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TITLE: Swish: Maria in the Mourning
AUTHOR: Pamela Palmer Mutino
RELEASE
DATE: Already released
GENRE: Addiction/Memoir
Rating: 4 Stars
I read alot of addiction/recovery books - this is a subject that is very close to my heart. When I was asked to review Swish: Maria in the Mourning written by Pamela Palmer Mutino (mother of Maria) I thought I was going to be reading a moving account of addiction and recovery. I was only partially right.
This book has felt extremely personal to me. I am very familiar with both the addiction and the recovery process and I am a believer that recovery is possible and is a gift. But somehow I rarely expose myself to addiction stories that don't have a happy ending - however, there would be no happy ending here.
This is the story of Maria who is a heroin addict, but this is only part of who she is - she is also bright, intelligent, spirited and is someone's friend, girlfriend and most importantly daughter.
Maria's mom, Pamela Palmer Mutino wrote Swish: Maria in the Mourning as a tribute to her daughter, but also as a way to purge herself of all the raw emotions, thoughts and fears that she herself has felt through her daughter's addiction, recovery attempts and ultimately her death.
Addiction is a family affair - it touches everyone involved. While we always tend to focus on the addict, we can easily forget the other people it affects. In this book, we get to feel what Pamela is feeling, we get to read her thoughts, we get to live the hell that she is living. It is Pamela's journey towards her own recovery- towards getting to a place where she can heal and look towards the future again.
This book was extremely difficult to read - the raw emotion, the pain and the suffering that this mother is going through is almost too difficult to bear - but at the same time, I felt an intimate connection with this mother, who was willing to show us her pain, who was willing to share with us her wondeful memories and more importantly, wanted to make sure that we got the true picture of who Maria really was.This book is incredibly intimate and incredibly sad and there is no happy ending - however, this story shows us the strength of the human spirit and the love that a mother has for her child - no matter what. I am so touched that Pamela shared her story
1 comment:
very honest review - I imagine that if the book was difficult to read in parts, it was also challenging for you to write about your response to it. well done!
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