Review: Turning This Thing Around by Keith Maginn

Turning This Thing Around
written by Keith Maginn
published by Keith Maginn

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Book Depository, Goodreads

Why did I pick this book: I was asked by the author to review this book. (I received a copy of this book for review purposes.)

Did I enjoy this book: Friends, you know how I feel about writers who sneak poetry into their texts.  Well.  Maginn may not have changed my mind, but he’s almost certainly changed my heart.  I don’t want this to be another “blah-blah this book changed my life we have so much in common blah” review, so I’ll simply say this:  I understand.

If I were, say, a gal who’s struggled with mental illness my whole life, I’d give Maginn five stars just for having the cojones to put his story out there (mine, if you’re wondering, is safely tucked away in the back of my sock drawer).  If, though, I were the same gal, only one who also has experience with mentally ill loved ones, yoga, meditation, medication, psychiatrists, self-help books, and self-medicating, I’d say…

You’re brave, Keith Maginn, and although the writer in me takes issue with your gratuitous use of poetry and self-help book quotations, I’m going to let it slide because, well, you’re braver than I am.  Well done.

Would I recommend it: Yep.  Go for it.  You’ll finish it in an evening, and you’ll learn a little something in the process.

Will I read it again: No, but I’d like to have a coffee (and/or a margarita) with Mr. Maginn.

About the book – from Barnes & Noble: Turning This Thing Around is an inspiring memoir of overcoming personal struggles. This brutally honest, deeply personal account of redemption takes readers on a moving spiritual journey.

Confronted with a myriad of obstacles-a debilitating arthritic disease, narcolepsy, anxiety and depression-the author was outwardly happy, but inwardly miserable. Pushed to the lowest point of his life, Maginn shares how he gradually turned things around and used his experiences to grow as a person.

Supplemented by heartfelt poetry by the author and with quotes from Gandhi to Dr. Wayne Dyer to Eckhart Tolle, Turning This Thing Around has universal themes that speak to nearly everyone, as we all must face challenges as part of being human. It is a self-help memoir of sorts: the author discusses not only what he overcame, but also how he did so-and how others can, too.

Unlike many popular memoirs on the market, this is a story that more people can relate to. Maginn was not raised in an eccentric family (Jeannette Walls in The Glass Castle, memoirs by Augusten Burroughs), nor did he travel to Italy, India and Indonesia, as Elizabeth Gilbert did in Eat, Pray, Love. Rather, Turning This Thing Around is a story of a normal young man’s resiliency when battling extraordinary circumstances.