Review by jsparkleflower -- The Sword Swallower and a Ch...
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jsparkleflower
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Review by jsparkleflower -- The Sword Swallower and a Ch...
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Sword Swallower and a Chico Kid" by Gary Robinson.]
3 out of 4 stars
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The Sword Swallower & The Chico Kid, by Gary Robinson, is a adult fiction novel where the authors draws from his own experiences as a drug addict to take us through the life experiences of two characters who struggle with alcohol and drug addiction. In Part I of the story, the reader is introduced to Duke, who at 15 years-old decided to run away from his abusive family to join the world of the travelling circus, and becomes a renown sword swallower. In his earlier circus years, he makes many poor life choices: alcohol, methamphetamine and womanizing. Some of these steer his life into an extended prison sentence where he begins to turn his life around through reading books and playing in a band. His zest for life almost kills him as does his love for swallowing swords when he nearly ends his own life after slicing his esophagus while removing several swords from his throat.
Next, in Part II of the book, the reader is fast forwarded years later. Where we meet the second character, Gary. He too was a runaway teenager, escaping from an abusive, alcoholic mother. He manages to enroll, complete, and graduate from college, while addicted to alcohol. Then, not knowing what he wants in life, follows a group of recent college grads to a small town named Chico for a brief weekend of partying, then ends up staying back once the whole group leaves. He is determined to make Chico his new home. He is given multiple employment chances; a weekend museum security, and a supervisor to mentally challenged individuals all of which he allows alcohol to turn these into disasters, where he eventually ends up facing a night in prison.
Finally in Part III, Gary meets Duke during one of his side show performances on stage and is drawn to him. The two begin an unusual friendship of mentoring where Duke helps Gary out of alcohol induced disasters and they end up travelling together, while using the assistance of methamphetamine to keep their energy level up for multiple days of driving in a row. The pair have a scheduled sideshow act planned out in Canada, when Gary is invited to attend a party where he is subjected to more drugs and ends up going through life changing experiences.
I liked this story as it drew me in to each of the characters individually to start before they were brought together to have joined experiences. Both were individual in their youth experiences yet both had similar backgrounds. Each character brought out my empathy as both tried at some points to live decent lives, yet both struggled with addiction which turned their decent lives upside down. They both also had highly unusual experiences which caused them physical harm, Duke at one point is hanging upside down from helicopter while trying to escape a straight jacket and ended up having his head dragged across the ground leaving him temporarily unconscious; while Gary attempted to make his rent payment during one scene by having people staple money to his shirtless chest while he was stoned on alcohol.
I didn’t like the dark language that was often involved. Some of the foul words, I felt, weren’t necessarily needed to get the actual storyline across. I was also somewhat put off by some of the scenes that were described through the book. Some were excessively graphic and almost brutal. However, I do agree some of these scenes were needed in order to gain my empathy for the characters, to allow my understanding how their poor choices and circumstances led to very chaotic results. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars , mainly due to the extent of the foul language that was used in many scenes as well as the graphic nature of some of the scenes. I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in understanding the mind of someone who struggles with addition, as it does give a good insight into how those individuals feel, think and behave, and makes the reader almost feel as if they too are on the same rollercoaster journey of confusion and chaos with the characters.
******
The Sword Swallower and a Chico Kid
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3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The Sword Swallower & The Chico Kid, by Gary Robinson, is a adult fiction novel where the authors draws from his own experiences as a drug addict to take us through the life experiences of two characters who struggle with alcohol and drug addiction. In Part I of the story, the reader is introduced to Duke, who at 15 years-old decided to run away from his abusive family to join the world of the travelling circus, and becomes a renown sword swallower. In his earlier circus years, he makes many poor life choices: alcohol, methamphetamine and womanizing. Some of these steer his life into an extended prison sentence where he begins to turn his life around through reading books and playing in a band. His zest for life almost kills him as does his love for swallowing swords when he nearly ends his own life after slicing his esophagus while removing several swords from his throat.
Next, in Part II of the book, the reader is fast forwarded years later. Where we meet the second character, Gary. He too was a runaway teenager, escaping from an abusive, alcoholic mother. He manages to enroll, complete, and graduate from college, while addicted to alcohol. Then, not knowing what he wants in life, follows a group of recent college grads to a small town named Chico for a brief weekend of partying, then ends up staying back once the whole group leaves. He is determined to make Chico his new home. He is given multiple employment chances; a weekend museum security, and a supervisor to mentally challenged individuals all of which he allows alcohol to turn these into disasters, where he eventually ends up facing a night in prison.
Finally in Part III, Gary meets Duke during one of his side show performances on stage and is drawn to him. The two begin an unusual friendship of mentoring where Duke helps Gary out of alcohol induced disasters and they end up travelling together, while using the assistance of methamphetamine to keep their energy level up for multiple days of driving in a row. The pair have a scheduled sideshow act planned out in Canada, when Gary is invited to attend a party where he is subjected to more drugs and ends up going through life changing experiences.
I liked this story as it drew me in to each of the characters individually to start before they were brought together to have joined experiences. Both were individual in their youth experiences yet both had similar backgrounds. Each character brought out my empathy as both tried at some points to live decent lives, yet both struggled with addiction which turned their decent lives upside down. They both also had highly unusual experiences which caused them physical harm, Duke at one point is hanging upside down from helicopter while trying to escape a straight jacket and ended up having his head dragged across the ground leaving him temporarily unconscious; while Gary attempted to make his rent payment during one scene by having people staple money to his shirtless chest while he was stoned on alcohol.
I didn’t like the dark language that was often involved. Some of the foul words, I felt, weren’t necessarily needed to get the actual storyline across. I was also somewhat put off by some of the scenes that were described through the book. Some were excessively graphic and almost brutal. However, I do agree some of these scenes were needed in order to gain my empathy for the characters, to allow my understanding how their poor choices and circumstances led to very chaotic results. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars , mainly due to the extent of the foul language that was used in many scenes as well as the graphic nature of some of the scenes. I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in understanding the mind of someone who struggles with addition, as it does give a good insight into how those individuals feel, think and behave, and makes the reader almost feel as if they too are on the same rollercoaster journey of confusion and chaos with the characters.
******
The Sword Swallower and a Chico Kid
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like jsparkleflower's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: Toxic Side Effect by Sandy Magner
