Book Details:
Book Title: Life and How to Live It: Begin the Begin by Chaz Holesworth
Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 296 pages
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Chaz Holesworth
Release date: May 2024
Content Rating: PG-13 + M: My book involves trauma, mental health issues and suicidal thoughts and cursing
Book Title: Life and How to Live It: Begin the Begin by Chaz Holesworth
Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 296 pages
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Chaz Holesworth
Release date: May 2024
Content Rating: PG-13 + M: My book involves trauma, mental health issues and suicidal thoughts and cursing
Book Description:
Philadelphia in the 1980s was no place for the soft-hearted. For Chaz Holesworth, childhood meant dodging gangs, addiction, and silence after slammed doors. His father’s world ran on heroin, his mother’s on holy fear.
Caught between two extremes, sin and salvation, Chaz learned early on how to disappear: keep your head down, don’t ask questions, and pray someone notices you anyway.
But everything changed the day he discovered music. In R.E.M., Tori Amos, and The Replacements, he hears something no sermon ever offered: truth, raw and imperfect. As his home life spiraled and his faith fractured, those lyrics became lifelines, every note pulling him closer to the one thing he never had: his own identity.
What happens when the noise outside becomes louder than the voice inside?
Or when loyalty to broken people starts to break you too?
Unflinching and darkly funny, Life and How to Live It: Volume One is more than a coming-of-age memoir: It’s a portrait of grit, grief, poverty, and the fragile beauty of hope born from chaos. Chaz Holesworth’s story captures the pulse of Philadelphia’s rough-edged streets and the soundtrack that kept him alive as he battled lost faith, family dysfunction, and his father’s addiction.
For anyone who’s ever grown up in the wreckage of someone else’s choices, Chaz’s story is proof that you can still build something beautiful from the debris.
Philadelphia in the 1980s was no place for the soft-hearted. For Chaz Holesworth, childhood meant dodging gangs, addiction, and silence after slammed doors. His father’s world ran on heroin, his mother’s on holy fear.
Caught between two extremes, sin and salvation, Chaz learned early on how to disappear: keep your head down, don’t ask questions, and pray someone notices you anyway.
But everything changed the day he discovered music. In R.E.M., Tori Amos, and The Replacements, he hears something no sermon ever offered: truth, raw and imperfect. As his home life spiraled and his faith fractured, those lyrics became lifelines, every note pulling him closer to the one thing he never had: his own identity.
What happens when the noise outside becomes louder than the voice inside?
Or when loyalty to broken people starts to break you too?
Unflinching and darkly funny, Life and How to Live It: Volume One is more than a coming-of-age memoir: It’s a portrait of grit, grief, poverty, and the fragile beauty of hope born from chaos. Chaz Holesworth’s story captures the pulse of Philadelphia’s rough-edged streets and the soundtrack that kept him alive as he battled lost faith, family dysfunction, and his father’s addiction.
For anyone who’s ever grown up in the wreckage of someone else’s choices, Chaz’s story is proof that you can still build something beautiful from the debris.
Book Details:
Book Title: Life and How to Live it: Near Wild Heaven by Chaz Holesworth
Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 219 pages
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Chaz Holesworth
Release date: January 2026
Formats Available for Review: print (print - softback / USA), ebook (GIFTED KINDLE, EPUB, PDF)
Tour dates: April 20 to May 8, 2026
Content Rating: PG-13 + M: My book has traumatic experiences with suicidal thoughts and cursing in it.
Book Title: Life and How to Live it: Near Wild Heaven by Chaz Holesworth
Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 219 pages
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Chaz Holesworth
Release date: January 2026
Formats Available for Review: print (print - softback / USA), ebook (GIFTED KINDLE, EPUB, PDF)
Tour dates: April 20 to May 8, 2026
Content Rating: PG-13 + M: My book has traumatic experiences with suicidal thoughts and cursing in it.
Book Description:
In this haunting and deeply human continuation of his memoir, Chaz Holesworth leaves the wreckage of his Philadelphia childhood behind only to face a new kind of war: unraveling the aftermath of a world where faith meant fear, and obedience meant survival.
As a teenager, he’s told that emotions are weakness and questions are sin. But when first love cracks open the cage, it ignites a longing that no sermon can silence.
Amid passion, heartbreak, and the lingering echoes of trauma, Chaz is thrust into freefall. Movement becomes his only escape. Music becomes his only prayer. And with every mile, every lyric, he begins piecing together a voice he thought was lost forever.
For years, he followed every rule. Years later, heartbreak taught him what obedience never could: how to feel alive.
A raw, lyrical journey through faith, fear, and first love, Life and How to Live It: Volume 2 is a powerful coming-of-age memoir about reclaiming identity, breaking indoctrination, and finding truth in the echoes of your own voice. With unfettered honesty and poetic insight, Chaz Holesworth explores the daunting process of unlearning shame, questioning belief, and learning to live authentically after years of enforced silence. A heart-rending tale of resilience and a time capsule for pop culture in the mid-90s, this memoir is a reminder that the path to freedom begins when we stop simply surviving and start choosing to live.
In this haunting and deeply human continuation of his memoir, Chaz Holesworth leaves the wreckage of his Philadelphia childhood behind only to face a new kind of war: unraveling the aftermath of a world where faith meant fear, and obedience meant survival.
As a teenager, he’s told that emotions are weakness and questions are sin. But when first love cracks open the cage, it ignites a longing that no sermon can silence.
Amid passion, heartbreak, and the lingering echoes of trauma, Chaz is thrust into freefall. Movement becomes his only escape. Music becomes his only prayer. And with every mile, every lyric, he begins piecing together a voice he thought was lost forever.
For years, he followed every rule. Years later, heartbreak taught him what obedience never could: how to feel alive.
A raw, lyrical journey through faith, fear, and first love, Life and How to Live It: Volume 2 is a powerful coming-of-age memoir about reclaiming identity, breaking indoctrination, and finding truth in the echoes of your own voice. With unfettered honesty and poetic insight, Chaz Holesworth explores the daunting process of unlearning shame, questioning belief, and learning to live authentically after years of enforced silence. A heart-rending tale of resilience and a time capsule for pop culture in the mid-90s, this memoir is a reminder that the path to freedom begins when we stop simply surviving and start choosing to live.
My Review
I had the pleasure in reading Chaz Holesworth's Life and How to Live It, Vol. 1: Begin the Begin. I was happy to get my hands on their Life and How to Live it, Vol. 2: Near Wild Heaven. As a kid that grew up during the 1980s and 1990s, I definitely felt a connection with Chaz. It was like going back in time and reliving my own personal struggles and challenges. I liked how he used music as an outlet. I loved how he was able discover himself and finding his own way in life. The book covers a lot that many other readers would be able to find themselves in and connect with the author. It was intriguing to see how he found his own path of truth, hope, perseverance, redemption, and self discovery. I am inspired by how he overcame the heartbreak and struggles from his upbringing.
I am going to give Life and How to Live it, Vol. 2: Near Wild Heaven a very well deserved five plus stars. I highly recommend it for readers who have experienced challenges in their lives and looking for someone else's experiences. I would love to read more from Chaz Holesworth in the future. To me, this one should not be missed.
I received a paperback copy of Chaz Holesworth's Life and How to Live it, Vol. 2: Near Wild Heaven from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.
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