Chancers: Addiction, Prison, Recovery, Love: One Couple’s Memoir by Susan Stellin (Epub)

Description

When Susan Stellin asked Graham MacIndoe to shoot her author photo for an upcoming travel book, she barely knew him except for a few weekends with mutual friends at a summer house in Montauk. He was a gregarious, divorced Scotsman who had recently gotten sober; she was an independent New Yorker who decided to take a chance on a rough-around-the-edges guy. But their relationship was soon tested when Susan discovered that Graham still had a drug habit he was hiding.

From their harrowing portrayal of the ravages of addiction to the stunning chain of events that led to Graham’s arrest and imprisonment at Rikers Island, Chancers unfolds in alternating chapters that offer two perspectives on a relationship that ultimately endures against long odds. Susan follows Graham down the rabbit hole of the American criminal justice system, determined to keep him from becoming another casualty of the war on drugs. Graham gives a stark, riveting description of his slide from brownstone Brooklyn to a prison cell, his gut-wrenching efforts to get clean, and his fight to avoid getting exiled far away from his son and the life he built over twenty years.

Beautifully written, brutally honest, yet filled with suspense and hope, Chancers will resonate with anyone who has been touched by the heartache of addiction, the nightmare of incarceration, or the tough choice of leaving or staying with someone who is struggling on the road to recovery. By sharing their story, Susan and Graham show the value of talking about topics many of us are too scared to address.

Praise for Chancers

“Stellin and MacIndoe, in entries sometimes akin to fighters in the ring, tell the story of their lives as MacIndoe rides a roller-coaster life of drug addiction and prison. . . . [Chancers] grabs in a voyeuristic way and propels page-turning to find out what happens next in a saga no soap opera could create.”—The Buffalo News

“Emotionally resonant and evenly structured, their tandem chronicle resists overly romanticizing their bittersweet interactions to focus on the dedication and devotion necessary to make their already-complicated relationship survive the fallout of critical hardships. An emotionally complex and intensely personal binary memoir of addiction and sustainable love.”—Kirkus Reviews

User’s Reviews

Review Praise for Chancers “Stellin and MacIndoe, in entries sometimes akin to fighters in the ring, tell the story of their lives as MacIndoe rides a roller-coaster life of drug addiction and prison. . . . It is a remarkable nine-year parallel journey that forced them to bare their innermost thoughts and feelings, forced them to distance themselves and, finally, forced them to recognize that a life, even in the depths of despair, merits saving. . . . [Chancers] grabs in a voyeuristic way and propels page-turning to find out what happens next in a saga no soap opera could create.”—The Buffalo News “Emotionally resonant and evenly structured, their tandem chronicle resists overly romanticizing their bittersweet interactions to focus on the dedication and devotion necessary to make their already-complicated relationship survive the fallout of critical hardships. An emotionally complex and intensely personal binary memoir of addiction and sustainable love.”—Kirkus Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I’ve long been appalled and embarrassed that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, primarily because of the ridiculous and losing war on drugs. According to one source, we make up 4.4 percent of the world’s population, and 22 percent of the incarceration rate. It’s unbelievably expensive to tax payers to maintain this, but we do get to exploit free labor after all. For example, the forest fires in Southern California are fought by real firefighters who get paid, and low-level drug/alcohol offenders (meaning they have a problem with substance abuse but are not violent) make up the rest of the wildfire firefighting team.This book is written from the perspective of a journalist who fell in love with a photographer. Susan knew that Graham had been to rehab and quit drinking. It took her longer to realize that while he gave up alcohol, he took up crack and heroine.This is partially a true story about loving someone with an unhealthy relationship to illegal drugs, but it’s also about how our prison system treats people with addiction issues. Mainly, they don’t treat them for the problem, but punish them for having it.It’s also about how cruel our immigration system is. Graham is Scottish. He’d been working as a successful commercial photographer in the States for 18 years when he got busted for possession. So after serving time in Rikers for possession, instead of being released, he was whisked away by immigration, where he wasn’t given a lawyer and it took weeks to even see a judge. He writes in the book that a mass murderer who is a U.S. citizen has infinitely more rights than an immigrant, even one with a green card. He writes that several of the people there had families here and only knew the United States. They didn’t know a single person from their country of origin, where they’d be flown back to with no money or possessions for minor crimes. Like the Gulf War veteran who got into a bar fight defending Bush for declaring war. This happened in 2010, under the Obama administration. I cannot begin to imagine the hell of even documented immigrants today.Graham was incredibly lucky in some ways because he speaks English and could afford an immigration lawyer and he had Susan, a trained journalist, exhaustively fighting for him outside the prison walls.This is a fast read about a sad topic.

⭐ This is an excellent read. It is a not-so-typical love story mixed with the subplots of addiction, writing and photography careers, and the United State’s drastically flawed prison and immigration system. The writers are charming and likable, you will like them immediately, and become furious with the struggles they encounter with incarceration. I read a lot of autobiographies and memoirs, this one is unique, interesting and difficult to put down. Buy and enjoy.

⭐ I really enjoyed this book. It is a unique format–written by two people alternating, to some degree. The first time I got to a chapter by Graham, I was briefly confused by the change of voice, but I grew to really like they format. This story took a lot of courage to share and may be helpful for people facing addiction issues. I learned a lot about addiction, the prison system and immigration.

⭐ I couldn’t put the book down! An extremely well written book. I leaned so much about addiction that I didn’t understand before reading this book. The story illustrates the desperation of addicts, arrested and imprisioned, often in private for-profit prisions that provide no help or proper treatment.. The steady love between the two individuals is so real and touching. Anyone who has someone who is addicted in their life, or wold like to understand so much more about how intricate addiction really is, should read this gripping book.

⭐ So repetitve and plodding and same old same old over and over again that I could not finish it. About half way through the book I couldn’t care less about either one of the players.

⭐ This is an amazing and totally eye-opening book. What I most admire about it is that it simultaneously works on two levels: as a really engaging novel about a relationship that you want to follow to the end, and as an indictment of how our country treats immigrants and drug users. It’s both a love story and a policy critique! This makes it really unusual and completely engrossing.

⭐ I opened my new book,Chancers, planning to read for a few minutes. Hours later (5:00AM) my alarm reminded me that I had to put the book down and prepare for my work day which felt like an interruption. As a psychologist I deal with relationship issues, addiction issues, legal issues and recovery, but usually not all of these in one couple. There are many books written about these topics, too, but this book is different in that each of the couple shares their own feelings, experiences and fears. It is like a duet, but not always in harmony. I have ordered many copies to give to my patients so each can realize that they, too can choose a path to recovery and healing.This one of my few most favorite books! A MUST READ and I plan to go to their book signings in Petoskey and Ann Arbor, MI !

⭐ Slow moving. Lots of details. I thought about not finishing it several times but pushed on. I don’t recommend it.

⭐ Fantastic dual memoir! Not one boring page. This honest, revealing book is like nothing I’ve ever read. It’s about love, addiction, conviction, Rikers Island (prison) criminal justice system, ICE, incarceration, Brooklyn, New York City, …. It’s heavy and inspirational.

⭐ So open and honest. I love the way the story is told from both the main people’s points of view. I believe it is so important for people to be open about things like addiction, prison, and immigration issues. Thank you Susan and Graham for writing this book and opening your lives to us, your readers.

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