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12 reviews

Ashley Hermanson

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Ashley Hermanson is currently reading

A Piece of Cake

by Cupcake Brown

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(page 246 of 472)
— May 31, 2020 12:51PM

May 16, 2020 05:00PM

Ashley Hermanson is currently reading

The Fifth Vital

by Mike Majlak

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in May 2020

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Ashley Hermanson said: " This book started out rough and extremely jumbled. The first chapter started in 2006 and then told a story that was the most gruesome in the entire book about him breaking his leg then the next page jumps to 2018 and talks about his friend Logan paul This book started out rough and extremely jumbled. The first chapter started in 2006 and then told a story that was the most gruesome in the entire book about him breaking his leg then the next page jumps to 2018 and talks about his friend Logan paul. Then the next page jumps back to the early 2000’s and talks about the town he grew up in but he wasn’t a child. I wish they would of just started at this childhood and build up the story like in true memoir fashion. The beginning was hard to get through and should of been reorganized but because I’ve supported Mike for years I stuck this book out, even through time it was unorganized and hard to read. This book gets better the farther you read but it’s not nearly perfect and almost basic.

The Fifth Vital seems and feels like it was rushed and there are definitely a lot of mixed message in which direction the book is going. Not to mention this book could’ve been drafted better and needs some editing. It was advertised by Mike as extremely graphic and that people were shocked by some stories told in this book. Truly I was hoping to learn about his downfalls/rock bottom and some of the gruesome things he experienced as an addict. But none of that was included in this book or it seems like a lot of memoir quality/ writing style of this book was cut out.

Nothing in this book made me cringe or felt like he was at rock bottom, I know a lot of stories of addicts and this didn’t really explain at all what he went through or was struggling with. Mike didn’t capture what he was truly living and going through on a daily basis. This book is more of an educational book then a memoir. Especially with the opioid death tolls with each year and chapter. He educated us about the town he lived in and how it got worse but only as an after thought.

My biggest pet peeve about this book besides the haphazard and incorrect facts about the opiate crisis that are constantly told throughout the book that none of his story lines are clear. The biggest example is the mystery on how he ended things with Uncle Nicky aka the biggest drug runner in the game and how he magically cut dies with someone who he was living with and dealing with for years. Not to mention you didn’t give a back story on him. I found more interesting about Uncle Nicky on google than you included in your book! I would of loved to know. So tell me how do you magically cut dies with him without exposing how or why?! Just months before everyone in your clique testified against him so he got sent to jail for life, so you what just walked away? Why not tell us about what really happened? One of the most critical parts of your story was over looked and not elaborated on. How do you just cut ties with the mob and one of the largest track traffickers and importers? Let alone not tell us that he was the Connecticut version of Al Capone and you lived with this guy. Just like many of the stories in the book there just wasn’t a clear storyline or you got off track with the purpose. Those are my notes but since he’s a first time writer, I congratulate him on getting this book out.

I will continue to support Mike but I almost wish he would make a part two or a rewrite of this book and finally tell us all the stuff that this book is lacking like the juicy stories and everything that is left untold. Please stop educating the people who don’t know about addiction or the opiate epidemic they’re not the ones who will by this book. You say this book is for people in treatment centers or that are at rock-bottom. These people are living that life and it would be better to give them relatable stories then try and educate them with numbers and death statistics then in very government, in your face type of way. Since you’re someone in marketing you should of picked your target audition better instead of trying to please everyone. The book is very chaotic and not well organized. This is anything but a memoir, it falls short of the education book on the opiate crisis and it’s far from a self help book for addicts in recovery. You mixed up all three and you’ve come out with a mediocre mess at best. This is coming from someone who’s your biggest fan. Congratulations again on the book but you can do better. ...more "

progress:

(page 179 of 308)
— May 31, 2020 10:04AM

May 19, 2020 02:28PM · see review