Rating: 5 Soda Caps
"Addiction, violence, and incarceration" isn't an accurate a big enough umbrella for the array of topics covered in this series of anecdotes. From real war stories to inner war excerpts, the Words Without Walls outreach program delves into some subjects that cannot thoroughly be described by my depiction only. The rawness of these writings bores into your bones fold after fold as you press-on with each account of adversity or long-lived silence of turpitude.
Each passage has its own set of slang and jargon from a lifetime of intertwined, diverging cultures. Drug users/abusers will know a million ways to say what fix theyre trying to score, a secret code they have to muddle under their breath in alleyways to recieve their self destruction. Others hide for a significant portion of their life. Their coveted experiences are shocking to more than just religious grandmothers.
In all honesty, some pages left me with a feeling of disgust and concern. It's difficult to read "Words Without Walls" without feeling like someone stomped on your heart. I don't think I could read this if I had children. I worry about what the next generation is coming into. At the same time, I'm relieved that social norms on gender and sexuality are seemingly dissolving one day at a time. For the most part, the next generation is allowed to disclose who they truly are without perturbation. In the small town where I grew up, some of the most indestructible humans I know are cross-dressers, pansexuals, androgynous, or transgender. Equally so, there are straight, heterosexual supporters that leave me in awe with the way they aid those who differ from conformities of the previous generations.
The most insufferable issues for me were suicide, eating disorders, consensual/nonconsensual rape, abuse, and alcohol abuse. For someone who has seen these, dealt with these, and pushed them away, it is grueling to turn the other cheek to adversaries and enablers. As for addiction, I yearn to help all that forfeit their life over to an uncontrollable life, giving into whatever gets them by. There is numbing and euphoria on the other side, sure, but it's never enough when you give in to self destructive thoughts.
"Words Without Walls" is all about new beginnings. It's about the past, where it
led to, and what you chose to do about it. Take it with a grain of salt, but leave it knowing what you can have in the future if you hold your head up. It is not fear, but the knowing from another's experience that makes us stronger. When I read this book. I thought of all the stories my mother told me as a kid -- ones to make me cautious about my surroundings -- and how they made me who I am today. Learning vicariously through my mother's affairs has prepared me for trials I couldn't have even fathomed. If you should read this book, I hope you can keep a similar sensitivity in mind and gain fortitude from its prose.
