Nice Recovery Review

TITLE: Nice Recovery
AUTHOR: Susan Juby
PUB DATE: March 2009
PAGES: 272
PUBLISHER: Penguin Group Canada

ABOUT THE BOOK:
“There are families, which, through a combination of genetics, culture, and inclination, produce a startling number of professional athletes, such as tennis players or hockey stars. Then there are families like the Baldwins, which produce a high percentage of actors. My family seems to specialize in people who enjoy drinking. And taking drugs. In such families, there is usually one person who stands out as particularly gifted in the field. When I was a teenager, that person was me. I was the star, the Alec Baldwin, if you will. I started drinking seriously when I was thirteen, smoking pot with a vengeance at fourteen, and getting into cocaine at sixteen. By the time I was twenty I was done. Nice Recovery is the story of how I slipped so far off course, how I got back on track, and, most importantly, what it’s like to come of age as a sober young person.”

MY THOUGHTS:

Thank you to Vimala from Penguin Canada for sending me Nice Recovery to read and review.

One of the benefits to blogging and receiving books is the chance to discover an author you might not have read about and so was the case with Susan Juby. I have heard about Susan Juby but never read her books. She is the author of several books such as Getting the Girl, Alice I think and a few others.

Nice Recovery is Susan’s personal memoir of her alcohol and drug addition when she was a teen until her 20s. What a teen life she lead. Reading Nice Recovery was like watching a train wreak happening and hoping and praying that Susan would see the light and want to come clean.

You can’t help but want to reach in and grab Susan by the shoulders and shake her to make her realize what she is doing and tell her to get help but you can’t do that with a person with addiction. They basically have to hit rock bottom first or they want to get help. Its something that can’t be forced on them.

One thing I noticed while reading the book was how honest she was and wondered how it was possible that she could remember so much of what happened and what she did during those days.

I have to say it took her alot of courage to write about her life and her addiction. It just goes to show that there is more to a person that we might not know about. I am sure its a daily struggle for Susan and I am sending positive thoughts and vibes her way that she can stay clean.

Personally in my life I never was influenced by alchol or drugs even though they were around. I think it was seeing what it does that made me realize it wasn’t for me. I can honestly say that I only got drunk once (that was in high school) and the closest I get to drugs are prescription drugs.

This is a great book for the Susan Juby fan or for someone who is struggling with an addiction problem.

Upcoming events:
Juby will appear at a hometown book launch on May 1 in Nanaimo, at the Saskatchewan Library Association conference on May 6, at Toronto Public Library school events on May 11, the Forest of Reading ceremony in Toronto on May 12, Belleville library events on May 13, and at a Vancouver Public Library event on June 7.