Review by MariePreston -- There and Back There Again

[MariePreston]

[Following is a volunteer review of "There and Back There Again" by Andrew Alsup.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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There and Back There Again, a book of personal experiences written by Andrew (Andy) Alsup is a collection of short stories that detail the experiences from Andy’s daily life. He writes a lot about his daily experiences and how he copes with the voices he hears in his head described as auditory hallucinations. Andrew also feels he is psychic and has had his personal right to privacy attacked by doctors, attorneys, and such people who have diagnosed or judged him without taking into consideration his take on the situation.

From the way he describes his inner self, you can definitely make out that Andy is very passionate about how he feels regarding these subjects. He also seemingly does extremely well fighting the voices in his head while standing up for his own rights as a deserving human being.

It was really difficult to understand the first few chapters and what Andrew was trying to convey. As you start reading the book, you get confused about whom he was actually talking about, whether it was the voices in his head, the government, or the people who were trying to help him. Around chapters 5 and 6, I really started understanding a little better. I went back and reread the first chapters with my new understanding and saw things in a different light. I did not care for all the cursing. I could have over looked it better had all the curse words been censored. I didn’t understand why some were censored and some were not.

Andrew succeeds in drawing empathy from his readers by clearly stating how people’s judgments have affected him and how he tries to get them to understand what they are doing. Never the less, ideas were being repeated for what seemed like chapters that I felt as though I could skip ahead and already know what was said. I’m glad I didn’t because I would have missed some of the stories he tells, or rather his interpretation of other aspects of his life which are positive and some quite funny.

I would like to add that the first story in this book made an impact on me by showing a bit of the mind of a schizophrenic and how they might be battling daily with things that others may never even know is a battle.

In the end, I enjoyed reading this compilation of Andrew’s personal trials and accomplishments and would rate it 2 out of 4 because of the confusing first chapters and the cursing. I gave it a 2 because it is good insight and the author added situations that he recognized as funny, “regular” occurrences seen through his struggles. I feel this book would appeal to people who are in these types of battles themselves or people who know someone with these types of battles.

Review by Maree

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There and Back There Again
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[Ana Megrelishvili]

I gave this book a very low rating. Mainly because of poor grammar and no storyline. Although I personally, did not enjoy it, I think some people will find it very handy.