One of the best books I've ever read about addiction, tying together the author's own story and that of addiction literature, about how much of recovery is telling your story and the privilege associated with having room to tell it. Belongs next to any great alcoholism book you can name.
There are too many addiction / recovery memoirs, Jamison makes this clear her own addiction / recovery memoir. So what makes hers different?
It's not that her addiction was so epic or recovery so inspirational, she stresses that basically all the narratives are the same or they overlap a great deal or that someone else done the same as you and worst. Nobody is special and addiction is boring - it's the same thing over and over. And that fact gives the addict a constant, structure.
What's different is that she brings a lot of other voices: famous writers like Carver, Rhys, Berryman and less famous ones like George Cain and semi famous like Charles Johnson and Malcolm Lowry. These artists are combined with regular people Jamison meets in AA meetings and other recovery stories. Stephen King is also highlighted.
I like the literary review the best.
There is also …
There are too many addiction / recovery memoirs, Jamison makes this clear her own addiction / recovery memoir. So what makes hers different?
It's not that her addiction was so epic or recovery so inspirational, she stresses that basically all the narratives are the same or they overlap a great deal or that someone else done the same as you and worst. Nobody is special and addiction is boring - it's the same thing over and over. And that fact gives the addict a constant, structure.
What's different is that she brings a lot of other voices: famous writers like Carver, Rhys, Berryman and less famous ones like George Cain and semi famous like Charles Johnson and Malcolm Lowry. These artists are combined with regular people Jamison meets in AA meetings and other recovery stories. Stephen King is also highlighted.
I like the literary review the best.
There is also the story of her relationship with two long term boyfriends to move the narrative along.
One the things Jamison makes clear is not only that stories like hers common, but recovery is not a panacea for all problems. It's almost worse, because previously one could blame everything on the addiction when that's removed, there are still a lot of issues.
I also found interesting her discussion the cultural drivers towards addiction. Capitalism sells transformation through consumption. Modernism tells us to make it new, the need to be special - getting wasted is one way to find something new. Exceptionalism tells us we are special, we are privileged. Addicts crave personal accolades / acknowledgement. That's something our everyone gets a trophy society is very good at doing.
Her spotlights on George Cain, Seneca house, and Raymond Carver's grave were all very well written and enjoyable. The book got off to a bit of slow start, it could have been cut, 450 pages is a little long for a memoir although this is also literary criticism and some discussion of public policy.
Predictably our public policy is terrible. So we live a society that is ripe for addiction and one that is terrible for treating this. I think this can extend to "addiction" beyond illegal drugs and alcohol, which like the literary review is a wider service this book provides.
