Pursuit Of Happyness

This week I read The Pursuit Of Happyness by Chris Gardner. The book begins with Chris being a young boy growing up fatherless in the hood. I guess he wasn't really fatherless but his abusive stepfather Freddie wasn't the most fatherly figure. In fact Freddie found it necessary to remind Chris daily that he wasn't his father. After he left home he went into the Army in hopes of going overseas. Unfortunately that wasn't Gods plan so he was stationed in the states as a medic. Out of the Army Chris tried to take a career as a doctor and soon he was better than most new doctors . It was about this time that he was married to his girlfriend Jackie and she came to live with him in San Francisco were he was working. When he realized he wouldn't be able to make much money without a going to medical school he quit his job not wanted to wait years to become Dr. Chris Gardner.

Chris and Jackie fought often but always made up in the end. All of a sudden Jackie became pregnant with a boy and Chris was thrust into fatherhood. On one occasion, before the baby was born, Jackie abruptly demanded to know how Chris was going to be a father if he had never had one. This confrontation caused Chris to really think about him as a father. Obviously there was quite a few things he didn't know about being a father but he knew one thing, he would always be a presence in his sons life.

At one point Jackie and Chris fought and Jackie walked off but Chris wasn't finished so he grabbed her arm and they struggled for a while until he eventually let go sending Jackie flying into a thorn bush. The next day he was charged with beating his wife and was sent to court. It ended up he wasn’t arrested for “beating”her but for the loads of parking tickets he had left unpaid. The sentence was ten days. Returning home he finds the house locked and empty with their car no where in sight. Jackie had left him, took his son, and everything he owned.

After that he struggled on the brink of homelessness until eventually Jackie came to give him their son and the homelessness began. About this time he gets a job as a stock broker and long story short he gets him and his son off the street. In my opinion this book was incredible especially considering it is a true story and not fiction. One reason for this is the constant action. For example when everything was finally looking up his wife and son disappeared. I also like it cause it has great writing and there is never a dull moment. I rate this book five stars and I strongly suggest you read this book.