Learning the Hard Way

In this electrifying, yet soulful memoir, you'll read about the author's self-doubt and fear from a childhood shattered like the broken home of his parents. You'll agonize with him during his adolescent years and know his torment as he struggles to dwell in a household with an abusive stepmother. You will internalize the ambivalence he faces as a teenager, torn between a mother he loves and tries to protect, and a father he strives to emulate and please, despite the man's brutality. Guilt-ridden and angry, the author attempts to comfort a dying mother whose religious beliefs become an obstacle for his own faith. You will relive the difficult times of the author's youth, and you will experience some of his cherished memories. You will feel the author's sorrow, laugh at his silly times, and you will come to know the acquaintances of the author's past, some of whom become his "princes" of savior. And despite the disappointments he finds as a boy, you will identify with his quest to overcome it all and find that not all of life's lessons are learned the hard way.