1 out of 4 stars
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Slave to the Dream is a memoir by Gaylan D. Wright. The author takes the reader on a journey through his life, starting with his first memory as a second grader that refused to miss recess even if that meant wetting his pants during class. He includes some other memories from his childhood, such as playing baseball with the neighborhood kids and stories about his early girlfriends. However, most of the book is about his long career in the Air Force and the people he met along the way. Wright has served his country on Air Force bases all around the world. He fulfilled the duties of numerous positions during his career spanning from a guard to a high ranking position within the Air Force police division. Also, Wright met many interesting people, including, lifelong friends, spouses, and some enemies during his countless years in the Air Force.
Even though the Slave to the Dream was meant to follow the life of the author, I felt like the book lacked chronological order, and because of this the book felt choppy and did not flow well. Wright often jumped back and forth between memories every time a new individual was added to the story. In addition, pictures were included in the book, which is a nice touch, but they were randomly placed throughout the book. Furthermore, there is an abundance of people discussed throughout this book and most seemed irrelevant to the story. He mentioned everyone from his stern and harsh grandfather to the man that sold drugs on the base. Also, Wright contradicted himself a couple times. For an example, Wright wrote this paragraph:
Then two paragraphs later, Wright wrote the following contradiction:“I never went into any neighborhood alone unless my cousin Butch went with me. He was the only person I trusted to go places with besides my brothers or cousins. The Wright curse: All of our friends are relatives. We would walk on opposite sides of the street so just in case one of us got jumped, the other could steal on them or jump them from behind. We didn't talk about it; we just did it.”
My biggest criticism about this book is the way it ended. He quickly finished the book with barely mentioning his current wife or his current life. I did not receive any background information or any details about experiences he had with the most important person in his life, his wife. Equally important, Slave to the Dream did include some grammatical and spelling errors such as missing commas and missing words and letters.“Mostly I walked the streets alone going to girl's houses I had met while working at Funtown Amusement Park.”
Although I did not enjoy much about this book, I will mention that Wright improved his life and I commend him for his service to our country. While he was young, Wright was a bully, stole girlfriends from his comrades, and fought often. However, as time went on, he realized his behavior and recognized that respect is the key to happiness.
I rate the Slave to the Dream by Gaylan D. Wright a 1 out of 4. I would have rated the book a two if the author had expanded the ending of the book and included further details about his current wife. Also, the memoir needs to be edited and written in chronological order. Even though I would not recommend this book, it is definitely written for a reader who enjoys the non-fiction genre. I would not recommend this book for children because it does contain curse words and discusses mature content.
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Slave to the Dream
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