Alexia Dominique Reyes

I saw a contradiction here. She said (and allow me to write this in sentence form), "I think I finally understand why men love dogs so much. They're unquestionably loyal. They're easy to command. They hate me because I refuse to be either of those things." And then the poem after that, literally after that, was, "Tell me who your dream girl is. Give me a list a forest long. I'll be her. I'll be anyone you want me to be." But isn't that being commanded to do something? And she just said she refuses to be commanded? Huh?

I think she reached a point where she writes just to have a new book published. Not from the heart anymore. Or maybe the case is that she gets inspiration from the same life stories she's had, so her poems and prose have become repetitive but written in different ways.

This was published by a well-known publisher with in-house editors and more, but I saw a typo: "She didn't used to think that was possible." I checked whether it was really a typo because English is my second language, and I might be wrong. But "didn't used to" was really wrong. I am not a grammar Nazi or whatever, but this underwent several stages before it got published, so my expectation was quite higher than usual.

Anyway, I think the poems were straightforward, so they didn't leave any room for decoding. Poetry should be metaphorical and symbolic, but her popularity might have caused her to write just for the sake of having another book published, because that's what her fans wanted. I didn't feel her heart here.

Or maybe it's my own heart I'm not feeling.

Okay, well. Knowing that I finished this in less than 30 minutes was more impactful than any of the poems and prose in this book, but I noticed that the style was less creative then her older works. I tried to look for any piece worth highlighting, but I couldn't find any. I've outgrown fairy tales and read a lot of self-love stories, so I struggled to relate and saw nothing new. But this was published in 2020. If my 2020 self read this, she might feel something.

I am not a secret drug addict, so some parts were boring to me. But I'm giving this book 4 stars because it gave me insights into the life of a secret drug addict (or at least one of the drug addicts).

It was mentioned that dysfunction begins not from a person's childhood but maybe in the childhood of that person's great-great-great-great-grandparent. An "inherited tragedy." For a long time, I've been thinking about whether it is possible to be with someone who is your equal psychologically and emotionally, because many people are very particular about meeting an equal. And for a long time, too, my answer has been "no," so I don't emphasize that in my life.

I know that I have a better support system than others. If I meet someone, or fall in love with someone, who grew up in a dysfunctional environment or have lived a difficult life growing up, will it be good if I stay away? Can I just say, "Gosh, I am not their therapist! I don't want a man who needs help!"? I don't think so. Because looking back, as much as I want to say that I have overcome my own demons by myself, my friends weren't there, but my mom and my siblings were there. They didn't know what I was dealing with, but their presence gave me hope.

And some people don't have parents and siblings. And some do have them, but they are unreliable, too, given their own issues they haven't overcome. The guy who wrote the book, who wanted to be anonymous, had that problem and started to appreciate life only when he met his wife (who also was a drug addict, now sober) and had a daughter.

Drug addicts are lonely, so those who sell and manufacture drugs make many people lonelier. They are getting rich from other people's loneliness, but they may not be seeing the problem with that because they are consumed by their own loneliness, too, as drug pushers are also drug users. Or they may not be seeing their own loneliness because they aren't in their right mind to begin with, according to the author of the book, not me.

I'll just share one highlight here because I said a lot of things: "Addicts die alone. They die young. They run out of friends. It's an incredibly sad existence. Their funerals are sparsely attended, and they cease to exist. No one talking about them, no one talking about what an amazing impact they had on their lives and what a great loss it is."

Do you want to die alone?

This is about huge start-ups that need investors, so not applicable to me. I was able to finish this quickly because I skipped many parts, specifically those about venture capitalists, employee management, and also technology. I bootstrapped Sociopoliticool and don't have any plan to seek investors or have a co-founder. I'm giving this 3 stars because it's not the author's fault that I didn't enjoy this. Maybe owners of huge start-ups can learn a lot from this.