Teachings of a Shaman

by Corey Stultz

[Quirky Cat]

3 1/2 Stars

I won a copy of Teachings of a Shaman through the Goodreads Giveaways program. There’s no requirement for me to leave a review, but I am choosing to do so.

Teachings of a Shaman is one of seven books that Corey Stultz wrote while in prison. Yes, you read that right. He used his real life experiences as an influence for this novel, and likely the others as well. I have to respect somebody that used books as a way of helping them get their life back in order.
So far Teaching of a Shaman is the only book of his that has been published, but the other six should be coming along shortly. If you want to know more about his past and working process, I would check out his Goodreads bio or website.



Warnings first: The main character in this novel struggled very seriously with drug addiction. This comes with many other uncomfortable facts of life from that addiction. Many of his friends are dead from overdosing, and he knows some rough dealers that abuse situations.
Teachings of a Shaman is an emotional tale of a young man trying to come clean. Like many, he makes plenty of mistakes along the way, and sometimes those mistakes cost him. I didn’t know the information about Corey Stultz or his history until I finished the book, but now I understand where a lot of his influences came from.
Dwayne is one of those characters where you can genuinely tell he cares and is trying, he just keeps making mistakes. Every time he made a mistake I felt myself cringing, because being on the outside I could clearly see what path it was going to take him down. Obviously, Dwayne didn’t have the same luxury, and thus had to learn from his mistakes. It’s painful to watch at times, but that just means that Stultz did a good job making me care about the character.
I’ll admit that sometimes I had trouble focusing on this book, especially towards the end. There were times where it strayed out of the realistic journey we had been on to something more surreal, and that was jarring enough to break the immersion for me. Otherwise I did enjoy this read, even if it was (understandably) quite heavy at times.
I’ll admit that I’m exceptionally curious to see what the rest of the books Corey Stultz has written look like. I’ll be keeping an eye on him, if nothing else than to sate my curiosity.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks