Farlo Ben Truman is an American author who writes about human connection. After certain high-stress events in his life, he was prescribed anti-anxiety medications--benzos--as are millions of people around the world. Nobody told him it was intended for short-term use only. His central nervous system crashed and he ended up in rehab for detoxification.
All the Ways You Can Face the Sky is a story inspired by the people he met who, like him, were battling with themselves, not just chemical addiction. In Farlo Ben Truman's own words, "One of the first things they tell you in rehab is that 90 percent of the addicts--especially young people--are destined to fail and relapse."
Similar to an actor developing a persona, Truman is a character writer, as opposed to a plot writer. His characters are regular people who are thrown into extraordinary circumstances due to their addictions. The story creates itself around the complex threads that tie everything together.
All the Ways You Can Face the Sky is about forgiveness of yourself and other people. Truman, like the characters in his novel and millions of people around the world, suffers from loss and grief--whether it's the breakdown of a marriage, the passing of a loved one, or simply feeling alone. He was disheartened by the high percentage of relapse, especially among young adults, because they either don't have the proper support system, or know how to utilize it. Everyone can be scared about starting over again and therefore fall back into the darkness they already know. This complex reality is just beginning to be addressed in the United States.
Farlo Ben Truman reminds us that we're all just looking for home.
-Miles Rockefeller is a troubled young man--raised in multiple foster homes--with no patience for the folly of other people, surviving from one moment to the next by numbing himself to oblivion. But when he meets another broken in-patient named Sawyer, his life is permanently altered by a senseless crime that shatters not just their own lives, and their unknowing victim, but everyone else in their path.
All the Ways You Can Face the Sky is a Bildungsroman novel, a coming-of-age story about grief, forgiveness, and human connection, which will resonate long after you turn the last page.
