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Only Mortals Can Be Heroes: A True Story about Drug Addiction

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David J. Weaver's brutally honest chronicle of his son's horrific descent into heroin addiction is an invaluable literary work, for the protagonist, Adam, and his foray into Dantesque levels of sheer hopelessness ultimately provides readers with a poignant narrative of redemption and salvation, in which the healing properties of love enable hope to survive, to nurture, and, ultimately, to herald a resounding message of solidarity and inspiration in one father's sojourn into the horrors of his son's heroin addiction and his family's refusal to relinquish their fight to save him.

Accordingly, Weaver's narrative could not be more timely nor topical, as drug addiction, particularly the usage of heroin among teenagers from the ages of fourteen to twenty-one is reaching epidemic proportions in contemporary U.S. culture, and, as all addictions, heroin crosses gender, sexual, economic, racial, class, and regional demarcations. Accordingly, studies ivestigating the trauma predicating addicts' lives indicate self-defeating cycles of despair, recklessness, alienation from others, and impending states of hopeleness. Similarly, studies note the prevailing, incremental levels of anxiety and stress the family of a heroin addict experience as they witness, and suffer alongside, their child, caught in the throes of a bio-chemical stranglehold from which only a small percentage ever survive.

Thus, David J. Weaver's narrative bravely invites readers the rare opportunity to explore the tortured mindset of a beloved young man, gripped in the throes of addiction and the father and family who love him; they refuse to relinquish Adam to this horrific disease without a heroic fight.

To be sure, a plethora of complications surrounding heroin addiction dissuade singular therapies or simple solutions. David J. Weaver readily admits that he does not--nor wishes to--lay claim to a sole theraputic methodology for combatting drug addiction; however, the searing reality Weaver conveys to readers in his narrative details a surreal world, a subculture from which many parents generally avert their eyes as they think, or hope, "Not my child." Yet, a textual activist, Weaver refuses to allow readers to avoid this crucial topic, for the nation's children are our children--our link to the future, our connection to the past.

Through Adam, the narrative's protagonist and narrator, Weaver chronicles his son's spiral into addiction and divulges a myriad of devastation thus wreaked upon the entire family. In doing so, Weaver firmly takes readers by the hand--if not by the collar--and escorts them into the spiralling discomfiture of Alice's rabbit hole, where nothing makes sense anymore.

For any readers experiencing the angst of their own child's heroin addiction, Weaver's chronicle provides a great deal of comfort; the occasional levity to lighten the load provides an exquisite balance of reality and the dark humor at times predicating it. Weaver's poignant, searing recollections, relayed through Adam, enable any readers who also combat addiction that they are not alone in their struggle--that there is hope. As the mother of a heroin addict, I found solace in this narrative's profoundly honest recollecion of the realities and dynamics involved between family and child ensnared in addiction. Silimarly, my son recognized much of himself in Weaver's dynamic characterization of Adam, the protagonist and narrator of the work, and his ongoing struggle to find the serenity of self-acceptance, acountability, and love.

Wisely, Weaver's narrative recognizes the plethora of cultural stigmas regarding drug addiction that silences parents and shames their addicted children; this self-destructive cycle, Weaver's work llustrates, creates a debilitating stranglehold upon the entire family in society's relentless refusal to offer appropriate intervention or support.

Perhaps more important, Weaver's narrative not only speaks to parents, but also to so many young women and men in the U.S. Weaver's revealing and forthright descriptions of the plots's unfolding events may alert parents to this cannabilistic culture threatening to abduct our children, but our nation's young men and women are not surprised---nor taken aback---by a familiarity with the popularity of drug usage, from heroin, crystal meth, to crack cocaine, as the majority of young people have had some acquaintance with these drugs. My university students tell me that, even if the majority of them have never experimented with these drugs, the majority of them have encountered peers using them in their proximity on more than one occasion. When asked if they have discussed this with their parents, the overwhelming, resounding response is "No!" Their answer shocks me and would, I suspect, equally surprise their parents. So how, then, do we initiate this crucial dialogue?

Thus, I began utilizing _Only Mortals Can Be Heroes_ in my freshmen and sophomore classes, with great success, for Adam's powerful story grabs the reader's attention and encourages dialogue among the students. Weaver's narrative encourages lively discussion among my students, and, certainly, student evaluations rank it as one of the best works of literature they have read to date in a university classroom.

Although I have been delighted with student reactions to _Only Mortals Can Be Heroes_, I was even more gratified by the startlingly regularity with which students would lend their book to their parents to read after our class had completed its discussion of the work. It is a testament to David J. Weaver that his narrative incites lively, animated, and passionate discussions with university students and their peers in the classroom; more important, these students extend the dialogue past the boundaries of their classrooms to meet in their family's living rooms, speaking with their parents about the profound issues and heart-breaking events surrounding the oft-stigmatized--and, thus, often silenced--subject of heroin addiction. I applaud David J. Weaver for writing a compelling narrative that challenges students to consider the adverse circumstances in which they may find themselves or others and looking for the means with which to alter these circumstances or conditions for positive, productive change. Thus, through the narrative, like protagonist Adam and author Weaver, readers--- parents and students alike---also come to recognition and awareness; Adam's story of suffering and salvation encourages readers to empower themselves and others. Indeed, David J. Weaver's _Only Mortals Can Be Heroes_ exemplifies this textual activism and calls for his readers to enact the same. For all its pathos, the narrative's overwhelming message of the redemptive power of love---love for one's self, family, and neighbor---offers us all redemption and, yes, hope.

Dr. Michele L. Mock, Asst. Professor of English

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

As a mother of five children, this book is quite an eye-opener. Its amazing how someone can become an addict. Adam learned how to be so clever. Reading this book made me realize how I need to be one step ahead of my children. Always looking for the warning signs. This is a book that I plan to make my children read. Hopefully reading this book will make my children understand how terrible drug abuse and addiction are. All schools should have this book and should use it in their health classes to show our young teenagers what could happen to them. How horrible it is that Mr. Weaver had to go through this, but if it helps at least one person then its worth it. I would reccommend that every parent read this book.

This book is a "must read" for anyone who has been involved in any way with addicts. It is an amazing true story of love and faith. I was so moved that the author and his son would open the doors of their lives for all to experience, and for all to learn. Thank you!

This is a definite must read for all parents. Once you start the journey with Adam, you cannot stop. I only hope this story has a "happily ever after" ending.

Marcy Waltos

This book is full of goodies from street smarts to theology. Yet, it is fast-paced and hard to put down. It's easy to identify with Adam because he is us or someone we know. Get to know him yourself; you'll be glad you did!

How often do we make a promise to do better only to slip and fall ? Whether the promise is made to family or God, it is love that helps us to begin again. This is the story of Adam and his family's journey through and beyond addiction. It is a story for any family that is dealing with some form of addiction.

No one can walk away from this book untouched. I loved it, and so did my mother-- who hasn't read a book cover-to-cover in at least twenty years. The story is heart-warming, raw, and inspiring, and I would recommend it to anyone who knows a drug addict.

Realistic view of what some parents are going through today. Gives a parent hope that their child MAY come out of the drug afflicted world and come back to them. Difficult but hopeful facts that parents are enduring everywhere.

The content in this book is far from what you learn in grade school health class. They teach you the effects of drugs on your body, but Adam's story fills you in on the effects on himself, as well as everyone around him. Growing up in Lewistown, I am familiar with the drug problems. Because I have only known stories of people with drug addictions, Adam's story of his addiction is my first first-hand experience that I have read or heard about. It was an eye-opening experience, and is shocking that this problem occurs day after day. David Weaver did an excellent job putting his son's life on paper, and thanks to my professor for requiring this book for class, this book is now a keeper!!

This is a powerful story written in a powerful way. I've been fortunate enough to have never experimented with drugs. I have, however, always stuggled to understand how and why people could mess with drugs. The brutal honesty portrayed in this story helps me to be empathetic toward people who honestly stuggle with addiction of any sort. It's easier said than done to "just quit." The pain, the deception, the physical addiction, the lies, the guilt, and the justification are all a part of an addict's life. The way Adam's story is told helps us get into the mind of an addict and we understand that they, too, are humans worthy of their family's love and forgiveness. I don't care who you are.