Unleashed Speaks: When Shapewear Bends You Out of Shape (Part 1)

 

How is everyone? I hope all have had a safe and happy New Year so far. You may have noticed a "Part One" in the title, a first on Unleashed Truth. I won't give away the spoiler, but trust me, breaking this down into separate parts is warranted.

Before I go any further, I'd like to say the following:

1. If you haven't had this customer service experience with this company, cool. I'm only sharing what I experienced.

2. If you are an individual who works with this company, continue your hustle. My review will solely focus on their customer service as it pertains to conflict resolution.

3. I am all for supporting small businesses. However, small businesses should be held to the same standard in delivering prompt customer service. I believe even more so if they want to keep customers.

Now that the PSAs are out of the way, let's continue.

One way that I decompress is by playing games on my tablet. With some games, they have advertisements. Sure, I could just pay extra money to have no ads at all, but most games I don't play frequently enough to warrant the spend. 

Most of the advertisements in December revolved around bras and shapewear. It felt as if my devices had been spying on me because I was talking to Mini Truth about that very topic. After being bombarded with advertisements on video games and seeing videos on Facebook and Instagram, I opted to try three brands: Understance, ShapeLx, and Hey Shape.

Note: I will cover Understance and ShapeLx sometime later. My focus will be on the 3rd company.

Upon receiving my order, I was dissatisfied with two of the five bodysuits. Although the website and the individuals advertising the brand said to size down for "extra snatch", some bodysuit styles had less stretch than others, meaning it would be better to order one's original size.

After thinking it over, I concluded that it made no sense for me to keep them since the colors I ordered were not staples in my wardrobe.

When I visited the website, they had a link where one could go to a "return portal." (It has since been taken down.) I was provided an e-mail address to use instead. 

I contacted them on December 10th.

I also contacted them on Facebook but received their message that "they don't offer support via Messenger/Instagram DM".

I get a response very late on December 11th.

It was annoying that they just wouldn't let me return the product for a refund as opposed to a blanket 20% refund, which doesn't cover the cost of the bodysuits.

However, since this was during the Christmas season, I did not want to (a) go back and forth over the issue or (b) pay out of my pocket to return the product, even if I had opted for the exchange.

Begrudgingly, I responded to Elizabeth and expressed that I wanted Option 1. This was December 12th.

I never got an acknowledgment from Elizabeth. 

In other words, I was left on read.

On December 14th, I e-mailed Elizabeth letting her know I never received a response as to when my partial refund would be processed. On December 15th, I got a response from a new representative named Britney.

Since it appeared that Britney was handling this herself, I believed the refund process would be expedited. Why would she imply that she's in correspondence with the finance team?

I didn't hear back that day or the next day. 

I have noticed a pattern of the company's customer service representatives being nonresponsive for days, and my patience has been tested. I have this sinking feeling that not only am I stuck with the product but also not getting any refund.

Otherwise, why is it taking so long to give me a partial refund?

Now, this involves more than the money. It's also about poor customer service and principle.

Does Britney finally take action?

Does another customer service representative respond with more promises?

Or do I have to take the next steps?

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Bite-Sized Takes: TirTir Pure Vitamin C24 Serum

 

Hello everyone! I am experimenting with a concept called "Bite-Sized Takes". The title is self-explanatory: a condensed review. I believe this may work well with products; however, if I can incorporate it into other review topics, I will also attempt to do that.

The first product for review in "Bite-Sized Takes" is the TirTir Pure Vitamin C24 Serum.

Amazon

Stylevana 

Note: If you don't mind waiting on shipping, Stylevana is a great site to secure Korean skin care. They have promotions daily.

I purchased my bottle on Amazon back in October. Below is an overview of the ingredients and the serum's purpose.

My Experience

When I first tried this product, it was in mid to late October. Initially, I only used the serum at night, perhaps one to two times a week.

As my usage gradually increased, there were certain characteristics of the serum that I was originally on the fence with but ultimately made me decide that the TirTir C24 Serum would not be a repeat purchase.

1. I allow my skin an adjustment period. It is not uncommon for me to introduce a new product to my skin that my skin is unsure about. I tested the TirTir serum on a small patch of my skin and did not experience a breakout or adverse reaction. Once I used the product with more frequency, small breakouts here and there would appear on the sides of my nose.

2. I understand that it is oil-based. I did notice the oil smell but believed it would taper in time. The smell does not taper. I did not expect a Vitamin C serum to smell like oranges, yet I had difficulty adapting to the lingering smell.

3. I do not like their dropper. For me, it made measuring the serum difficult. The dropper style of the Minamilist serums is what I prefer.

4. The TirTir C24 serum is a strong one. Perhaps too strong. I experienced some stinging upon application. If it was only happening occasionally, that's one thing. It occurred each time I used the product. 

In Conclusion

The Vitamin C concentration may have been too high. I will temporarily try a product with a lower concentration, like the Vitamin C (10%)serum from Minimalist, and work my way up if needed. 

This concludes my "Bite-Sized Takes".

Unleashed Speaks on Joker: Folie à Deux

 

Joker: Folie à Deux

Hello everyone! I hope your day or evening is going well. Other topics are on my to-do list, but after my movie "experience" with Joker: Folie à Deux, I decided the other topics could wait. 

Yes, Joker 2 (and that is what I call the movie going forward) was just that impactful.

My best friend (aka Mini Truth) was also with me. We tend to go to the movies together. The main exception is horror; I tend to watch those films alone. That is ... when I find one "going to the movies" worthy. Yes, the remake of Speak No Evil is on that list. Yes, I will discuss the movie in a future Unleashed Truth.

Before I dive in, here are some things to know:

(1) This movie (for those who did not realize it when seeing the trailers) is a MUSICAL. If you do not like musicals or musical elements in your movies, there's no need to read this review. You will not like Joker 2. Forget that this sequel even existed.

(2) As tempted as I am to give spoilers (due to my strong feelings about this movie), I have decided to refrain. I want to allow others to immerse in DC's own Multiverse of Madness (you will discover if I'm being flattering or sarcastic) to see if my feelings are justified.

(3) I did want Mini Truth to join me. Yet, I am eager to cover other topics. However, if she wants to do her own separate spiel on Joker 2, I will not stop her.

Unleashed Speaks

When I heard whispers there would be a sequel to Joker, my first thought was, "Why"? To me, it did not make any sense.

Although I was uncertain if I would like this rendition of Joker, seeing Joaquin Phoenix's interpretation of one of my favorite villains in DC was the one I didn't know I needed.

For me, Joaquin's Joker was up to par with Heath Ledger's portrayal. That's saying loads because of how much I loved Heath Ledger in that role along with Jack Nicholson. When Joaquin won the Academy Award for his performance in Joker, I felt it was well-deserved.

However, Joaquin's acting was not the only thing impressive about the first film. Joker delved into some universal social issues. The mistreatment of those you don't understand. What happens when those who are supposed to assist with mental illness fail. When the powers that be decide what Social programs are important and what should be eliminated. Joker was not only how society was back then; it remains a reflection of how it is now.

Is it bad taste to cheer for the bad guy? Perhaps. Yet, it is Arthur Fleck's journey to be accepted (only to have it fail) that plays a part in Joker's thriving. My understanding of Joker does not wash away the condemnation of the savagery of his actions. It makes for an interesting, captivating villain.

When it was further revealed that Joker 2 was going to be a musical, asking "why" along with being utterly confused ... that was my headspace. Nothing about how the first Joker ended even warranted (1) a sequel and (2) a musical sequel. Yet, if there were loose threads (some deserve to remain loose) that they wanted to address in the 2nd movie, perhaps there was a slim chance that the 2nd movie had a purpose.

I was torn, yet Joaquin had signed on to do this. 

Unpopular opinion: As much as I like Lady Gaga, she was not the determining factor in whether I saw this movie. For others, she made the difference.

Before going to the theater, I told Mini Truth about a few factors (in no particular order) that would automatically make me dislike Joker 2.

(1) If there was no storyline

(2) If anything was done to annihilate the architecture of the 1st movie

(3) If there was no character development

(4) The musical numbers only being used to cover up poor storytelling and/or bloat the playtime of the movie

(5) A crappy ending

I did not give credence to some of the early shorts that hated Joker 2 solely because it was a musical. One could tell by the trailers that it would be. It was like hating the movie version of The Color Purple knowing it was based on the Broadway musical.

Trying to keep an open mind, Mini Truth and I made the journey to the movie theater, got our snacks, and sussed out previews to take stock of what we would watch in the future ...

Then, the movie started.

It felt like the longest two hours and eighteen minutes of my life. 

I did not think Joker 2 could hit all the dislike points I cited ... and yet it did.

No matter how well the actors perform their roles, it does not compensate for lackluster writing or sluggish pacing. On top of that, it makes elements (cue musical songs) that were never to be included in the first place ... stand out. 

The ending had me (and the other people in the theater) the most outraged. The moment the credits rolled, everyone stormed out. Mini Truth and I remained behind, wondering ...

 

Rating

 

#UtterShite

Moral(s) of this failed tale:

(1) Some projects do not need a sequel.

(2) Projects need checks and balances. Joker 2 is what happens when there is none.

(3) Let's say, hypothetically, that the first movie's success was a mere fluke. Why roll the dice for a sequel for something that had no initial demand in the first place?

(4) Taking a beloved character and making it into a shell of itself usually doesn't end well.

Needless to say, I do not recommend Joker 2.

Unleashed Speaks on Please Stop Trying to Leave Me

 

Amazon (also available at other retailers)
Amazon Author Page | Author Website
Instagram

Title: Please Stop Trying to Leave Me
Author: Alana Saab
Genre(s): Literary Fiction, LGBTQ+ Fiction
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed from the local library

Blurb

While god is sending her signs through Instagram and Spotify demanding she break up with her girlfriend, Norma meets with a new therapist for one reason: she really needs to write again. With only one chapter missing in her manuscript, Norma is desperate to know if she needs to leave her girlfriend in order to write The Last Story. The new therapist diagnoses Norma with Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder, but Norma isn’t having it. It’s just Oblivion.

Haunted by SSRI side effects and life becoming less hazily fictional by the day, Norma has never felt crazier. Does anyone else see the world’s poorly crafted plotline? Like, who even wrote this story? Norma begins sharing her manuscript with her therapist, hoping to connect the dissociative dots once and for all—or at least enough so that Google ads stop giving her panic attacks. But soon Norma is questioning everything she’s ever believed about life, writing, and love. 

And then there’s Norma’s girlfriend, the one with a crack of light in her eyes. Could she be Oblivion’s antagonist, the manuscript’s savior? Or is she just a human? 

Told alternately through Norma's barely fictional fiction and her crackling stream of consciousness, Please Stop Trying To Leave Me is an honest, comedic, horrifying, and heart-wrenching story about existing in today’s world, challenging all we’ve been taught about the distance between fiction and reality, sanity and insanity, mental illness and healing.

Introduction: How This Book Was Selected

When I was a member of The Review Board, the work I was given to review was based mainly on the order placed in the queue. Now that The Review Board has retired and I review at leisure, the selection process is different.

As tempting as it is to lean toward "tried and true"— authors whose works I've always loved and rarely have a disappointing reading experience — I wanted to challenge myself to explore new authors and genres. I desired books whose covers, short introductions, and topics spoke to me.

Please Stop Trying to Leave Me was a book that did all three.

Before proceeding, please STOP here if any of these apply to you:

1. Those who are used to the traditional structure of a novel.
   If you are a stickler for traditional structural visuals or clear indications of dialog, this work may be too distracting. Reason: you may be overly consumed with making mental modifications which could deter you from your enjoyment of the novel.
2. Those who are not fans of stream-of-consciousness writing.
   Hopefully, this is self-explanatory. If it isn't, click →here.
3. Those who have difficulty reading fiction that discusses trauma, mental health, or the LGBTQ+ community.
   There are sprinkles of dry humor, but all in all, the subject matter is heavy. No harm, no foul, if you decide NOT to read this review. Not all of my book reviews will cover serious topics, so if you want to wait for those, that's fine.

Unleashed Speaks

I am unsure where to start my thoughts. Normally, I would have a streamlined approach to my reviews, but this is unlike any novel I have read before. Therefore, the normal would not work when speaking about the abnormal.

As someone who also writes (Author Queen of Spades), I pull some components from fragments of my own life while others are from experiences and imagination. There are moments when the reader of my poetry or short stories may fail to decipher what elements are fiction versus what is not.

Please Stop Trying to Leave Me blurs these lines fantastically.

Just as Norma is processing her thoughts while working through oblivion, I, as a reader, am also processing different emotions. There were sprinkles of dry humor and wordplay, which I appreciated (since I also utilize wordplay for humor). This broke the tone of Please Stop Trying to Leave Me at certain points, but not enough to escape the underlying premises — the challenges Norma faced and the pain beneath.

I have been on both sides. I have a mental illness, and I have been a partner to someone who had several mental illnesses.

In my situation, my partner was misdiagnosed, but the doctors did not realize it because one aspect (depression) presented itself. It was only when the mania surfaced that they got my companion's diagnosis correct.

Trying to be there for my companion while going through my own mental illness was very challenging. I empathized with Norma's partner, and like Norma's partner, stuck by my companion's side as mania, depression, cutting episodes, unaliving attempts, and everything in between. It got to a point where the type of day I had was dependent on my partner's moods.

With the help of her new therapist Dr. Raya, Norma has the breakthrough that those who know others who have mental illness should realize.

Mental illness is not something that is magically cured.

However, it can be managed if one has the proper tools.

Norma needed medication and therapy.

I was on the medication and therapy route for a while, but because each medication took me away from my first love (writing), I made the decision to wean myself off my medication. For me, writing serves a dual purpose. Not only is it my passion but it has been my catharsis for as early as I can remember.

Norma also mirrored the importance of choosing the right therapist for one's needs. The wrong client-therapist match can leave a person at a standstill or amplify a person's condition. Norma's old therapist went along with the oblivion instead of presenting a challenge to oblivion and assisting Norma in new ways of thinking and addressing issues.

I am torn about the ending. The ending was not bad, but it was not what I was expecting. The segment before "The End" was the end for me. I was surprised there were more pages (I tend not to look ahead to see how many pages are in a book).

Did I understand the ending's purpose? Overall, I did.

Rating

#ICanWorkWithThat

Please Stop Trying to Leave Me is a complex, chaotic novel but necessary fiction in the LGBTQ+ and mental health space. This novel represents the honest conversations we must have about difficult (and still taboo) topics.

Unleashed Speaks on What Happened to You?

 

Audible

Title: What Happened To You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
Authors: Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry
Genre: Self-Help
Format: Audiobook
Source: Borrowed from Library (https://libbyapp.com)

Abbreviated Summary

Have you ever wondered "Why did I do that?" or "Why can't I just control my behavior?" Others may judge our reactions and think, "What's wrong with that person? When questioning our emotions, it's easy to place the blame on ourselves; holding ourselves and those around us to an impossible standard. It's time we started asking a different question.

Through deeply personal conversations, Opray Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?"

Here, Winfrey shares stories from her own past, understanding through experience the vulnerability that comes from facing trauma and adversity at a young age. In conversations throughout the audiobook, she and Dr. Perry focus on understanding people, behavior, and ourselves. It's a subtle but profound shift in our approach to trauma, and it's one that allows us to understand our pasts in order to clear a path to our future — opening the door to resilience and healing in a proven, powerful way.

Unleashed Speaks

When listening to this audiobook, it had the ambiance of Oprah Winfrey's show Super Soul Sunday. On Super Soul Sunday, Oprah Winfrey invited a guest to sit and chat with her. The conversation would be an exchange of ideas, experiences, and enlightenment.

This is not a self-help book that focuses on outlining the steps, as Iyanla Vanzant would say, "to do your work". It is more causal than that.

Dr. Bruce Perry shares his knowledge from a scientific perspective and applies it to how trauma impacts us through his experience with patients. Oprah Winfrey implements her own complex stories of abuse. Together, they have conversations where education and enlightenment are reached.

I could relate to Oprah Winfrey's complicated relationship with her mother. Although Oprah's experience dealt with physical abuse, I battled with feelings of abandonment and neglect as well as holding on to a dream of a deep mother-daughter bond that would never come to pass. In the end. like Oprah, I had to accept that there were limits to my mother's capabilities, and like Oprah, I had to be okay with it.

The cadence of Bruce and Oprah's voices made the audiobook easy to work with. Oprah's delivery was more like a storyteller (which I resonate with more) while Bruce's delivery was more matter-of-fact yet still engaging.

Because I've read other self-help books in the past on tackling trauma, I can't say that I've learned anything new in terms of the fundamentals. However, what I learned involved changing my perspective and different ways to assist others around me who are going through traumatic events.

Summary

This is recommended for those who want assistance with how to handle trauma without the heftiness that traditional self-help work can sometimes encompass.

This is also recommended for a loved one who needs tips on how to best be there for someone who is going through trauma.

Although this audiobook did include some exercises in .pdf form, I was unable to utilize them since I borrowed the audio (as opposed to making a purchase).

Rating

#ICanWorkWithThat

Unleashed Speaks on Take Back the Memory (#ThrowbackBookReview)

Too-doo-loo everyone! Ova Veugh here. It's throwback time at Unleashed Truth. Today, we travel back to November 2016 where The Unleashed One shares her views on "Take Back the Memory" by Augustine Sam.

Take Back the Memory by Augustine Sam

Amazon

Amazon Author Page

Blurb: Paige Lyman, an accomplished psychiatrist, is on the verge of madness but she doesn’t know it yet. The madness begins when she gets it into her head to write her memoirs. As her brilliant mind assembles bits and pieces of her life for the book, ugly skeletons, long forgotten in the closet, begin to rear their heads.

It had all begun with a simple act of love. And love, for her, was a blond-haired Irish boy named Bill, so when Bill abandoned her for priesthood the world around her collapsed. Seized by a different passion—vengeance—she seeks her proverbial pound of flesh in the beds of various priests…

Until she meets Stern W, a medical researcher, who sweeps into her life like a hurricane and marries her. It is not until he dies in a helicopter crash that she discovers the startling truth about who he really was. And now, transformed from psychiatrist to patient, Paige is seared by a damning awareness that she had, in fact, gotten what she had always yearned for without realizing it.

Take Back the Memory is the saga of her compelling backward journey through her own life on a psychotherapist’s couch.

I am a believer that the blurb should tell the contents without revealing the whole of the book. This blurb tells about seventy-five percent of the book without one having to read it. That, in itself, causes the work to lose about ½ a point from the gate … at least for me.

As a suggestion, Take Back the Memory should have a disclaimer in the blurb about the erotic content. I’m no prude—people know that one of my favorite genres is erotica (when it’s done properly). However, as a favor to one perusing something to read, it would help that person to know if there’s going to be a “phallus” or “nipple” in every other chapter.

I confess to not being the greatest advocate of books that use people on the cover. Blame it on my high appreciation for the abstract and wanting to use my mind to dictate the beauty of a character. Yet, I do believe the image of the character should match the description of her in the book. Also, it is hard to tell whether the backdrop is actually of Kenya or of lands you would find through the Midwest or the South part of the United States. It didn’t match the content at all, so minus a whole point.

That is before getting to the content at hand.

Let’s get to the content.

Normally I would start with the pros yet there was not one pro for me. Even the author’s attempt to romance the words so that the sexual scenes would be stimulating was a fail. As a matter of fact, I compare it to watching a porn video but not being able to “get off” due to being distracted—the lady’s nails are chipped, the man’s butt is ashy, the music doesn’t fit the mood. Not that I’m an expert at looking at porn or anything … lol. I’m basically saying that it was more comical than sensual, especially one line which stated that a man’s eyes “were eating into her buttocks”. I don’t know about anyone else, but the thought of a man’s eyes eating into any part of my body, especially my derrière, conjures up another type of word. Trust me, it isn’t sensual, satisfying, or sexy.

The misplaced modifiers were the main culprit that kept Take Back the Memory from scoring any points in the syntax area. I would point them out but that would take up the majority of the review, and I want to spend more time on the actual premise of the book.

It takes more than “speaking of love” to establish a love connection. It was expressed over and over again how much Paige had this “love at first sight” bond with this guy named Bill. However, they were very young at the time—try at around age eight or so. I kept waiting for examples, painted out as vividly as the sex scenes—for this special chemistry between them in the interim. Instead, the foundation that led to the vendetta was skipped over, as if the author was in a hurry to get to the corruption of not only Paige’s way of thinking but also of these priests that caved in (too quickly if you ask me) to her seductive whims. I was not convinced of the love connection—even with the twist in the end.

Also, there were other happenings which confused me. For one, if Paige is a psychiatrist, why did she act ignorant of the technique that the psychotherapist was using on her when it was first introduced? Just because Paige did not practice this with her patients doesn’t mean that she wasn’t shown or taught it during the time she attended school. That did not ring authentic to me. In addition, the chapters had so much material that I believed covered several sessions, only for me to discover that only one session had passed.

Plus, I’m not one hundred percent sure if Paige was experiencing “madness”. Acting out, maybe. Being eccentric, for sure. However, there’s not enough revealed in Take Back the Memory for me to drink the psychiatric Kool-Aid. Besides, with Paige being a psychiatrist, she would be knowledgeable on the ins and outs of what justifies insanity, if you will. How could one really be sure that her deterioration was not conjured, as opposed to involuntary? For those who may talk about “nudity” as a side effect, maybe Paige just enjoyed being naked in her home. I never heard discussion of Paige romping around in her birthday suit in public. There were not any gaps between the ending of one session and the beginning of the next for me to draw up a definite conclusion, which placed Swiss cheese holes in the point of this tale to begin with.

Unleashed Verdict

#Ehh

Due to misplaced modifiers, story holes, and not being able to take any of the characters seriously, I cannot recommend Take Back the Memory. I feel if there was more thought given to the background to build the conflict and less focus on the sex, this book could have possessed better resonance.

Unleashed Speaks on Roads and Circuses (#ThrowbackBookReview)

Hello everyone! Ova Veugh in the building, presenting an episode of Throwback Tuesday. Today, we travel back with The Unleashed One December 2016, as she discusses her thoughts on "Roads and Circuses" by Tom Mazzone.

Roads & Circuses by Tom Mazzone

Amazon Author Page

Goodreads

Note: A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Genre: General Fiction

Blurb:

Some Civil Servants are not so civil.

Marcus O’Malley is the brown-nosing suck-up everyone despised in school. He also happens to be Ireland’s best-known barrister who truly has it all: a beautiful runway-model wife, two perfect children, prestige, power and wealth. When he refuses a dangerous villain’s request to defend him of heinous crimes, Marcus is rightly intimidated. A seemingly random opportunity to run for political office pops up and only as means to save him from the threats does he decide to dive in.

With his reputation as a do-gooder, Marcus takes like a duck to water to the local scene and his meteoric rise through the party’s rank begins. But as he sets his sights on becoming Prime Minister, he must cooperate with unsavory colleagues, bide time and determine what’s best for him versus what’s best for the party. Could outside forces bring him down, ruin his career and potentially send him to jail? Can he play the game in the shark-infested waters of Irish politics? Does he want power just for the sake of having power? Is he able to see that the chaos and the mayhem in his life are self-created? Can he continue to fool all of the people all of the time? Including himself?

Roads & Circuses is a thrilling satirical look at the world of politics and the duplicitous mind of a politician. It’s not so much what a politician says or does that should worry you, it’s what they actually THINK! And although set in Ireland, Marcus O’Malley could exist in any country or political party in the world.

Note: I must warn that for some readers, this may not even come across as humor. For me, the “ha-ha” moments occurred in the Prologue, which was included in the copy of the book I received. The rest of it mimicked observation that would be discussed via CNN or MSNBC. Therefore, if you are the type of individual that is not into political ping-pong, then this type of read may not be for you.

Before I get into the content of the book, I would like to give two thumbs up to the cover concept. It really mirrors what this story represents—a balancing act between self-interest, party interest and people interest. It does really feel like a circus.

There was only a scoopful of things that I considered cons, so these will be touched on rather quickly.

Cons

Some of the sentence structure was elongated—to the point where run-on sentences were formed. The thoughts could have been better delivered in a more succinct fashion and better placement and usage of punctuation.

I feel as if the blurb/synopsis gave away quite a bit of the events. That is one of the reasons why if the blurb seems a bit too long, I get wary, due to the strong possibility of revealing crucial bits of information I’d prefer to stumble upon.

There were actions (coughing, mumbling, chuckling, tearing, wiping, etc.) that were written as if it were a screenplay, as opposed to being conveyed as if it was a story. The amount wasn’t immense, yet it was distracting enough to keep this from a perfect score.

However, those are light in comparison to the points that were refreshing.

Pros

I could relate very strongly to Marcus O’Malley. He had an initial thirst for helping his fellow man and gave tremendous thought as to whether what he went beyond benefiting him. I admired him for that because I tend to do my own pros and cons battles with decisions that I make. No, I am not in politics, but every choice in life has a benefit and deterrent. The winner is usually the choice which tips the scales out of balance. Marcus learned that the quicker one rises to the top, some of his core principles get worn down and he has to fall in line to prevent running into a career brick wall. With all of these different forces tugging at him, sacrifice is imminent. In Marcus’ case, the trip takes on a route of outrageousness with many detours into extremism.

The author did a fine job of bringing the reader into Marcus’ world—taking time to map out the differences between West Dublin and East Dublin, as well as painting the local mannerisms of each segment.

There were some passages that I really enjoyed, and I’d like to share a particular segment that hit home. It embarks on Marcus’ initiative to repair the roads, and he is explaining why it is important.

A bumpy road may be a fact of life and indeed a more interesting ride, but it is the well-maintained road that allows one the energy to be well and truly able for one’s destination and the reason one travelled in the first place.

Give a man a vehicle and he has the ‘What’ and the ‘How’ …

Give that same man a good road and he now has the ‘Why’ and the ‘Where’ …

There were some striking parallels between this series and what is happening in politics, touching on circumstances that hit the United States. It makes the absurdity, the greed, and the angst very real, resulting in a small, nervous chuckle on each occurrence.

Unleashed Verdict

I recommended Roads and Circuses not as humor but as a tale with mirrors political pitfalls that can apply to any area in the world, not just in Ireland.