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I Swear I'll Make It Up to You: A Life on the Low Road
[*Read by the author - Mishka Shubaly]
I Swear I'll Make It Up to You is the master story of Mishka Shubaly's nine lives. After surviving a mass shooting, finding out his parents were divorcing, and losing the house he lived in with his family, Shubaly plunged into a seventeen-year love affair with alcohol. In this fiercely honest, emotional book, Shubaly relives the best and worst of these his destructive romances, his hot-and-cold rock career, and the time he met his newborn nephew while tripping on cough syrup. I Swear I'll Make It Up to You is a memoir of a precocious young man trying to be good and failing -- until, one day, he succeeds. Shubaly's muscular prose, big heart, and dark wit inflect this grand story of mistakes, their consequences, and eventual redemption.
I Swear I'll Make It Up to You is the master story of Mishka Shubaly's nine lives. After surviving a mass shooting, finding out his parents were divorcing, and losing the house he lived in with his family, Shubaly plunged into a seventeen-year love affair with alcohol. In this fiercely honest, emotional book, Shubaly relives the best and worst of these his destructive romances, his hot-and-cold rock career, and the time he met his newborn nephew while tripping on cough syrup. I Swear I'll Make It Up to You is a memoir of a precocious young man trying to be good and failing -- until, one day, he succeeds. Shubaly's muscular prose, big heart, and dark wit inflect this grand story of mistakes, their consequences, and eventual redemption.
1 pages, MP3 CD
First published March 8, 2016
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1159 people want to read
About the author
Mishka Shubaly
14 books191 followersAfter receiving an expensive MFA from Columbia University, Mishka Shubaly promptly quit writing to play music. He lived out of a Toyota minivan for a year, touring nonstop, and has shared the stage with artists like The Strokes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Decemberists.
His Kindle Singles for Amazon have all been bestsellers. He writes true stories about drink, drugs, disasters, desire, deception and their aftermath. His work has been praised for its grit, humor, fearlessness and heart. 'The Long Run,' his mini-memoir detailing his transformation from alcoholic drug abuser to sober ultrarunner is one of the best-selling Kindle Singles to date.
Mishka Shubaly lives in Brooklyn where he writes music and plays bass for Freshkills. He is at work on a new solo record of his original songs and a full-length memoir.
His Kindle Singles for Amazon have all been bestsellers. He writes true stories about drink, drugs, disasters, desire, deception and their aftermath. His work has been praised for its grit, humor, fearlessness and heart. 'The Long Run,' his mini-memoir detailing his transformation from alcoholic drug abuser to sober ultrarunner is one of the best-selling Kindle Singles to date.
Mishka Shubaly lives in Brooklyn where he writes music and plays bass for Freshkills. He is at work on a new solo record of his original songs and a full-length memoir.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
May 10, 2020
If I'm going to review a book, especially a memoir, I'm going to begin by examining my own expectations and reasons for picking it up in the first place. I'd seen Shubaly's name as a writer of Amazon singles, but I'd never read one. Then I heard about him on the Ten Junk Miles podcast, which I love, so as a runner--and fan of running--I wanted to read his full-length memoir. I'm not giving "I Swear" a ho-hum review because it's not about running, because it is, at least the last third of it. The running sections are probably the most well fleshed-out of the book, and Shubaly has some interesting insights to offer runners. And I don't think this review is sour grapes. Shubaly is sort of an itinerant musician in NYC openly dismissive of anyone with an office job. Which includes me. Like Shubaly, I have an MFA in creative writing, but I didn't go $70K in debt for mine. While I was in grad school, there seemed to be two paths open to us since none of us had any marketable skills. We could either settle down to "boring" careers, families, etc., somewhere in middle America, or we could go to NYC, work menial jobs, and pay exorbitant rents on tiny apartments shared with horders or shut-ins (as Shubaly does). I chose the former. Friends of mine chose the latter, stuffing envelopes or working in phone centers so they could experience all the city had to offer, only they couldn't experience anything because they couldn't afford to go anywhere or do anything. This was Shubaly's life well into his thirties. He thinks of this as freedom, but I see it as arrested development, and he admits that he rarely left his own tiny neighborhood in NYC, choosing mainly to get drunk, stoned, or both. All of us went to earn our MFAs because we were putting off real responsibility a while longer, but Shubaly turns this into an art form. What he has written has unfortunately by this point become a cliche: the redemptive ultrarunner-conquers-substance-abuse story. He, along with many other ultrarunners, wonder why so many of them are former substance abusers. I wasn't offended by all the drinking, drug use, and casual sex in "I Swear." I was a blackout drinker myself in my twenties. My theory is that, for these people, a shorter race doesn't offer them enough pain. They want a long race where they can truly enter the "pain cave" because they've always been masochists. It's an altered state, just like any other. But back to the reason I wasn't overly impressed with this book. Shubaly mentions Bukowski a couple times. Both authors are hard-luck, heavy drinkers in big cities, misunderstood in their own mind, true artists, womanizers. But there's a big difference. Bukowski stuck to his lifestyle to the end, unrepentant, and wrote scores of books. Shubaly, in comparison, was something of a tourist. Everybody loves Bukowski in their twenties, but we grow up and realize that lifestyle is unglamorous, unhealthy, and unsustainable. It sucks to be an adult and be alone and poor. I don't want to belittle the struggles faced by Shubaly. Is he an alcoholic? Probably. Is he clinically depressed? Probably. But when he goes to apologize to all his old friends and past girlfriends for his bad behavior, they shrug it off. He just wasn't that bad. His own family does the same. And he comes to realize that a lot of his adolescent angst wasn't so atypical. But the main difference between Bukowski and Shubaly, and the difference that ultimately sunk this book for me, is that Bukowski knew how to couch his behavior in scenes, and he knew how to put his behavior in perspective. He wrote poetry, but he also wrote a lot of novels, and he knew how to construct scenes, using description, settings, and dialogue to his advantage. Sorry for cliche #1 of the writing life, but Bukowski knew how to show and not tell. This is why "I Swear" ultimately bored me. There is so much telling throughout, so much self-analysis and ultimately so much self-pity. Bukowski is often funny, while I never found this book funny. Other people appear in Shubaly's story, but primarily as backdrops. As important as he purports his mother and father to be, I couldn't describe them. He brings in people he labels his best friends whom the reader hasn't met. They appear briefly to give us some insight about Shubaly, then they disappear. I suppose this kind of dogged self-analysis would be easy to do when writing a memoir, but then the book becomes therapy, not art. Shubaly needs to learn to trust the reader more. I have a sense he would've done so but he wrote this book quickly to make a buck. Because in "I Swear," writing is never regarded as a passion but primarily as a way to earn money.
March 9, 2016
I Swear I'll Make It Up To You is the story of Mishka Shubaly's 18 year battle with addiction and his ultimate triumph over the demons that should have killed him. This book reminded me of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, a book that I actually liked in spite of the controversy surrounding his once-memoir, but later reclassified as a semi-fictional novel, that also dealt with addiction.
For 18 years, Shubaly drank everything he could get his hands on and took every drug he could find. Like Frey's book, I found it difficult to believe that he could accurately remember his accounts of what he drank and when he drank it; in general, it's hard enough to remember what you might have done and what you might have drunk even a year ago, but when you add the fog that comes with addiction, the descriptive recollection about which he writes makes it just as questionable as Frey's detailed account of his own addiction. It's not that I don't believe Shubaly's account but I question how some details can be reported so accurately when certainly he would have experienced blackouts.
The book is a train wreck that I could not turn away from but my patience wore thin after 300 plus pages of his drug-riddled escapades. Some incidents he remembered very vividly, while others, like the year that he travelled in his minivan, is given a single sentence in this book. Since Shubaly has published several well-received Kindle singles, it makes me wonder whether he excluded that "lost year" in hopes of having material for his next book.
Still, I can't say that I hated this book. It was very readable watching him self-destruct from my easy chair. However, it is extremely sad that an intelligent young man with a degree from Columbia University had to sink to such depths in the first place. What makes Shubaly's story different than most books written by addicts is that he is the survivor of a school shooting that took place at Simon's Rock College in western Massachusetts in 1992. The fact that he survived the shooting only to wander for the remainder of adolescence and into early adulthood just compounds the sadness of his story.
Eventually, Shubaly has an epiphany and realizes, as he says, that he was a self-hating crybaby and that despite "the hopelessness of my adolescence--the shooting, the divorce, losing the house--it had warped me...but I had been a prick all along." Along with this realization, he finds the cure, or at least the substitute, for his addiction: He becomes an ultrarunner. Eschewing the traditional twelve step program, he quits drinking and laces up worn tennis shoes and literally runs through his addictions. By this time, I felt like we'd practically grown up together and I was cheering on a childhood friend who'd finally kicked his habits.
If it weren't for the fact that he'd survived a school shooting or that he'd become an ultrarunner after a life of addiction, this book would be like most of the others that deal with addiction. It's readable but not a standout. On a personal note, best wishes to the author for maintaining a sober life. He certainly has worked for it.
Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing to read an advance copy of this book.
For 18 years, Shubaly drank everything he could get his hands on and took every drug he could find. Like Frey's book, I found it difficult to believe that he could accurately remember his accounts of what he drank and when he drank it; in general, it's hard enough to remember what you might have done and what you might have drunk even a year ago, but when you add the fog that comes with addiction, the descriptive recollection about which he writes makes it just as questionable as Frey's detailed account of his own addiction. It's not that I don't believe Shubaly's account but I question how some details can be reported so accurately when certainly he would have experienced blackouts.
The book is a train wreck that I could not turn away from but my patience wore thin after 300 plus pages of his drug-riddled escapades. Some incidents he remembered very vividly, while others, like the year that he travelled in his minivan, is given a single sentence in this book. Since Shubaly has published several well-received Kindle singles, it makes me wonder whether he excluded that "lost year" in hopes of having material for his next book.
Still, I can't say that I hated this book. It was very readable watching him self-destruct from my easy chair. However, it is extremely sad that an intelligent young man with a degree from Columbia University had to sink to such depths in the first place. What makes Shubaly's story different than most books written by addicts is that he is the survivor of a school shooting that took place at Simon's Rock College in western Massachusetts in 1992. The fact that he survived the shooting only to wander for the remainder of adolescence and into early adulthood just compounds the sadness of his story.
Eventually, Shubaly has an epiphany and realizes, as he says, that he was a self-hating crybaby and that despite "the hopelessness of my adolescence--the shooting, the divorce, losing the house--it had warped me...but I had been a prick all along." Along with this realization, he finds the cure, or at least the substitute, for his addiction: He becomes an ultrarunner. Eschewing the traditional twelve step program, he quits drinking and laces up worn tennis shoes and literally runs through his addictions. By this time, I felt like we'd practically grown up together and I was cheering on a childhood friend who'd finally kicked his habits.
If it weren't for the fact that he'd survived a school shooting or that he'd become an ultrarunner after a life of addiction, this book would be like most of the others that deal with addiction. It's readable but not a standout. On a personal note, best wishes to the author for maintaining a sober life. He certainly has worked for it.
Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing to read an advance copy of this book.
June 18, 2016
Gritty putrid and hopeless Mishka manages to first almost destroy himself then miraculously save himself. From alcoholic addict to sober ultra runner. The raw honesty of this story is courageous and scary.
January 16, 2022
A roller coaster ride through Mishka’s life with all of its ups and downs, some of it unbelievable yet true. I love his story-telling style and how he got sober, reconciled with his family and found a life worth living.
July 23, 2024
Honest and illuminating, just like me!
May 6, 2019
Really poor writing. Unfunny, and tedious.
May 6, 2019
This guy loves talking about himself. None of it is worth listening to, or reading for that matter.
May 7, 2019
I'm not sure why this writer think he needs to write so many memoirs. Keith Richards has one.
November 5, 2020
Ok wow, this was a really freaking good memoir. The TL;DR is the author has a crazy childhood, shitty estranged dad, is a total mess with drugs and alcohol and bad decisions, then turns it around and become a long distance competitive runner.
I'm sensitive to those who might roll their eyes at this; under normal circumstances, I am not inspired by motivational "I turned it around" stories nor by anyone who takes up long distance running (but much love to my friends who do!). Still, I was struck by Shubaly's honesty, journey, and gained perspective, particularly on his family. I'd especially recommend this book and the closing in particular to anyone who has a strained relationship with their parents.
A technical note: The transitions are fuzzy. The author tells a lot of stories and sometimes it's unclear if it's chronological or a memory or a musing or whatever--and the book doesn't suffer at all from it. I Swear is a good example of how transitions matter very little when you're working with good sentences and good content.
Shubaly is a strong voice with a captivating story. He even left me with a little will to go on a run after a long day :)
I'm sensitive to those who might roll their eyes at this; under normal circumstances, I am not inspired by motivational "I turned it around" stories nor by anyone who takes up long distance running (but much love to my friends who do!). Still, I was struck by Shubaly's honesty, journey, and gained perspective, particularly on his family. I'd especially recommend this book and the closing in particular to anyone who has a strained relationship with their parents.
A technical note: The transitions are fuzzy. The author tells a lot of stories and sometimes it's unclear if it's chronological or a memory or a musing or whatever--and the book doesn't suffer at all from it. I Swear is a good example of how transitions matter very little when you're working with good sentences and good content.
Shubaly is a strong voice with a captivating story. He even left me with a little will to go on a run after a long day :)
April 7, 2025
Thoroughly enjoyed reading the roller coaster ride of his life that he takes you on. Tragic and inspiring.
August 7, 2019
I won a copy from Goodreads.
A memoir about addiction is nothing new.
In fact, it was hard to keep reading because a part of me, less than 1/3 of the way in, felt just like the doctor in the clinic when the author shows up for a health eval: What the fuck are you doing with your life?
Surviving a broken family is not new (newsflash: most families aren’t intact so get over it, you’re not the only one.)
Surviving a school shooting isn’t conducive to one’s mental health, either. But I felt the author was self combusting for the attention; divorced parents, siblings split up, going away to school away from parental restrictions and boundaries.
The only difference is that Mr. Shubaly knows why he was doing it. He’s a selfish, entitled brat. He said it, not me.
Also, he recounts many of his relationships (both personal and professional) got me thinking of what my father used to say when I was a teenager.
Your friends make you who you are. Yes, dad, you are right again. Nearly all of Mr. Shubaly’s relationships were insane, self destructive and toxic.
I believe in the adage: like goes to like and, in a way, it makes sense. We gravitate to people who are just like us or, even better, worse off.
That way, we feel better about ourselves and find even more reasons to lose ourselves in our demons.
I have no idea how true the part when his mother tries to score drugs for him is (it is hard to take Mr. Shubaly’s memories as accurate) but it made me shake my head.
It’s no excuse for your addictions but no, it doesn’t help when you have no support and lack for positive and healthy reinforcement.
But it also made me think.
In a way, some of us, if not most of us, have our own personal addictions.
They may not be as obvious as drinking or gambling or cause harm to themselves or others in a blatant manner, but in some way unique to the individual we are causing some kind of harm to our minds and bodies whether it be not getting enough exercise or drinking alone one too many times or eating too many sweets (guilty as charged).
The point is to realize that the only person making all the trouble isn’t your parents who couldn’t get it together or blaming your friends or girlfriends or boyfriends who left you. It’s you.
It’s always been you. And maybe that’s why addiction is, unfortunately, too common.
I commend Mr. Shubaly on his sobriety. It will always remain an uphill struggle but, at least, now he is doing something with his fucking life.
A memoir about addiction is nothing new.
In fact, it was hard to keep reading because a part of me, less than 1/3 of the way in, felt just like the doctor in the clinic when the author shows up for a health eval: What the fuck are you doing with your life?
Surviving a broken family is not new (newsflash: most families aren’t intact so get over it, you’re not the only one.)
Surviving a school shooting isn’t conducive to one’s mental health, either. But I felt the author was self combusting for the attention; divorced parents, siblings split up, going away to school away from parental restrictions and boundaries.
The only difference is that Mr. Shubaly knows why he was doing it. He’s a selfish, entitled brat. He said it, not me.
Also, he recounts many of his relationships (both personal and professional) got me thinking of what my father used to say when I was a teenager.
Your friends make you who you are. Yes, dad, you are right again. Nearly all of Mr. Shubaly’s relationships were insane, self destructive and toxic.
I believe in the adage: like goes to like and, in a way, it makes sense. We gravitate to people who are just like us or, even better, worse off.
That way, we feel better about ourselves and find even more reasons to lose ourselves in our demons.
I have no idea how true the part when his mother tries to score drugs for him is (it is hard to take Mr. Shubaly’s memories as accurate) but it made me shake my head.
It’s no excuse for your addictions but no, it doesn’t help when you have no support and lack for positive and healthy reinforcement.
But it also made me think.
In a way, some of us, if not most of us, have our own personal addictions.
They may not be as obvious as drinking or gambling or cause harm to themselves or others in a blatant manner, but in some way unique to the individual we are causing some kind of harm to our minds and bodies whether it be not getting enough exercise or drinking alone one too many times or eating too many sweets (guilty as charged).
The point is to realize that the only person making all the trouble isn’t your parents who couldn’t get it together or blaming your friends or girlfriends or boyfriends who left you. It’s you.
It’s always been you. And maybe that’s why addiction is, unfortunately, too common.
I commend Mr. Shubaly on his sobriety. It will always remain an uphill struggle but, at least, now he is doing something with his fucking life.
April 10, 2016
When oh when will Goodreads allow 1/2 stars? I would love to give I Swear I'll Make It Up to You 3.5 stars. It is funny, disturbing, thought provoking and well worth reading for those with a taste for true stories of personal redemption, particularly stories of those people whose lives are rooted in the literary and/or musical arts and whose recovery is without a basis in religion or the twelve step programs. Shubaly's path from a despair filled and Bukowski like level of alcohol and drug abuse is found after close to 200 pages of family traumas and self loathing which gets a bit repetitive and tiresome. (Shubaly directly cites Bukowski as an inspiration at age 17 and then refutes him in his own version of the 12 steps at age 32.) Still Shubaly's self loathing is so deep it is no surprise to the reader when on the road to his recovery friends, lovers and family who he circles back to apologize for his evil ways have no where near the negative feelings for Shubaly as he had for himself. His discovery of the joys and suffering of running ultra-marathons as a vehicle for recovery is intertwined with his redevelopment of his family relationships through a clearer lens than the bottom of a bottle and like the first part of the story, goes on a bit too long as well but throughout the entire book Shubaly's voice is clear, true to his feelings of the time described and compelling. Tightening up the writing would bring this to four stars, but even as it is, I Swear I'll Make It Up to You is a worthy addition to anyone's bookshelf.
This book was provided to me as an ARC by a Goodreads Giveaway which in no way influenced this review.
This book was provided to me as an ARC by a Goodreads Giveaway which in no way influenced this review.
April 17, 2016
BRILLIANCE. I've been a fan of Shubaly since his Kindle Single days, so seeing this on a random bookstore trip was fabulous, and did not disappoint! I only put it down last night when with a friend and have been absorbing his soulful storytelling since then.
The heart of his stories is a bit further explained here in this novel. I Swear I'll Make It Up to You is like a long, weekend beach trip with a friend you previously just hung out with for a late night out. You get more personal, it's not just a fast fling.
Loved it! "Running is hard... Running keps you honest. There's no short way to run a mile; there's no easy way to run a marathon... You must tear down the faulty life you've build, the faulty person you've become and reubuild everything from the ground up. It takes not just courage and planning and hard work but patience and determination and an ability to quietly suffer a little each day for a long time without giving up. It's worth it." (314)
The heart of his stories is a bit further explained here in this novel. I Swear I'll Make It Up to You is like a long, weekend beach trip with a friend you previously just hung out with for a late night out. You get more personal, it's not just a fast fling.
Loved it! "Running is hard... Running keps you honest. There's no short way to run a mile; there's no easy way to run a marathon... You must tear down the faulty life you've build, the faulty person you've become and reubuild everything from the ground up. It takes not just courage and planning and hard work but patience and determination and an ability to quietly suffer a little each day for a long time without giving up. It's worth it." (314)
July 17, 2017
There is often so much narcissism involved in the recovery process. And this book is definitely self-aware of that. But it also so often just bathes in it. Yet I feel like we end up on the right side together, being able to turn outward and see that there are people and sights around your view that are just as notable than another round of me vs. my self-pity. Also, describing the uglier elements of life and your low moments in the nastiest of details is not the same as keeping it real. Sometimes it just started to feel like a pissing contest. And yet I feel like I came out of it with a stronger grasp of addiction and a reaffirmation of my will to deal with my own demons, both substances and otherwise. So yeah, this one was a battle, definitely feel better for having read it.
December 5, 2017
Initially I thought I would really like this book, but it was so repetitious--the same childhood stuff repeated over and again, the drinking and drugging years, the same stuff over and over. I'm surprised he could remember all this in such great detail. It felt like being on a long bender.
As others have said, the character development of the many characters was really thin. His friends and family (except his father) (and especially the women) were like paper dolls.
It sounds to me as though the ultra-marathon running replaces the substance abuse--it's so similar, an obsession, an exercise addiction. I was exhausted at the end of this book. I did enjoy his reading of it. He has a good reading voice.
As others have said, the character development of the many characters was really thin. His friends and family (except his father) (and especially the women) were like paper dolls.
It sounds to me as though the ultra-marathon running replaces the substance abuse--it's so similar, an obsession, an exercise addiction. I was exhausted at the end of this book. I did enjoy his reading of it. He has a good reading voice.
January 5, 2018
Shubaly reflects on how he fell into, then dug himself out of a deep group of addictions with candor and humor....wonderful, dark, self-loathing humor.
Thru a series of misadventures, we learn what it feels like to be your own worst enemy. How bad does it have to get before we attempt change? The answer if you’re a stubborn punk is pretty bad.
Circumventing the whole AA/NA route, he races out demons with a fairly brutal regimen. By the end of reading this, you’ll be ready to get off your own lazy rumpus.
Thru a series of misadventures, we learn what it feels like to be your own worst enemy. How bad does it have to get before we attempt change? The answer if you’re a stubborn punk is pretty bad.
Circumventing the whole AA/NA route, he races out demons with a fairly brutal regimen. By the end of reading this, you’ll be ready to get off your own lazy rumpus.
March 25, 2018
Addiction biographies can be hit & miss, or completely made up. This one feels honest, including not prettifying destructive behaviour, or over dramatising it. It could have been boring for showing *just* ordinary addiction, but it's a better book for it. We could all easily be at this level, and find a healthier addiction. He's neither a good or bad guy in his own story, and writes in a style that is quick to read. If you can be said to enjoy a book about drug & alcohol abuse, I did. I'd like to read more from him.
March 16, 2016
A gritty memoir. Throughout the lows, very lows, and some highs, the author speaks with an honest voice. Some parts are rough to read, and he pulls no punches. But there are moments of insight that kept me reading and made me think. Although my life experience is very different, I felt connected to his story and rooted for him.
Full disclosure - I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Full disclosure - I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
March 27, 2016
Completes the story started on his other books
I really like how Mishka writes, and this book did not disappoint. If you've read his other books, this is a more complete picture that ties together what he's shared elsewhere. His misperceptions of himself and how he believes others see him was interesting. He's beaten himself up for years for things that may not be as he saw them. Quite a powerful realization that more of us might benefit from considering as well.
I really like how Mishka writes, and this book did not disappoint. If you've read his other books, this is a more complete picture that ties together what he's shared elsewhere. His misperceptions of himself and how he believes others see him was interesting. He's beaten himself up for years for things that may not be as he saw them. Quite a powerful realization that more of us might benefit from considering as well.
March 22, 2016
I really liked this book. I didn't go through all the stuff he did, but he way he felt after getting himself to run and how he joined the real world, is similar to how I felt after taking up biking, gave me a sense of self confidence I'd never had before. He has a way of getting right to the heart of things in a cutting, gritty sarcastic kind of way. However I thought the ending kind of went on a little too long. I loved his Amazon singles and would look forward to a new book of his anytime
April 3, 2016
Mishka Shubaly is extremely talented and the kind of new writer where you not only greatly enjoy their obvious gifts, you are excited for what they will do in the future as they gain even more mastery. This book is not perfect, but it is full of places where the paragraphs zing like hot oil in a pan, where the sentences are music, where the observations strike you, where the rawness and honesty overwhelms any judgements that come bubbling up. Well done.
April 6, 2016
Another raw and honest book by Mishka. I've read his others so I knew some of what to expect, but there was a lot of wow, people do those things, I'm surprised he's alive moments in this one. I've taken a page, 238, and have it hanging on my refrigerator as a motive to run and not to give up, although the I know there will be moments of failure too; he has taught me that too.
April 15, 2016
First full length memoir by Mishka describing the difficulties he overcame with his addiction and the broken relationships within his family. I found reading about his life to be very interesting and inspirational. He is a witty and entertaining writer. I've enjoyed all of his Kindle singles and can't wait for more!
June 2, 2016
I Swear I'll Make it Up to You is as charming as it is harrowing to read. Shubaly writes with equal parts tenderness and rage about a childhood and young adulthood that is at times volatile and haunting but never boring. He's at his best when his writing turns reflective. There's a deep well of humanity at the center of this book. I enjoyed reading it very much.
November 30, 2016
A huge fan of his kindle singles the Long Run and Shipwrecked, not to mention his many appearances on the Rich Roll Podcast, this memoir does not disappoint. A vivid writer who details the darkest days of his addiction with extreme candor and sometimes humor. This is a story about the dysfunction of family as much as it is a personal story of addiction, recovery and ultra running.
December 30, 2017
THIS BOOK..... shot me straight in the heart in one of those ways that you aren't sure whether it is best to leave the dart, or pull it out. Beautifully and tragically honest, an ironic feast for those starving to hear the truths of life with addiction and then savoring the poison. My veins soaked up every word and they are still living with the effects.
February 4, 2018
This was so raw and honest and human and vulnerable. It reminds me of that Hemingway quote "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed" I really enjoyed 'The Long Run" because I like to run, but this surpasses that book by far.
Mishka - thank you for sharing your trust and perfectly imperfect life with the world.
Mishka - thank you for sharing your trust and perfectly imperfect life with the world.
September 6, 2016
Incredible
I don't give out five stars lightly. This book is so well written. It's a definite roller coaster of honesty, emotion, sadness and joy. I loved it.
I hope he writes a fiction novel soon because he has the talent.
I don't give out five stars lightly. This book is so well written. It's a definite roller coaster of honesty, emotion, sadness and joy. I loved it.
I hope he writes a fiction novel soon because he has the talent.
November 20, 2016
If there's two things I'm a sucker for it's sports memoirs and addiction memoirs. Done & done in this one fabulous, rock n' roll, ultra-running, headlong sprint toward badass sobriety. What's there not to like?
June 30, 2017
Review pending
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