Title: Realizing a Good Life
Author: Elizabeth Comack
Pages: 232
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing
Rating: 5/5 stars
Genre: Class inequality, crime and law, feminism, gender, and sexuality, Indigenous resistance and decolonization
Review:
What is a “good life”?
What stops people from realizing a good life can be due to their circumstance, class, race, and other variables of the situations that may hinder their ability to realize a good life. But what IS a good life? From reading this book, I understand that a good life is an easier life. A life where you aren’t discriminated, you don’t need to worry about your finances, your mental health is good, and you’re pretty happy overall. It also plays into being balanced, wholeness, personal wellness, having good relationships, personal growth etc. There’s also a mention of Indigenous ways of knowing, which I always find interesting and educational. Essentially, I would say a good life is being happy. Being free, and not having to worry all the time.
The authors created this book to “learn about the lives of men who were in trouble: men who had come into conflict with the law, men who were involved with the gang life, men who were dealing with addictions to drugs and alcohol, men who had spent time in prison and jail. We wanted to learn how it was that men who found themselves in trouble got to be there, what the experience was like for them, and whether they were discovering strategies that would enable them to move out of trouble.” So, now that you understand what this book is about, it’s also titled “Realizing a Good Life: Men’s Pathways out of Drugs and Crime”.
A statistic that I sort of figured, but shockingly realized in this book was the amount of underaged drinking and drug use in Canada.
It’s extremely saddening to find out how similar all of these stories are. Most of them start out the same, as young children they become a part of a harmful pattern. Their childhoods thrown away because of drugs and drinking at such young ages. These children kicked out of their own homes, running away from home, only to later be swept up by child and family services who only as much as give them some money. Some become drug dealers. Drugs and alcohol were the ways for them to cope with the pain they experienced, whether it be at home, at school, from gangs that they joined or from other people in their lives.
It was extremely interesting to learn about street gangs, the research behind them, and the reason why they are created in the first place. It truly sheds some light to why they are this way, and why young boys start to form them.
“street gangs are a response to social exclusion on the part of alienated and racialized young men. Relegated to the margins of society, these youth form gangs as a way to rebel against their marginalization. It’s such an interesting quest for respect by fellow gang members and others who fear the gang, and I feel like the gang position was idolized by many of the boys too.
I think that this is really important book for kids my age to read. It makes all of this feel so much more real. This book leaves me with so many thoughts and things to think about. This book makes me sad, but it also helps me to understand a lot of things. How people get swept up into these cycles, and why it’s so hard for them to quit. It’s scary how all of them went down the same path.
I went through so many emotions reading this book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I think that it is important for kids my age to read, as a warning and as a lesson for life. I hope you consider checking this out, I’m sure it will benefit you.
Thank you so much for reading my blog, and I will see you again for the next book review and travel post :]
