4-STAR REVIEW: LIFE AND HOW TO LIVE IT by Chaz Holesworth

The Description

Life and How to Live It: Book 1
Publication Date: March 1, 2025

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.

The Review

How does a child thrive in a chaotic environment lacking stability and adequate resources? If you are Chaz Holesworth, music and friendships offer a needed outlet.

Holesworth offers hope and inspiration to others stuck in undesirable circumstances, urging them to rise up and succeed in a multi-volume memoir. Life and How to Live It, Vol. I details his life experiences up to age 17, while Vol. 2 highlights a coming-of-age story full of brokenness.

Rather than a strict chronological order of events, the memoir unfolds in chapters that might be as short as a half page or as long as four pages. Readers might consider the chapters as vignettes that, when combined, create a stark depiction of the author’s life.

With a father addicted to heroin and a mother embracing a fundamentalist type of born-again Christianity, the author’s childhood can be traced through the music that shaped a life of trauma. While some events are sad and depressing, Holesworth uses dark humor to poke fun at himself amid brutal honesty.

The second installment finds him kicked out of school and suffering through dark moments of weakness. The light, though, still flickers through people who stayed by his side.

Life and How to Live It (Vols. 1-2) sheds light on a man’s struggle to find his path in life through silencing voices from the past. Buy Links

About The Author Chaz Holesworth, a proud Philadelphia native, has always been shaped by the city’s grit, resilience, and undeniable spirit. Born and raised amidst the vibrant yet challenging realities of urban life, Chaz brings a unique perspective to his writing—one that is deeply authentic and profoundly moving.

Now living in the suburbs of Philadelphia with his loving wife and their cherished dog, Chaz continues to draw inspiration from the world around him. A passionate advocate for social justice, he is deeply committed to championing the rights of workers and animals, striving to make a difference in the causes closest to his heart.

In addition to his writing, Chaz enjoys immersing himself in live music, exploring the world through travel, and savoring a well-crafted beer. These joys fuel his creativity and reflect his zest for life, even in the face of adversity.

Life and How to Live It is Chaz’s literary debut—a deeply personal memoir that invites readers into his world and offers a message of hope, perseverance, and triumph. With his gift for storytelling and a voice that resonates with raw emotion, Chaz is poised to inspire and connect with readers everywhere.