This one made me cry uncontrollably. I felt like I was releasing with the author. I do not recommend reading this is public and the audio format might be hard to listen to in a public setting as well. But don't skip it. Dive in.

This is a candid and humble account of one doctor's descent into and recovery from alcoholism--including all the warts and bumps along the way. Though alcoholics and their loved ones each have distinct experiences, their stories share common, universal truths about the disease. I think those are what make the book so relatable for anyone who is or knows an alcoholic. Skilled writing makes the book highly readable, offering valuable insights for those who have been spared and hope for those still struggling.

I couldn't really call this book an enjoyable read. However, the education it provides gives it importance in the real world.

Such a raw, often painful account of alcoholic addiction and the costs it incurs. Dr. Remy takes you through his life, starting with his success as an Emergent Room physician, and his downfall into a struggle with addiction that nearly destroyed his life. This novel is a well-written account of one mans journey through the pitfalls of alcoholism, rehab, and ultimately his come-up as well.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the struggles with addition and alcoholism. It has an unique spin in that it’s written by a doctor, which I enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful story of recovery and hope for addiction. Highly recommend to anyone who has someone in their lives that deals with addiction. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy.

This was a great read of about ER doctor’s struggle with addiction, the time spent in rehab and the various stages of recovery. Told with honesty and the occasional touch of humour you will find this a touching and thought provoking read.
I can only imagine how hard it was for someone with his personality type to learn a new set of rules and give control of his life to others. Amazing story of how he turned his life around - well done!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the book in return for an honest review.

Let me start off by welcoming you with open arms as an AA brother. I just so happen to look on my kindle one day and saw this downloaded. NetGalley doesn’t always send books to my kindle. As we know “God does for us, what we cannot do for ourselves”. So I dug in....... As a young woman from Pennsylvania with a few years of sobriety,I was able to live with you through your story. What an amazing person you are and continue to be living day by day with afflictions that will be overcome. I write this review during a crazy pandemic that we will never forget and as well as the possibility that I may have contracted the virus. A very good sobering read. I as many others look forward to a “sequel “ or continuation if you will of your new life and how you are doing if one day at a time. Joe is an inspiration to all of us in and out of the rooms.

This was a surprisingly engaging read and one I'd recommend if you want to gain a better understanding of addiction better. Recommended!

A story of a Dr finding his way back from
Alcoholism. Very detailed account of different parts of his story.
Thanks netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

The memoir started out so well .I read 25% of the book and I kept waiting for it to get more interesting. Was so tired of the people he talked with. I finally put the book down. I'm sure others will love it.

"Ballad of a Sober Man" was so riveting that I had to finish it within hours of picking it up.

Yes, Dr Remy may be a board-certified E.R. physician, but he is also a prolific storyteller. This man can write!

I HIGHLY recommend this book to those who are in recovery, and/or to those who have a loved one or friend dealing with alcoholism. It's wonderful to see the humanity behind the disease.

This gist of this memoir is that Dr. Joe finds himself, at age 49, "morally bankrupt" and "deep in spiritual debt." In the first few chapters, we meet him as he's "voluntold" into a psychiatric hospital to detox from chronic alcohol abuse. From there, we get front-row seats into his path to recovery and watch him go through rehab, four sponsors and a nasty divorce.

As he works his program, we watch his resentments fade and his ego soften. He is able to open up and connect to others, showing his vulnerability. In the rooms, Dr. Joe finds his new village -- or what he calls his mosh pit. And they help him face his profound grief and demons in order to get healthy again.

Thanks to Joe's sober network, his sober living home and job as well as his 12-step program, he gains back his confidence. And to his surprise, he gets his job back in the E.R. He also improves his bedside manner and ability to become more present with his patients. After all, it's easier to make human connections when you are in service to others and turn your self-hate into self-love.

How did he get sober? Joe told a group of newcomers at a meeting: "I stopped relying on myself."

Go on and grab a copy of this book.

Special thanks to Girl Friday Productions, via NetGalley, for an electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The book starts off slowly, but by the fourth chapter, it gets quite interesting. There is a lot to admire about the writer.
A more detailed review follows. [spoiler alert}

Spoiler alert
It’s very difficult to review this book because there were parts of the book that I really liked, and others that I didn’t. The book has 17 chapters. I almost gave up on reading it toward the end of chapter 2, because the first 2 chapters were not very interesting. The narrator describes time he spent first in a psych ward and later in a more open treatment program for alcohol abuse. These chapters are full of a detailed account of what happened, sometimes hour by hour or day by day, but almost everything remains on the surface. The narrator might say that he went to a group session, but we are never shown the group session. There is almost no dialogue. And we are not really privy to the narrator’s inner thoughts. He might say he misses his wife or children, but there is nothing in his thoughts to show us that that it true. He moves from being cynical about the program to being committed to the program, but it’s hard for the reader to understand what made him make that transition. He’ll mention that a certain friendship was important to him, but without showing us what went on in the relationship. Toward the end of chapter two I was about to give up because the book did not engage me. (And I’ve read quite a few books on the topic of the struggle with substance abuse). There were too many details about things that didn’t matter and not enough details about what would have been interesting. The narrator was not bringing across enough about his inner world.

Then there is a third chapter that completely threw me off. I’ve gone back and have tried to figure it out, but I still am stymied. The narrator describes a long scene involving a family, with a father much like him, and with children and a wife much like his. After a long warm family scene, the father (also an alcoholic) has a crisis, is hospitalized, and that leads to his wife rushing to the hospital, getting involved in an accident, in which she and the children are killed.

The first time I read the book, I thought this scene was some sort of flashback of events that had happened to the narrator – 10 years earlier. The narrator’s name had only come up once or twice until then, and the name of the wife and children hadn’t been mentioned. But then I got really confused. So his present wife and children were from a second marriage? Only later, when he mentions his 22 year marriage, mentions his wife’s name, and talks about his children in more detail did I understand that all of chapter three was not about the narrator or a flashback to an earlier event. So what was it? Who is Jack? Who is Vivian? True, the lead up to chapter 3 has a few lines about imagined scenes, and sitting as if watching theatre, but the details are so close to the narrator’s life that I think it throws the reader off. Moreover, at the end of the chapter, there is nothing to help the reader understand why it was there. No reflection by the narrator that the horrific events that happened to “Jack” that could just as well have happened to Joe (the narrator). Am I missing something here?

In chapters 4-16, there is a gradual improvement. I felt that I was getting a bit more details about aspects of the narrator’s recovery that were interesting – but only to a certain extent. We know that the narrator had several different “sponsors”, and each made a different contribution to his recovery, but this is mentioned very briefly, and without us witnessing the interactions themselves. (Again, no dialogue). We know that the narrator went on to be a sponsor himself. We never see him interacting with people he was sponsor to. I, as a reader was left hungry for details particularly regarding the narrator’s family life. For example, the narrator mentions that his wife accused him of all sorts of things, but he doesn’t tell us what exactly. Later he says he knows he did some terrible things to his family when he was drinking – admits being guilty, but of what? In fact, in all his descriptions of his pre-crisis interactions with his children, he describes himself in ways that would make us think he was a perfect father. We never get to see how his alcoholism affected them. The entire divorce process and fight to have some sort of custody over the children would have been fascinating to read about, but we aren’t given any details. After the chapter on his children, which was one of the best chapters, I was hoping for a chapter on his wife. What was their relationship like at the beginning of their marriage? How did she cope with his alcoholism over the years, until she finally felt she could cope with it no longer?

Another challenge for the reader is that most of the book is not organized chronologically but more by topic. One chapter might deal with the narrator’s professional life, another with developments in his social life, another with his taking up guitar, another with his children (including going back to adoption, births, etc.). This was sometimes rather confusing, with the reader jumping back and forth in time, although the narrator does help us along with some time references – mainly as to how long he had been sober when a certain event occurred. Some of the chapters were very interesting, others less so. For me, the chapters that deal with relationships were more interesting than chapters devoted to hobbies.

On the positive side, most of the book was very readable. The writer has a nice style. There is quite a bit of humor, and interesting literary allusions. Most important, there were real life lessons to be learned from the writer, and not just for people dealing with substance abuse but for everyone. There is much to admire in the writer – seeing how he consciously worked on himself, worked to internalize the 12 steps philosophy and stick to its principles even when it was very difficult to do so. For me, that made the book well worth reading, despite its shortcomings.

In the final chapter, the writer addresses the reader directly, giving advice as to how the 12 steps can help each of us, including “normative” people with no addiction issues. The writer shares a lot of valuable advice.
I wonder if some of the limitations of the book were a result of its being non-fiction. I wonder if a slightly fictionalized account might not have been a better path to pursue. It would have allowed the writer to expand and zoom in on more interesting aspects and allowed him to create dialogues, which is one thing I felt was sorely missing.

Reviewers mention a lot of missing periods. I assume that it because we were given an uncorrected proof.

I found myself very emotionally involved with the topic of the writer’s children. I feel very tempted to write them a letter – and if the writer sees this review and gives me the go ahead, perhaps I will. Meanwhile, I hold on to the hope that before final publication, at least one of the writer’s children will renew contact with him. That’s a chapter I’d really like to read.

Wanted to like this book more. It didn't flow and it was very hard to read.

Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

An interesting, beautiful ballad about a doctor who suffered through addiction. Detailed stories of his struggles, setbacks, and even accomplishments. The hardest part of reading about this is that it didn’t (or at least my copy didn’t) have periods to end the sentence so it all clustered together. But I guess that’s what makes it a ballad! This author has been through so much of his life, and it was heart wrenching to read but he offers so much insight and even inspiration. I do wish it was a bit easier to read, (I don’t know why but I do l like periods to end sentences) but then again that would take away from the whole point of it all I think!

An inspirational tale of an ER doctor trying to climb his way back from his rock bottom I found this book well-written and was impressed by the author's commitment to telling his truth, warts and all.