Author: Jason Akley
Kindle edition, 269 pages
My Rating: ★★★★
The legalization of marijuana is becoming an issue more mainstream these days, but most of its advocates still come from the underground. Crossroads from Damascus is a chronicle of the consequences of pot addiction. As a collection of stories and poems connected by non-fictional, inter-related narrative passages, they also tell what was happening while writing them--a tragic yet funny chronicle of working as a traveling lab tech while trying to hide a weed habit. The stories roam from St. Louis to Montana, Texas, and New Orleans, stories that include an account of a real murder that took place in St. Louis back in 2005, a recounting of a pot run to Spokane with Mush, a Native American off The Rocky Boy Reservation (a 1500 mile road trip across the Rocky Mountains in an overheating truck with a half-pound of weed inside), a funny episode about hiding fake pee at a clinic in Texas, and a poem about a birthday in New Orleans with Harry, an old hustler who fixes shoes on Oak Street.
The book left me bewildered and wondering from the beginning. I couldn't stop reading because "The Swab" intrigued me. The author used very effective words that makes the reader turn the pages further and further. In addition to an engaging story, the book also includes poems & short stories, personal thoughts and verses that speak of the author's emotions and not-so-fictional life as he struggles with pot addiction. Ideally, Jason Akley brought up a few issues that a man under the influence wouldn't be able to ponder about.
Among the short stories I liked was the Candlestick, which really tells something about one's quest for the light at the end of the tunnel, that whether or not you are under the spectrum of light or shrouded by darkness, the light of the candle will lead you to your soul and make you in control. Another favorite of mine is Abracadabra - which featured motivating conversation between Mr. Tambourine Man and Mr. Brown. For how many questions you have in life, you will always end up answering them as you journey through time. And greatness is born everytime something dies. This had been a truly wonderfully written & inspiring book.
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Check out the author's blog: http://jasonakley.wordpress.com/
1 comment:
It's about marijuana pala. Akala ko it's about St. Paul and his conversion on the road to Damascus.
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