Book Review: Walk Like You Have Somewhere to Go

Title: Walk Like You Have Somewhere to Go
Author: Lucille O'Neal and Allison Samuels
Publisher:  Thomas Nelson
Published: March 30, 2010
ISBN: 159555307X

Summary: "Lucille O’Neal shares her public battles and personal struggles as a young, single mother of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.
Lucille O’Neal would one day have it all, but not before fighting the public battles and personal demons that would threaten to shatter the very foundation of her life while taking their devastating toll along the way.

Over the past 16 years, Lucille O’Neal has become one of the best-known mothers of a celebrity athlete. But behind the scenes, the mother of four has her own story, at once heartbreakingly familiar in its pain and yet wonderfully inspirational in its outcome.

In this memoir, O’Neal candidly describes the pain of being an outcast and the stigma of becoming an unwed, teenage mother. Most interestingly, she candidly shares another side of fame and fortune—a side rarely revealed or admitted in public: her unexpected feelings of anger and resentment towards her son’s blinding success."

This is one of the first autobiographies I have read {maybe I read one as a child but I don't remember} and was really interesting.

O'Neal had her famous son when she was just 17.  She had already endured a lot and had a hard life.  Unfortunately her life doesn't get any easier.  This is the story of her life and how she overcame the obstacles and managed to get to a better place {mentally and spiritually}.

I love the true to life way this book is written and the feeling with which she writes.  But i don't like the attitude it seems she has about her life.  It is almost like she became an alcoholic because of life not because of choices she made.  There are plenty of people who had horrible upbringings and they manage to deal with it and not resort to alcoholism.  I am glad that she has managed to over come it and is peace with her life and her sons' success.

I think this is a good book for people who like autobiographies or sports junkies who wonder how these athletes managed to make it big.

*I received a review copy of this book from Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review of the book*