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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
From the abusive Catholic Institutions for children, to the streets, to the hermitage of the forest, Gregory shares his harrowing life of addiction, isolation, despair and loneliness - but also how he manages to rise from the gutter to university education and beyond. I found his book to be very inspiring and humbling, as I could see the ‘every man’s struggle’ to survive, be loved and be seen. I am left dumbfounded at how this man ever found the strength to get up and keep going knowing what he went through and then, to share his experience and inner mist thoughts with the public. I don’t think I could have survived this, but then, it’s not my story. Everyone has their own journey, I cannot judge, I can only listen to another person’s life experience with awe at the strength and intelligence of the human spirit. Thanks for sharing your story with me Gregory, I think it will stay with me.
I went into this thinking it was a self-help book and so I was disappointed to find a memoir, which isn’t the books fault but it did impact my reading experience. I think the title is a bit misleading though in that aspect.
I also fundamentally disagree that contentment is not a part of happiness and vice versa, and while this premise may have been mentioned at one part of the book I believe that it wasn’t explained enough or often enough for it to make sense as a title or concept. Even grammatically, if contentment is better than happiness than it would be the antidote to discontent right? It’s like putting “Better than not breathing: the true antidote to breathing”??
I can appreciate Smith’s story and struggles with topics like homelessness, survival, trauma and more, and while there were some pieces of guidance that were generally helpful (gratitude, charting your own course, looking after your inner child etc) I didn’t take much away at the denouement.
There are also parts of Smith’s life and philosophy that I disagreed with (always being early, relationship dynamics etc), or found hard to connect with, which again is mainly personal preference, but I found it difficult to connect to even on a memoir basis.
I listened to the audiobook and I’m glad Smith is doing well, it was nice of him to narrate parts at the beginning and end.
This was an audiobook in between books and while I appreciate it made me reflect and reaffirm positive actions to better oneself, and that Smiths story is inspiring, it wasn’t what I was looking for and fell flat for me personally in terms of reading experience.
I also fundamentally disagree that contentment is not a part of happiness and vice versa, and while this premise may have been mentioned at one part of the book I believe that it wasn’t explained enough or often enough for it to make sense as a title or concept. Even grammatically, if contentment is better than happiness than it would be the antidote to discontent right? It’s like putting “Better than not breathing: the true antidote to breathing”??
I can appreciate Smith’s story and struggles with topics like homelessness, survival, trauma and more, and while there were some pieces of guidance that were generally helpful (gratitude, charting your own course, looking after your inner child etc) I didn’t take much away at the denouement.
There are also parts of Smith’s life and philosophy that I disagreed with (always being early, relationship dynamics etc), or found hard to connect with, which again is mainly personal preference, but I found it difficult to connect to even on a memoir basis.
I listened to the audiobook and I’m glad Smith is doing well, it was nice of him to narrate parts at the beginning and end.
This was an audiobook in between books and while I appreciate it made me reflect and reaffirm positive actions to better oneself, and that Smiths story is inspiring, it wasn’t what I was looking for and fell flat for me personally in terms of reading experience.