Take the Long Way Home: Memoirs of a Survivor

Rating:
Summary: take the long way home
Review: a truly staggering, devastating addition to the small library of addiction literature. If you tried to make up a tale like this (and I have tried...) you could not come up with a story so harrowing. The true story about a smart, creative, succesful writer who discovers that the narcotic prayer turns into a personal holocaust, no matter how good the intentions. From the early days of the San Francisco liberal scene to a Lower East Side N.Y.C. meltdown, Ms. Lydon turns her life into a journey to hell. Of all the books about addiction I have ever read, none made me understand dark impulses the way this did, and when a hopeless Susan Lydon finally surrenders herself to her past, and finds herself alone and starting over, I cried for a long time. Everybody hurts. Not everyone can be so devastatingly eloquent as the wonderful and witty Ms. Lydon.

Rating:
Summary: compelling
Review: I have read a few books about individuals who have struggled with addictions and their inner demons, but not quite on this level. This book was by far the most intense and personal, she touched my heart and I felt her pain. Her gritty account of being seduced by drugs and the amazing grace that pulled her through made it a read that was hard to put down.

Rating:
Summary: Utterly visceral and jaggedly beautiful
Review: The requested "one-line summary," said it all. It isn't just that her account of the stark other side of midnight is perfectly beautifull in it's construction...it's more that one rarely encounters this level of truth. A wonderful story with the ultimate joy of triumph. Philip Demarco [e-mail]