This book as a memoir was unflinchingly honest in its portrayal of drug addiction and how it affects everyone connected to the addict. The seemingly never ending cycle of hope, anxiety, disappointment, guilt, fear, despair and back to hope when the relapsed addict
…more eventually runs out of other options and once again reaches out for help. For those who’ve been there, it’s all too real.
Unfortunately, it’s as wearying to read about as it sounds. Which is why, as a novel, I think it fails. No one is transformed, no one grows, nothing is learned. We end up at the same place we started in except maybe we’re a little more ground down from the struggle. I’m not saying that I have to have a happy ending or even a nicely packaged resolution. I really don’t. However, from a novel that addresses something as serious as this subject, I expect a little more. I want some insight, some transformation, some growth, something for my effort. I just don’t think this delivered the deeper qualities that a novel should. (less)
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