Book Review: And the Monkey Lets Go: Memoirs Through Illusion and Doubt by Scott Hunter - Courtesy of Mascot Books

About the Book
Scott Hunter should be dead: Alcohol. Pot. Mescaline. Acid. Cocaine. You name it, he did it to excess. Like many young Americans who came of age in the 1960s, he told himself it was all part of life’s grand adventure. Truth was, he couldn’t face the secrets that were consuming him.

Beginning with pharmaceutical LSD at two seminaries, Scott searched for an awakening. His journey took him to Thailand, where he taught English as a Second Language and studied Vipassana meditation. He was an attendant at a Massachusetts State School for developmentally-challenged children, drove tractor trailers, farmed organically on a hippie farm, lived in a teepee, and studied mantra meditation. He became a vagabond (read: homeless) exploring politics and poetry.

Eventually, he found recovery from drugs and alcohol in the AA and NA programs, and uncovered the reasons for his addictions. In And the Monkey Lets Go, Scott writes about his life with clarity and humor, each milestone serving as an ultimately revelatory story about what it means to unearth the truth about yourself.

My Thoughts

So, this book came along right when I needed it. My mother, who has been an alcoholic for as long as I can remember, is finally sober. It's been a very frustrating journey. One that has been filled with broken relationships, lots of tears and anger. This book helped me understand what my mother has been going through trying to get sober. My mother almost died recently, and that was the wake up call. 

I have come from a long family history of alcoholics. I choose not to drink often because of it. 

Reading this book, the author takes us on his journey. He shares his struggles with various addictions, the brokenness of his past, the hurt, the flaws, the demons he has battled. It is also a story of hope - to how he overcame the battle and how his life turned around and fell into place. I enjoyed this book. I will be sharing this with my mother to aide in her journey. 

I received a copy of this book through the publisher, Mascot Books, all thoughts are my own.