Sirens

Full of Grit, Gruesome Intimacy, and Pulsing with Magnanimous Empathy: A Life-Changing Punch o the GutAs one delves into Sirens, the reader embarks on a shadowing experience, becoming Mohr’s instant, dear friend as we accompany him through the most trying year of his life. Although this is a memoir about addiction, it delves to greater depths of fate, forgiveness, and a dance with death. We follow Joshua from teaching creative writing at half-way house to a relapse to a pregnant pause at the operating table, each moment more gripping than the next.It’s a read that draws you in from the opening lines and never strays to the expository mundane. It’s a modern read, designed for our attention spans and for our depleted hearts, giving us what we need: reassurance, honesty and an uncloaking of even the deepest of shame and self-sabotage. You’ll find yourself saying, “I’ve felt this way too,” or “Wow, at least I’ve never fallen on my face like this guy.” Therefore, if he can bounce back, so can I. It’s a read to empower while at the same time stripping you of any cordial programming or fear of taboo.Joshua doesn’t hold back. There’s no secrets left to uncover. He just lets it rip, yet wields that literary flair of intelligence, poetry, and proximity as the narrator.Additionally, it’s not like your average addiction-recovery book. Mohr does not get tangled up in a sort of AA-like narrative, but rather moves beyond the meetings and the repetition of the same story. He goes for the core of addiction, which is never the addiction itself, but a gurgling plea to save oneself from what is terrifying to look at, that they believe they very well may die if they do. In Sirens, there is no “this guy is an addict” while “this other guy is a normal dude.” Rather, the boundary is warped to disseminate labels and get past all the empty rhetoric that oversimplify our experiences. With Mohr’s work, we cannot fall privy to deluding ourselves as “better” than the archetype of the “addict.” It transcends projection and judgement, and at the end, all we feel is stone-boned empathy.This man is recounting his one-of-a-kind history, and he’s damn good at it-the kind of storytelling the world needs most at this juncture.

Joshua Mohr sets hell to music. A painful and poetic book, I skipped to the end to see if he lived to finish it. I am glad he did. There are many who do not survive the journeys that Mohr has experienced. He recounts his tragedies and triumphs without overdoses of romanticism. If you are in recovery from addiction this is a primer for how difficult the struggle can be. And for those who aren't, a glimpse and perhaps insight what it is to have a monkey on your back engulfed in flames. Thanks for this Joshua.

Josh Mohr chooses the right word to evoke the image of a drugged filled syringe or the shame of beating a guy for small change in pursuit of the next demon. The honesty is brutal, scary, and calming. Through a rough journey we know he can write and that he survives and for all his picadillos, a lot of people love him. The way he describes his darling daughter, lovely wife, and even his step mother —the one you’d want in your corner when things get tough — gives the author humanity and the reader hope.

I'm sober for over 26 years and also wrote a memoir on addiction, but I'm blown away by Joshuas' book, Sirens. I was instantly pulled in, as Joshua painted a visceral picture of relapse while weaving timelines together like some sort of Jedi master. For anyone who has every struggled or is struggling with any type of addiction or knows a family member who is struggling, I highly recommend you get this book.

Intense and raw and intelligent and moving, this memoir resonated on so many levels. It's not just about addiction; it's about what matters in life, the meaning of love, of family, and how being a parent can offer unparalleled moments of joy while at the same time bring us to our knees in self-doubt and uncertainty. It's about the stories we tell ourselves about our childhoods and the stories that have been told to us. And about how we try to make sense of it all. Joshua Mohr has written a beautiful, brilliant memoir filled with honesty, pain and brutality. But also with humility, hope and wonder. Truly, this is a must read.

An exhilarating, tangential but cohesive narrative about addiction, mortality, and a redemption of acceptance. I read this book with a feverish hedonism while I was in rehab myself; the fact that I stumbled upon it when I did quite accidentally at the Denver Library seemed preordained. Mohr has a style and structure within his tale that is jazzy, hyperlinked, and visceral, creating a mea culpa that is steamed in remorse and love.

Joshua Mohr has a way with words that draws you in to the horror of a wasted life and redemption through love and good luck and tough recovery from addiction to destruction. Excellent read!

I have a love for memoirs. I found this book after hearing Josh speak in a webinar about writing. I have read many. This is , I think the best one I've ever read! Thank you Joshua for this amazing piece of work and sharing your experience with us! I will recommend this memoir every chance I get!