REVIEW for Recovering My Voice

Thank you goes out to Paula Krapf at Author Marketing Experts for sending this book along to me!

TITLE: Recovering My Voice

AUTHOR: Aruni Nan Futuronsky

GENRE: Memoir

RATING; 3 Stars

I love reading books about recovery and spirituality - about finding your true path - through trials and tribulations and this book fits this perfectly. Recovering My Voice is a beautiful testimonial of the human spirit and our desire to "find" who we really are - if we are brave enough and willing enough to do so. Author Aruni Nan Futuronsky details for us, in her memoir, her struggles from a very young age - although she had moments of joy, as she very well describes in this book, she somehow never managed to quite "fit in" to be able to find her inner joy for more than a few moments at a time.

I loved some of the touching stories she tells of her memories (bits and pieces here and there) for spending time with her dad or being on the beach. As she grows, she finds herself becoming less and less happy and isolating herself - trying to deal with her demons, which include her sexuality - which she will find herself at turns fighting against and denying in an attempt to be like everyone else. This, of course, leads her to become an adult who is in full denial about herself and, in true addict in the making fashion, she will reach out to drugs and alcohol to numb her pain. As time goes by, she attends an AA meeting, which will help her find what she has been searching for. I loved this about the book - the author's willingness to look to AA for help and guidance .

Using AA as her diving board, she finds herself on a path to finally finding her spirituality and some direction in her life and from this part on the novel takes off and shows us just how connected she becomes (and continues to strive to be) with herself as well as her life and those around her. This book is touching and I found myself choked up quite a few times. I loved the raw honesty and I admire the author for being so open and candid with her readers.

My complaint about this book though is that its extremely detailed at times and frankly, a little too long. At some points, I wanted to skip entire pages (I didn't because I wanted to honor the authors work) but there was just too much information here at times. Also, the author's writing was beautiful, but at times was a little bit much.

However, this is a beautiful memoir and I did enjoy reading it.