The Dark Night of Recovery
Conversations from the Bottom of the Bottle
This is not the usual recovery book or just another book on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Dark Night is instead about Bob, a young, Yale-educated uptown attorney, and his sessions with his mentor, Tyler, an old-time ex-con with no formal education. Though as different as night and day, Bob and Tyler form a bond through the one thing they hold in common: alcoholism. What helps the bond work is that Bob notices and acknowledges the irony that Tyler is now the successful teacher—having maintained his sobriety for thirty years.
Tyler uses whatever means possible to walk Bob down the roads necessary for growth in his recovery, referring Bob to the lessons to be learned in a strange mixture of scripture, philosophy and children’s literature such as: Tao Teh Ching, the Bible, The Prophet, The World of Pooh and The Velveteen Rabbit. Though each of the twelve chapters deals in a unique way with AA’s Twelve Steps, Bob and Tyler also discuss how the lessons from these other writings apply to life’s changes.
Giving readers an honest view of bottoming out and pulling oneself back up again through Bob’s struggles with his devastating addiction, Bear offers a different approach to recovery through spirituality and universal self-awareness. Dark Night has much to offer not only those suffering from all types of addictions, but will be of interest to anyone who has a loved one suffering an addiction.
Reviewed by
Michele McDonald
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
