"Time and again I tell myself / I'll stay clean tonight" (A Million Little Pieces)

I'm reading James Frey's non-fiction account of the experience of going to an addiction treatment centre at the age of 23, suffering a monstrous addiction to alcohol and crack.

It's written brilliantly, has a general feeling of truth and confession, is funny, sad and scary.

There's something very thrilling, in a wholly unpleasant way, about reading this sad story. It has scared the wits out of me, despite the fact that I am neither an alcoholic nor a crack addict. Perhaps it is Frey's inner voice which seems logical, even sensible when he talks about the 12 steps method of curing addiction, but I have a strong sense of sympathy reading the story.

It's not easy reading. Episodes including a dual root-canal operation - without any painkillers or anaesthetic - and meetings with his parents, are nauseating and heartbreaking in turn. I can't read it for too long, but that's because it's so good.

1/1

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July 1, 2004 | Filed Under General 

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