The book, 'The journey of an Incorrigible Alcoholic: The Paths I chose and the Ones I Didn't Addiction, Depression, Suicide, Grief by Earl D. Erickson is a true life story of the author through addiction to alcohol, marijuana and other drugs leaving him miserable. It also reflects on the lifestyles of his older siblings and his friends. This book is published by iUniverse, Inc, New York, ISBN: 978-0-595-52583-6 (sc), 978-0-595-51327-7 (dj), 978-0-595-62637-3 (ebk). Erikson writes this book to encourage those enslaved to addiction. Many people, especially the young people are into alcoholism without control while some other older people who are unable to fix their life into order as a result of alcoholism.
Erikson is a man introduced to alcohol at a very age,' When I was three years old, in 1955, I awoke very early one morning, dragged a kitchen chair across the floor to the refrigerator,……. I drank my first swallow. Many were to follow'. Erikson seems to be a careless spender, one who cannot make justifiable financial decisions. But on the positive side, Earl tries to retain his job despite his heavy drinking behavior though he later resigns and finds himself working for one company to another with peanut sized salaries.
Through this book, Erikson tries to analyze the dangers that one is likely to encounter by engaging in alcoholism. This book gives its readers a clear picture of how life can become miserable to the extent that one wishes to die,' I wanted to die, but I didn’t want to do it myself. I just wished it and dreamed of it every day.' But, nevertheless, he is able to fight the addiction and is able to marry and settle down. This is a book that shows how people find their consolation in the bottle of beer as from the frustration of their social life such as relationships not working out leading to addiction.
This books starts off at a high momentum, by finding Earl's older brother, Donald having committed suicide at his apartment. Donald was a frustrated man and he had a blurred vision of a tomorrow. This, will sort of, set the reader at a high momentum, making the reader have the anxiety of the events to roll. Earl's fight with addiction is quite a toll, and the events happening are never on his side making him sink more and more into drug abuse. One has to keep on guessing on the next event to happen as Earl lives one of the most unpredictable lives and so is the suspense applied in this book. The book treats its readers to a good climax, a hard to believe from the past events.
Erikson is a grateful recuperating alcohol addict. He has a heart for writing inspirational stories that bring joy and comfort to him. He hopes that his stories may help his readers to possibly identify some of the past struggled that they may have encountered and how they were able to triumph over them. He owns and manages several websites that offer a networking platform for people to exchange ideas. This book gives the life of Earl Erikson through alcoholism, frustration to an extent of suicide and of his success. This book is good for those caught up in situation and not necessary drug abuse but the various obstacles we encounter in life and we find ourselves victims to them.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Erikson, Earl D. 'The journey of an Incorrigible Alcoholic: The Paths I chose and the Ones I Didn't Addiction, Depression, Suicide, Grief. New York. iUniverse, inc.2008
