This book was a bit like a mash-up of "A Little Life" meets "The Nightingale." Which is to say: it was a well-written and riveting look at AIDS, addiction and family in a story that spanned four decades in NYC - and it had a trainwreck quality to it. I listened to the audiobook, and it's not hard to imagine reading it by squinting through my fingers in an attempt to half-see everything, including the graphic accounts of drug use. I'd score "A Little Life" ahead of this because it really is a love story of sorts, whereas this has more of a sensational voyeuristic quality to it. Still: a good read with an acute sense of time and place.

Oh - and this book skips around a lot, so if you're attached to a linear timeline, you might get frustrated. I liked the skipping, but I know it's not everyone's jam.