{"id":354,"date":"2024-09-13T11:49:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T11:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=354"},"modified":"2024-09-13T11:49:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T11:49:00","slug":"book-review-the-little-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=354","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Little Things"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Little Things<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Wade Pier<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Memoir<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9798327180581<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 155 pages<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/span>Buy from Amazon<\/span>\n <\/div>\n

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Reviewed by Erin Britton<\/em><\/p>\n

A heartfelt memoir of surviving and becoming<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wade Pier has had to clear his fair share of hurdles to get here: from a childhood characterized by uncertainty, ridicule, and abuse to an army career both brutal and freeing and to a later-in-life diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). These troubles certainly took a toll on him, most notably in the alcoholism he developed at a young age, but he manages to come through them all in The Little Things<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This memoir is his sincere and no-holds-barred account of his life to date. \u201cI have been through quite a few experiences in my life, and I am sure that I\u2019m not the only one. Maybe my particular story is my own. We all have our own individual stories and our own individual ways of coping with every situation.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> It\u2019s a quietly powerful memoir that portrays the positivity that can be found in the most surprising of places.<\/p>\n

The worst times probably occurred during his childhood, but before getting to all that, Pier explains the best decision he ever made: the decision to enlist in the US Army. His experience was unusual in that his ASVAB placement test indicated his suitability as deep sea diver\u2014it\u2019s a relatively rare calling even in the army, and very few potential recruits make it through basic training. Pier straightforwardly admits that he ended up being one of the dropouts, but his anecdotes about diver training are unusual and very interesting.<\/p>\n

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Given that the dropout rate from diver training is 80%, Pier also completed carpentry and masonry school with the army, along with the physical fitness elements and hardships of basic training, which means he still has lots of material to relate. He has a wry wit and some of his observations are very funny.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were tiny little frogs jumping everywhere and they were jumping all over us. Like mini parkour on our faces. It was cool minus the smell.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Interestingly, there\u2019s an air of detachment to many of the stories, almost as if Pier is relating something that happened to someone else. At the risk of engaging in a spot of armchair psychology, it\u2019s probably an understandable outcome of his childhood, but the lack of emotional investment does make the tone of some memories difficult to grasp. \u201cOn the very first run, a soldier dropped dead on the track from heart failure. Private Stevenson was seventeen years old and a star basketball player in high school. It was a very tragic start to say the least.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pier comes across as extremely matter of fact when talking things like this\u2014and there\u2019s probably an aspect of gallows humor to it. The brevity and episodic style of The Little Things<\/em> mean that Pier isn\u2019t always able to provide sufficient detail or recollections to truly elucidate the depth of what he is relating.<\/p>\n

Still, the chosen approach means that he is able to pack a lot into the book and to provide an engaging whistlestop tour of his life. For instance, after washing out of the diver prescreen course, Pier opted for deployment in Alaska, which unexpectedly became his home. He clearly relished his time in the US Army\u2014perhaps finding a place to belong for the first time in his life\u2014despite the lack of equipment (\u201cThe military budget is pretty extensive and I am positive that Alaska gets none of it.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>) and the incompetence of some superior officers. His descriptions of fellow soldiers and of his ongoing drink problem are particularly strong here.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the decision to deploy to Alaska led Pier to the second best decision of his life: marrying his girlfriend Shannon and starting a family. The life they\u2019ve built together clearly means everything to Pier, but it has also caused him to painfully reflect on his parents\u2019 relationship and his childhood. \u201cWe both understand how trauma effects childhood and that it can be passed down between generations. We did our due diligence to not give that gift to our kids.\u201d<\/em> <\/strong>It sounds like Pier has succeeded in breaking the cycle of abuse, but he had to learn some harsh lessons to do so.<\/p>\n

The vignettes dealing with his youth are the most troubling aspects of The Little Things<\/em>. His parents\u2014Jack and Sondra\u2014had an on\/off relationship, and they spent much of the \u201con\u201d time hurting each other and abusing and belittling Pier. His older half-brother Troy, who careened in and out of his life, didn\u2019t help matters either. And during the \u201coff\u201d time, Sondra thought nothing of abandoning Pier for weeks on end, while Jack \u201cwas abusive. Verbally and physically. I was called names like dumb ass, dip shit, or asshole. He used to get in my face and poke me in the chest.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Given the ill-treatment and disinterest that he faced, coupled with the fact that the family moved frequently and so never really settled anywhere, it\u2019s no wonder that Pier made some bad choices as a young man, including joining a gang while in high school. \u201cI thought that being in a gang would offer me protection. But instead it just offered more fear. Instead of a place where I belonged, it was a place full of more drama and divide.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> It\u2019s perhaps fortunate that, as Pier sardonically notes, he wasn\u2019t very good at being a criminal, although it\u2019s a shame he had to accidentally shoot himself before realizing as much.<\/p>\n

Pier is pretty hard on himself throughout The Little Things<\/em>, even though he describes having forgiven himself for past mistakes and realized the catastrophic influence that his past has had on him: \u201cI no longer talk bad about myself and that was one of the hardest habits that I have broken so far.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>As such, despite all the humor and the interesting diversions, such as his time in the Marshall Islands, it is still sometimes a difficult read. It\u2019s impossible not to be upset by what happened to him as a child or by the episodes of self-destruction that followed later.<\/p>\n

Ultimately though, The Little Things<\/em> is an inspiring memoir that chronicles Pier\u2019s journey through extreme adversity and toward what he had always wanted: a loving family. For all he\u2019s been through\u2014including, most recently, the terrible medical care he received for his MS\u2014Pier is definitely a glass half full type of person. He remembers the kindness that people have shown him and takes pains to acknowledge it, which leads to one of the book\u2019s most important lessons: \u201cThe kindness of others goes a long way, no matter how small.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading Erin Britton\u2019s book review of The Little Things <\/em>by Wade Pier! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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The post Book Review: The Little Things<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Little Things by Wade Pier Genre: Memoir ISBN: 9798327180581 Print Length: 155 pages Buy from Amazon Reviewed by Erin Britton A heartfelt memoir of surviving and becoming Wade Pier has had to clear his fair share of hurdles to get here: from a childhood characterized by uncertainty, ridicule, and abuse to an army career […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}