think that this book would be great for any recovering addict or anybody struggling to understand how someone close to them became an addict.  Drug addiction is so taboo in our society and most people don't really understand how much control drugs can have over a person.  While this story isn't technically true because it's fiction, I know there are people going through this right now as I type this.  This is a story that you will think about long after you have finished it.  I highly recommend this book to anyone (over the age of 16, because of a few scenes that are absolutely not appropriate for young children).  Great Book!

     I won't be posting tomorrow since I did today, but I will see you all on Monday.  I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Until Then,
SJ Hanson