A Circus of One

ABOUT Adam Raby

Adam Raby
Adam Francis Raby is a writer, yogi, and public speaker living in La Jolla, California. Although not famous for anything but infamous for his desire to explore all the possibilities afforded in the human experience when tethered to the desires of the self. Adam’s life-long battle with th More...

Description

With each page, this raw account of a man coming to grips with his inability to have intimate relationships with others will shed light into anyone's life. Adam holds nothing back as he describes how each of the characters in his Circus of One played a part in his unraveling, while also being the stitches that slowly help him to heal. Anyone trying to come to grips with his or her past and the role people play in shaping one’s life, should mark this as an important read.

 

Whether you’re struggling with addiction or any other difficulty, this real-life account describes one man’s path, the hard work necessary to understand how one lands in a place of disarray, and how to overcome what may seem insurmountable obstacles. This work portrays not necessarily a how-to guide, but an account of one’s travels to a place of peace—entertaining, revealing, sobering, and healing in its own right. 

Growing up in New Mexico—hounded by the thoughts of an expected early exit from life birthed by a morbid childhood dream life left him seeking more of anything—Me, more and now! The battle between the sovereignty of his reason and the sovereignty of his spiritual self would slowly stain his soul. Using his reason to manipulate his way through life was the foundation he built a multitude of life experiences upon. Up until the point when his most trusted friend quit lubricating his lonliness. It was life or death, again.

“Adam finds a way to express feelings that we often search for without

success. His raw, honest, and uplifting words allow us to ride along his journey of life promoting inspirational hope during our darkest times.”

 

Cheri Arterburn Tabb, Author —The Perfect Divorce.

 

 

 

“Adam’s hold-nothing-back memoir opens the eyes and heart—both entertaining and inspiring.”

 

Lori Lebruska, PhD Mayo Clinic

 

 

 

 

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 

 

5.0 out of 5 stars

Living the Maelstrom August 4, 2013

By Allan Cox

Format: Paperback / eBook

Living the Maelstrom

 

This is the story of a friend of mine who's a recovering alcoholic. You should know that and that I love him and admire him. Yes, I'm biased but not stupid. I did not know him in the years this book covers, but do now with him a beneficiary of Alcoholics Anonymous and sober for more than four years.

 

His story is amazing and colorful as he himself is amazing and colorful, blessed with brains, charm and endless talent. Born the youngest of six children in a family with strong Mexican and American Indian strains in New Mexico, he was known by his siblings as the "Actor" and never, he says, felt at home.

 

In this memoir, he gives us almost too much detail, yet without it most of us would be unable to grasp the ends a person in his state goes to in order to deceive himself, in the process, feeding the flames of his sickness. Don't go there unless you're willing to go deep and keep patience with his wordiness--an inescapable sign of his life's evasions. He calls his life "a circus of one" by which he means he plows on in life with a backward resourcefulness, alone, with no meaningful relationships, yet accomplishing much in a worldly way.

 

Until it all comes screeching to a stop. His story begins in his 42nd year when he, blacked out, is dragged off his sofa by police and charged with leaving the scene of an accident and his 7th DUI. What follows, beyond his facing that he has reached the end of his rope, is an account taking us up to today, with chapters alternating between circumstances showing emotional and spiritual progress and descriptions of his steady descent into abject failure. You see it coming and wish you could help, but you can't, and you're forced to live it with him as you cheer, and then deflate as he repeats the self-deception and again falters.

 

Persons with an unresolved addiction, or unable to break what they consider an onerous character fault, will comb this book page-by-page. The Cracker Factory Raby has written a significant, most revealing book. In this first effort, he demonstrates great story-telling and vigor, captures truth in an unvarnished way, a necessary way, and I'm confident his best work, to our benefit, is ahead of him.

 

Allan Cox, Author of The CEO in You. New York Times Best Seller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.0 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and inspiring. August 5, 2013

By 

Lauren - See all my reviews

 

This review is from: A Circus Of One (Kindle Edition)

I can't believe this is Raby's first novel. It's entertaining, inspiring, and downright enthralling. Raby is a great storyteller and manages to seamlessly weave life lessons with funny observations and sometimes-scary personal stories of love, loss, and addiction.

 

I have to say that I am not in AA or any recovery programs, but I still found A Circus of One to be a good read anyways. Raby has a way of combining tragedy and wit in his individual stories while keeping focus on a bigger message. You don't have to be in AA to appreciate wisdom wrapped in a collection of well-told stories.

 

Lauren Crabbe, Blogger/Writer/Photo Journalist/Editor