I've read Painkiller by Barry Meier, American Overdose by Chris McGreal and Dreamland by Sam Quinones and they were all fascinating, but they left me with a lack of understanding of how it actually feels to be addicted to opioids. I'm looking I guess for like a survivors testimony or maybe an addiction specialist who can explain the mechanisms behind addiction and then what drives the behaviour of addicts as described in the aforementioned books. I guess I want a more personal account if that makes sense?
Hope somebody can make sense of this and help with a rec 😅
by ValenceKillerr
10 Comments
It’s fiction, but Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver is a pretty authentic and gritty narrative of addiction.
Lanre Fehintola, *Charlie Says Don’t Get High On Your Own Supply*. Not an easy book to find, it ought to have been reprinted. Thoroughly unflattering self portrait.
I was an addict for about 15 years. I think the best book I’ve read that definitely gave me the bubble guts(made me want to get high again) was Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis it’s his memoir. Very good book about getting clean and the struggle to do so! I think any memoir written by an addict should do the job!
The memoir Dry by Augusten Burroughs goes deep. He’s a fantastic writer and this is one of my favourites.
Gabor Mate’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. He spent decades working with mostly homeless people addicted to drugs and alcohol and recounts many of their stories in this book, as well as gives his theories on what causes addiction.
The druggiest books Ive read are crank by ellen hopkins and house of leaves by mark z danielewski (the footnotes sometimes contain what i like to call abstract writing, particularly when he’s writing about a trip). They don’t get very technical but the imagery is nuts.
A more down to earth description happens n0s4a2 by joe hill, involving both the main character and a librarian, and the main character does come off the drugs, but leaves her family because she feels she doesn’t deserve them or they’ll be better off without her. She’s a very interesting character and ends up a hero, but it was a long and winding road to get there. That one doesn’t mention drugs much until like halfway through, but I just really love it and I do think it’s relevant. The relevance is just after getting to know her as a feisty little kid
Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson is great.
The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx
Anything by William Burroughs.
The urge our history of addiction by Carl Fisher.
There is also an interesting chapter on it in the book Zoobiquity by Bowers