Once upon a time, I was a young, hopeful student at UCLA, working in one of the student stores to keep some money in my pockets. It was in this store that I struck up a relationship with one S. Latria, a relationship that had and continues to, stretch well into the years since we’ve both left the campus.
Several years ago, I had the pleasure of speaking over the telephone to S. Latria, who was conducting field research for what eventually became her debut work Toxicology: Transform Your Unhealthy Relationships by Becoming Your Own Best Friend and provide some of my own insight to my experiences with my relationships with other women, which, outside of my own family (and even still) were a bit lacking at the time.
The book has been released and as soon as I was able to, I purchased a physical copy (e-book just wouldn’t do) of the book and got down to reading it in what free time I currently have in my life. I’m not going to lie and say this review isn’t slightly biased, but looking at this as objectively as I possibly could, I recommend this book to those of you who are into self-help and improving the relationships in your life.
Speaking from a purely technical point of view, the way the books is structured makes it easy to absorb the information and advice that is being presented. The author starts off by relaying a story of her own toxicity and gives us the Toxic R.U.L.E, then she goes into the various toxic types (and there are quite a few), and finally ends it with another story in which she handled herself with more grace than she did in her first story. Interspersed in the explanations of the toxic types are various stories of women engaged in or dealing with people displaying the toxic personality types to help hammer home exactly how those types manifest in your life.
Content wise, I found myself seeing myself in many of the toxic types and I thought back to many of the friendships that I have and how I displayed toxic behavior, from enabling other people’s bullshit, to telling little white lies, to being both an optimist and a pessimist (it’s possible to be both, trust me). I have been a love enthusiast with men. I’ve joined a pack online. Of course, my ultimate takeway from the book wasn’t that I’m a terrible person, no, but that I am a person who is in a constant state of improvement, and while I have displayed these traits in the past, and may even do so currently, I don’t have to hold on to that past behavior or down myself if I’m anything less than perfect today.
I implore you, to purchase this book, a hard copy if need be. It is available on Amazon and I’m not receiving anything for reviewing this except the pleasure of spreading the word about an excellent piece of work.
I’m in tears. And speechless. But sincerely thankful for such an in-depth review.
You’re very welcome. It was a pleasure.
I will check it out.