Beamish Boy (I am not my story): A Memoir of Recovery & Awakening

by Albert Desilver

Overview

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Beamish Boy (I am not my story): A Memoir of Recovery & Awakening by Albert Flynn DeSilver

". . .A beautifully written memoir. . .poignant and inspirational, comical and terrifying!"

-Kirkus

"I was raised in a clock tower with bats in the belfry." So begins, Beamish Boy, the harrowing account of Albert Flynn DeSilver's inspirational journey from suicidal alcoholic to Poet Laureate and beyond. Though growing up in material privilege in suburban Connecticut in the 1970's and 80's, Albert finds himself whirling through an emotional wasteland void of love, complicated by his mostly absent alcoholic mother, and raising by a violent Swiss-German governess. A dramatic downgrade in lifestyle right around adolescence further inspires a great attraction for alcohol, drugs, and a series of increasingly shocking adventures.

Filled with a luminous cast of characters, and told with searing honesty and ironic wit, Beamish Boy is a redemptive story of survival and letting go, as we eagerly follow Albert from one zany adventure and near-death experience to the next. He is run over by his best friend after blacking out in a driveway, contracts malaria in east Africa, and joins a psychedelic "therapy" cult, until he miraculously "finds" himself, through photography, poetry, and a hilarious "awakening" at a meditation retreat center, realizing finally, what it means to be fully alive, to truly love.

Beamish Boy charts a compelling spiritual journey, from violence and self-annihilation to creativity and self-realization. Not your typical addiction memoir, Beamish Boy reads more like a witty and poetic novel, offering a profound window into the human condition, complete with its tragedies and ecstasies-illuminating one man's quest for an abiding perspective and lasting wisdom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780966943092
Publisher:	The Owl Press
Publication date:	06/15/2012
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)
Age Range:	15 Years

About the Author

". . .A beautifully written memoir. . .poignant and inspirational, comical and terrifying!"

-Kirkus

". . .a fascinating, poetic memoir. . ."

-ForeWord Reviews

"Albert Flynn DeSilver's extraordinary story of second chances is about cultivating a creative life of joy and generosity out of the ashes of fear, doubt, and trauma."

-Marci Shimoff, New York Times bestselling author, "Love for No Reason" and "Happy for No Reason"

"Sometimes we have to go to the darkest depths before we see the light. "Beamish Boy" is the inspiring true story that shows a journey of pain and self-destruction can lead to discovering that the peace and joy we yearned for, is in us all along."

-James Baraz, co-author of "Awakening Joy: 10 Steps That Will Put You On The Road To Real Happiness", co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center.

"A compelling story of a boy's climb out of pain and into poetry"

-Adair Lara, San Francisco Chronicle former columnist, and author of Naked, Drunk, & Writing

". . .a great story [written] with a keen eye and ear. . ."

-Sarah Gorham, Founder & Publisher of Sarabande Books

Albert Flynn DeSilver is an internationally published poet, author, artist, teacher, speaker, and writing coach. He served as the first Poet Laureate of Marin County, California from 2008-2010. Albert is the author of "Beamish Boy: A Memoir," and several books of poetry including "Letters to Early Street," and "Walking Tooth & Cloud," and his work has appeared in dozens of literary journals and anthologies worldwide. He presents at literary conferences nationally, directs a homecare agency, and teaches in the Teen and Family program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center near his home in Northern, California.

What People are Saying About This

Marcie Shimoff

Albert Flynn DeSilver's extraordinary story of second chances is about cultivating a creative life of joy and generosity out of the ashes of fear, doubt, and trauma.--Marci Shimoff, New York Times bestselling author, Love for No Reason and Happy for No Reason

Sarah Gorham

. . .a great story [written] with a keen eye and ear. . .
—Sarah Gorham

M. Wayne Cunningham

. . .a fascinating, poetic memoir. . .
—M. Wayne Cunningham

Adair Lara

A compelling story of a boy's climb out of pain and into poetry--Adair Lara, San Francisco Chronicle former columnist, and author of Naked, Drunk, & Writing.

Editorial Reviews

After six years of sobriety, poet DeSilver admits he was "still one sip of beer away from hell." After 10 years of sobriety, he writes that he wanted to kill the "drunk, stupid and confused" boy he had been at age 19. The emotional force of DeSilver's memoir lies in the author's ability to record raw and painful memories of addiction, while also reflecting on turning points that lead him to form a new identity. Skirting a fine line between acceptance and blame, he describes the eccentric characters implicated in his downward spiral (e.g., his gin-swilling, cigarette-smoking mother, whose pretentions were matched by her fondness for profanity; a devil of a German governess reminiscent of a Roald Dahl villain; a renegade high school teacher who supplied students with alcohol and cocaine), as well as the heroes who helped save him: a wise prostitute in Nairobi, photo-historian Arlan Silverman, American Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield, and Indian spiritual leader Nisargadatta Maharaj. DeSilver's seesawing journey from drug and alcohol addiction to recovery—all filled with epiphanies and backsliding, clarity and bewilderment—will keep readers committed to his story until, at last, he learns to "beam" without self-destructing and finds peace and stability in a loving relationship and meditation.

Publishers Weekly