Book Review - Fractured
Fractured, by Alison Pearce is a sad story about addiction. The author, Alison Pearce shares her real-life story of struggling with alcohol while her husband of 9 years struggles with drugs and alcohol. Follow as she hits rocks bottom and slowly learns to climb back to a life of stability after 3 of the worst years of her life.
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PREVIEW:
This story of true life struggles begins when Alison Pearce learns that her husband has been having an affair. Lately, Dean had been drinking more heavily and Alison had feared that he had fallen back to old habits. Alison and Dean met at AA more than a decade earlier. Alison was married at the time with 2 young boys. She eventually divorced and ended up marrying Dean.
Dean brought new life into Alison's life. They felt stronger together having both seemingly conquered alcoholism. Alison believed that Dean was her best friend. She isn't very outgoing and didn't have a lot of friends and Dean made her feel complete.
Until.... one night at a party, Dean was intoxicated and had misplaced his phone when a text came through and Alison read from his (former) lover, a response to leave her alone - she had moved on.
CONFRONTING ADULTRY
In this moment, Alison "lost it" and after confronting Dean, who naturally denied any relationship with the "texter", she began spiraling downward. After 9 years of sobriety, she began drinking wine, daily, without Dean knowing it, or so she thought.
Alison turns the clock back 3 years to when everything fell apart. Dean's business fell apart and he lost it to a couple of employees who bought him out when he couldn't keep it going. Unbeknownst to Alison, Dean had been using drugs on a daily basis. This drug addiction had taken over his life - life away from Alison and away from his business. He wasn't paying the bills, at home or at work and he was lying to everyone.
When the truth came out, it was evident that Dean's only option was to go into therapy. He left home and entered into a facility a few hours away from home. Soon after beginning treatment, he met Gemma, a younger women with a long history of addiction. They became close and after leaving facility, began meeting up and having an affair.
ALISON LEARNS TO LIVE WITHOUT DEAN
Gemma believed Dean planned to leave Alison. Dean felt that Alison was his soulmate. Now forced to begin life again and figure out how to make a living, Dean took a job a few hours away from home. In this anonymous city, he and Gemma grew their relationship. Alison, at this time, had no idea Dean was cheating on her.
Alison was doing everything she could to make ends meet at home. Continuing to work a job she hated, picking up a part time job and renting out a couple of rooms in their house just to make enough money to pay the basic expenses, AND her own new addiction.
Kevin, the young man Dean hired to help around the house - shovel snow, etc. began to befriend Alison. When he could see that she was struggling, he offered her some Percocet. Slowly, Alison began a habit of popping pills and drinking wine on a daily basis.
While working a job he hates, driving home on the occasional weekend, Dean starts to think about starting a new business. He begins to share his ideas with Alison who lacks enthusiasm for anything Dean talks about these days - she's exhausted that her life has become what it is since Dean told her she'd never want for anything when they first got together.
STARTING OVER
Dean convinces Alison that they can start over. Alison has struggled with so much since learning about Gemma, but she can't deny that she still loves Dean. Willing to start over and hope to find success after Dean has gone through addiction therapy they move to a new home and begin to build a new business.
When Dean and Alison take a trip to the Bahamas, they meet a women who they'd met years earlier on a vacation to the Bahamas - back when things were good between them. This woman invites them to attend her church with her. Alison decides to attend but Dean chooses to attend an AA meeting instead.
This would begin a true new beginning for Dean and Alison. When they return home, they continue to build their business and each attend church and church groups to improve their health - mental and physical. The story ends with an honest unknown forecast for their future. While they hope to live "happily ever after", the only thing they can guarantee is that they'll both do their best each and every day.
REVIEW:
This is a sad story. One that I, personally cannot relate to. However, it kept my attention from the first chapter. For some reason, stories filled with emotional trauma interest me. I've always felt I should have gone into psychology because I'm interested in learning about other's lives. When I can't relate, I'm even more enthralled an interested in how people work through their struggles.
Alison does a good job telling her story and keeping the reader interested. Since it's a true story, the reader trusts the re-count. I've read a few true stories and some of them become a bit redundant. Fractured could easily be assumed to be a fictional story, the way Alison organized the story.
I would recommend this story to anyone interested in this type of storyline.
Until my next review...
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