This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Angela Chase is a Montreal-based writer and translator whose credits include a critically-acclaimed translation of The Award (La Médaille) by Lydie Salvayre. Wholly Unmanageable is her first memoir.
(I originally wrote this period-based memoir to expiate the anger I felt at the treatment I received during my first and only experience of in-house rehab. But then, as a famous author once expressed it, you quickly realize that you cannot tell your story without telling the "whole story.") I also offer some alternate takes on 12 Step reality.
Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite
Wholly Unmanageable is a heartfelt memoir by Angela Chase, self described as ‘A tragicomic memoir of rehab, rebellion and raging thirst’. Focusing on the extreme difficulties of living with alcohol addiction, this is the story of Angela’s visit to Paterson Place, an Ottawa rehab that was nothing like it promised to be. Hellish counselors Gabe and Gill took Angela through some horrifying experiences in a setting nothing like the fancy celebrity rehabs you see on television, yet through it all this struggling older woman gave her life humor and even optimism. The tale overall takes life by the horns, turning a tragic situation into a message of solidarity and small victories for her readers.
Angela Chase writes with raw honesty and a dialogue straight from the heart that was sometimes hard to read purely for the candor of it. That said, her personality came across so endearingly on the page, garnering sympathy for a woman who fell into the happiness illusion trap that the world sets up for us, seeking it anywhere that promises it, until she ended up at the bottom of the bottle. There’s great pathos and wit throughout the narration, but also some very powerful observations on life and the nature of happiness itself. I think readers don’t need to have been through a similar experience to ‘get’ this book, because the quest for false cheer is one whose sting we have all felt in our own way. Wholly Unmanageable is a highly recommended memoir for readers who appreciate the irony of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.
