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Research About Drug-addiction/recovery Memoirs
BMarie






Posted: April 16, 2020, 1:21 PM
Hello all,

I'm hoping anyone here who's recovering from addiction might be interested in answering a few questions I have. I'm a writer, currently reviewing Mark Lanegan's forthcoming memoir Sing Backwards and Weep, about his struggles with heroin and crack, and I'm comparing it to other memoirs of this genre.

It occurs to me that many of these memoirs focus a whole lot on the addiction, climax with the writer kicking the habit, and ending with just a few paragraphs about their recovery. I wonder if this format makes these books at all helpful to people looking for inspiration to take the path to recovery (which, as I understand it, is a lifelong and often difficult process).

So, to anyone out there who has an answer, I ask the following:

1. Have you ever read one of these books? They include Permanent Midnight, and my favorite, Three Dog Nightmare, which actually has a number of chapters about subject Chuck Negron's recovery. Have any of these stories helped inspire you to get or stay clean?

2. At what point in your addiction or recovery did you read a book like this? How did it help you - or was it not a good influence?

3. Is it irresponsible to end a book abruptly at the 'kicking' part, and give only a hint of the hard work and discipline it takes to maintain sobriety? Or does someone longing for an end to their habit benefit just from reading that there can be a final break from heir addiction?

That's all I'll ask for now. If I choose to quote from any response, I'll make sure to make it anonymous (unless the person quoted wants to be named). Thank you for your help.
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