Apology to the Young Addict
A Memoir
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Husband, addict, father, skeptic. Now sixty—with years of sobriety under his belt—the celebrated author of The Los Angeles Diaries and This River returns with his most moving work yet.
Opening with the tragic tale of an elderly couple consumed by opioid addiction and moving through the horrors of a Las Vegas massacre to the loss of a beloved sponsor, these essays draw on Brown’s personal journey to illustrate how an individual life, in all its messiness and charm, can offer a blueprint for healing. From writing about finding a new path in life while raising three sons, to making peace with the family whose ghosts have haunted him, and helping the next generation of addicts overcome their disease, this haunting and hopeful book is a reinvention of the recovery story and a lasting testimony from the master of the modern memoir.
“The third panel in Brown’s masterwork triptych on addiction from youth to sixty, Apology to the Young Addict also accomplishes at last a staggeringly rare mercy—on the ghosts of memory, the ravages of disease, the brutal hypocrisies of religion, and finally—most shockingly—on himself.” —Gina Frangello, author of Every Kind of Wanting and A Life in Men
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novelist Brown (The Los Angeles Diaries) depicts his addiction and subsequent long-term sobriety in this riveting memoir. Brown and his wife, Freddie, were retired and living in sleepy Lake Arrowhead, Calif., before developing opiate addictions that stemmed from prescription painkillers. Within three years, they transformed from cheerful retirees into desperate addicts who were evicted from their home. Subsequent recollections depict the anger and rage Brown felt about the emotional scars of his upbringing and addiction. To diffuse those feelings, he exercises ("Physical exertion takes me out of myself"); acts as a sponsor to others in recovery; lectures at colleges, prisons, and recovery groups; and reclaims Christianity after years of atheism. In a vivid flashback (and the inspiration for its title), Brown and a fellow heroin user are interrupted while shooting up by the man's young son who later becomes a user. Brown, now clean for over a decade, remains determined to help his fellow addicts though he expresses frustration and disgust with them as they slip and slide. Readers will be drawn in by Brown's gritty and intense narrative.
