In "Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails: A Memoir," Anthony Swofford once again uses his own troubled life as the central plot for his new book. The book is best summarized as a post-tour-of-duty memoir that describes in painful detail the difficulty of adjustment to civilian life after fighting a war coupled with a young man's attempt to make sense of his challenging childhood.

Swofford, the author of the 2003 bestseller "Jarhead," which he based on his time in the Marine Corps where he fought in "Desert Storm," has some similarities to his latest work. But the reviews that have rolled in since the book was released earlier this month is that it is a difficult read. "Reading Swofford's overly detailed explanations to criticism leveled against him by his father - in the form of scathing letters - begins to wear, leaving the reader wondering if such specificity might be better suited for a therapist's couch," writes Kim Curtis of the Associated Press.

Swofford has not defaulted on his gifts as a writer, however. Jacob E. Osterhout writes in his review of the book in the Daily News, "That's not to say that "Hotels, Hospitals and Jails" isn't well-written. Swofford's prose flows like the salmon of Capistrani. But to what end? Why do we care about an unhappy middle-aged writer with too much money, too many female fans and too many drugs?"

While the book in its chronicling of Swofford's addictions with alcohol, drugs and sex has an overall sad tone, it does have a redemptive ending. In the end, Swofford finds the answers on life and survival that have evaded him for so long when he falls in love, gets married and becomes a father.

On finding the answers, he writes, "I am a husband and I am a father. This is my life now and this is how I live."