Unstable by Carol Denise Mitchell is a non-fiction memoir in which the author recounts a period of time when she found herself unable to cope with the realities of what her life had become. By all accounts from the outside, Mitchell looked like a woman with a promising future. She was a beauty pageant runner-up with a platform of wanting to eradicate homelessness, a published author, was successful in reinvigorating failing businesses and managing properties by profession, and lived the lifestyle that comes with the ability to spend $12k on a Lake Tahoe wedding suite. As the saying goes though, the higher you fly, the harder you fall, and Mitchell fell hard. Single and having everything she'd built taken from her, Mitchell drifts between properties run by slumlords and homelessness across state lines, a string of losses, two more failed marriages to one husband who is a drug addict, the other an alcoholic, and a third runaway groom. The culmination of all this hardship leads to her attempted suicide.

The first thing I need to point out about the memoir Unstable before we get to any other aspect is that author Carol Denise Mitchell is, without question, courageous. She has put the good, the bad, and the unthinkable into a book and released it into the world. For most, this would be terrifying but Mitchell does it boldly so that others can understand how a woman in the third chapter of life ends up on the streets. From a literary standpoint, the writing itself can come across as unpolished, and sometimes the prose is bungled. Still, the picture she paints comes from a profoundly honest and heartfelt place and this does carry over to the reader. The ending is ambiguous but leans toward the hopeful as the sixty-six-year-old author wraps the memoir up rapidly by saying she has found a pest-free place to live in Arizona and believes she is on a path to live out the rest of her days with a roof over her head. I can see this book being well received by readers who appreciate gritty, urban non-fiction, but more so, I imagine Unstable will act as a legacy memoir for generations of Mitchell's descendants. Recommended.

Homelessness is a serious issue that plagues an ever-increasing number of people all over the world due to a growing rise in the cost of rental accommodation and the lack of support from local governments. Through Unstable, award-winning author Carol Denise Mitchell shares her tragic life story where she went from being an accomplished published author with a seemingly perfect life to becoming a pariah amongst friends and family, forcing her to the brink of taking her own life as she battled homelessness. After her first husband left her for another woman, Carol's life turned upside down when she had to start over anew. Two failed marriages later, the person with over thirty years of experience as a writer found herself forced to live on the streets of Glendale, Arizona, to Oakland, California, and back again.

Unstable is the harrowing true story of a woman's struggles to keep her sanity and stability amidst life's cruel hardships that left her with little room for comfort or happiness. In this book, Carol Denise Mitchell gives an unflinching account of her life on the streets, providing some sharp criticism of homeless shelters that not only fail to give solace to people in need but directly work toward profiting off their tragic situations. Carol has a way with words, and her writing perfectly conveys the horrible sense of helplessness and despair one might feel when forced to live without a roof over their head. As people become busier than ever, we mustn't forget our duty to care for our loved ones and elderly family members in their time of need. Highly recommended.