Exposed: How a lost boy bucked the system and found his voice - Softcover

Wareham, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1566493595 ISBN 13: 9781566493598

Publisher: Welcome Rain Publishers, 2015

Synopsis

A distinguished Manhattan-based maverick accepts an invitation to share 'a few inspiring words' with a visiting class from his former New Zealand high school, where sexual abuse was an open secret and sadistic masters ran rife. How much truth should he share?With unerring wisdom and dark wit, John Wareham revisits the swirling inner life of a child with a crippling stutter, whose emotional, sexual and spiritual journeys pass through rivers of despair in New Zealand, to a flood of enlightenment in New York."An unputdownable, passionate 'Kiwi Catcher in the Rye'-- Charles DeFanti, Kean University Professor of Literature."John Wareham has the cool, clear eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth." -- New York Times"Brilliant and compelling . . . reveals the mind, heart, and soul of boyhood . . . touched me deeply." Brian O'Dea, author of HIGH: Confessions of An International Drug Smuggler.

About this title

From the Author:

The moment I accepted an invitation to speak to a deputation of student leaders from my old school I was in a quandary. I detested that school. So would it be fair to reveal exactly what went down? The engagement was months away, so I attempted to clear my mind by writing this memoir.As in a novel, a memoir needs a point of view. I figured I could to talk to the boy I used to be. But, alas, my earlier self wanted to tell his own story in his own way. He was willing to share his harrowing journey. But he wanted, ultimately, for his emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and sexual adventures and woes to inspire the reader. He figured he could achieve that by showing, for openers, the vulnerability of the boys to evil, the mindless cruelty of the teachers, and the idiocy of the routine religious indoctrination. He also insisted on sharing his surreal inner life and dreams. I was happy to use my pen to indulge his wishes. But, in the end, though he kept me busy, nothing he said cleared my mind. When the day finally arrived for me to deliver that speech to a gaggle of earnest and neatly uniformed young students packed into a basement New York auditorium, I was as confused as ever. Happily--or not--my actual speech was recorded. So I transcribed it for you to read exactly what I said. And I thought the book would end right there. But no, an inner voice  was telling me that the work was incomplete, that it needed something more. It needed, and I needed, to find a way to make sense of the life that boy had lived. And, of course, the adult life that I was still living. So I enlisted the help of psychoanalyst Dr. Mark Alter. As you may know, Mark was the shaman in my novel, The President's Therapist (and the secret intervention to treat the alcoholism of George W. Bush). Mark is a brilliant analyst, but frank and forthright to a fault. So much so, in fact, that early readers confided to being shocked that I shared his insights. But everything he said made perfect sense, so I inserted every last word of his advice. And that was that. Or so it briefly seemed.But then another shocking epiphany followed. As in a trance, I set it down in a final chapter. Make of it whatever you will.Finally, for this second edition, I responded to reader requests by culling through my old files and adding an epilogue of photos, most of which were taken by my schoolboy self. They tell quite a story. See what you think . . .John.

About the Author:

John Wareham is confidant, coach, and counsel or to corporate leaders at one end of the social spectrum, and prison inmates at the other. He is also a widely published writer of non-fiction, fiction, and poetry, whose work includes 

• the business best seller Secrets of a Corporate Headhunter, 
• the crossover life-changers How to Break Out of Prison, and Talking Your Way to the Top; 
• the acclaimed novels Chancey On Top, and The President's Therapist, which first revealed the innovative methods of psychoanalyst Dr. Mark Alter; 
• the anthologies, Sonnets for Sinners and How to Survive a Bullet to the Heart,

John has led seminars and symposia in most world cities, is an in-demand keynote speaker, and a member of the international writers group PEN.A sometime yachtsman, he skippered his yacht to win division and class in the Sydney to Hobart ocean race. His spare time interests include photography, movies, and  table tennis. He resides mostly in New York and Wellington, New Zealand.

About this edition

• Publisher: Welcome Rain Publishers
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1566493595
• ISBN 13: 9781566493598
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 292