Like Being Killed

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Summary: Poison and Balsam (Nietzsche)
Review: Bill Green, Shaker Heights, Ohio.

A harrowing story of love and loss and still loving, this novel is at once a gripping tale and an exercise in moral reflection perhaps best summed up in Neitzsche's remark, "From your poison you brewed your balsam." The poison is heroin--but heroin also as a metaphor of having and wanting, as applicable to everyday life as to a world of more obvious craving.

Miller refuses to dissociate the vile and the virtuous. Hope has as much to do with the depths as with the heights of life. Redemption is no resolution or even assurance but the heart and sheer fact of survival.

Miller writes with the lucidity and concision of Kafka and the gusto of Nietzsche, with a compelling feel for everyday reality and sentiment. She speaks as easily of the pleasures of baking a pie as she does of matters so revolting as to turn away any with a weak stomach.

This combination of brutal honesty and affection for the commonplace makes for what is surely one of the most unusual and thought-provoking novels on the market.

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Summary: Memorable, but...
Review: Each time I put this book down, I wondered if I would bother to pick it up again. I did finish it, however, and was pleasantly surprised at the ending ...

The main character's struggle with drug addiction and other dysfunctional behaviors is depressing, for sure. The author seems to stop just short of outright shocking the reader, while still managing to build some sympathy for each of the female characters. I kept reading out of the urge to eavesdrop on this somewhat generic terrible life to see just how bad it could get. Thankfully, at the end the characters became "real" to me, rather than puppets acting out a sad tale of the destruction ofaddiction.

Given the subject matter, however, perhaps thisdichotomy is just what the author intended. In which case, this booksucceeds.

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Summary: The World Is Like A Cucumber
Review: Ellen Miller writes eloquently and vividly. Like Being Killed is a page turner beautifully written. The story digs beyond the surface of a promiscuous, masochistic woman and her fetish for heroin. Social issues such as AIDS, sex, and addiction are intertwined with the story of a woman seeking self-sanction. Unsettling sex scenes with a sadistic plumber are graphic and austere. After reading this book, you will never look at a cucumber the same way again. Drugs are not glorified in this piece of literature; they are portrayed as truth-revealing components. Miller conveys realistic consequences to narcotic-related actions without imposing her morality in any way, shape, or form. Of course, Like Being Killed, has its problems. The friendship between main characters Susie and Ilyana is established weakly, and they seem to go from love to hate to love with one puff of the pipe. The ending is not as well-rounded as the reader hopes, but this attempt from a new writer is both promising and refreshing. Like Being Killed has to be one of the best books I have read this year. It is both profound and thought-provoking. It explores the essence of existence in a world filled with complex decisions, all the while delivering a large dose of humor. All in all, a great read.

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Summary: A Beautiful Piece of Art
Review: Ellen Miller writes this novel so well and with such detail that it is difficult for me to believe that the characters don't exist. Her writing carried me on the current of emotions her characters go through- pain, loneliness, longing, depression and desperation. Since first buying it five months ago, I have read it atleast eight times and recommend it to every person whom I happen to discuss books with, some whom I don't discuss books with. It is a must-read for everyone.

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Summary: You must not miss this book! It is a work of genius.
Review: Ellen Miller writes with sophistication and control. Her command of language and her use of vocabulary indicate that her extraordinary writing ability is a gift we (readers) will be receiving for many, many years to come. It's difficult to believe that Like Being Killed is her first novel--it reads as though Miller has published dozens of books already. If her first novel is this amazing, it's hard to imagine what experience and age will add to her future work. While her subject matter is difficult, emotional, painful, humerous, intelligent, complex and heart-wrenching, she handles all of it with confidence and a refreshing lack of sentimentality and self-indulgence. Ilyana, her narrator, is brilliant, addicted, and, at times, insane. But Miller tackles this enormous task of getting into the mind and soul of her narrator and forces us to join her there, to become Ilyana--a task that is daunting, yet made ultimately appealing because of Miller's powerful, bracing, and mind blowing talent. No one should miss this book.

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Summary: Reading this begged a question: How bad is bad?
Review: I cannot imagine what would possess someone to give this book five stars, or even three. It was awful.

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Summary: WOAH DUDE
Review: I have been waiting for four years for Ellen Miller to write another novel. I have loved this book that much. Of all the fictional characters in the world, I would most like to sit down and "powder my nose" (wink wink nudge nudge) with Ilyana Meyerovitch, the most complex, most brilliant, most pathos-having (you know what I mean), most misunderstood character I have ever read about. Ever read a book where the protagonist/narrator, in every page, reveals uncommon truths that you thought only you understood? This is the way I felt on every page, and even if other readers do not, they will have to admit that Ilyana and the other characters are realistic, believable, emotionally powerful, and compelling. Ellen Miller is a fantastic storyteller, too. Now. My one gripe. I am somewhat of an expert in the area of the opiates, and because of this, I must say that it is impossible for someone with Ilyana's advanced affliction to go parading out on the town on her second day of withdrawal. This may seem like a minor detail, but because of the intensity of the topic, it irked me a bit. Same thing with the ease with which Ilyana said goodbye to heroin. Sadly enough, someone with as advanced a view of morality as Ellen Miller (as I can only guess from her nuanced, empathetic understanding of these characters) should not revert to the tired cliche of junkie=irresponsible moron and "heroin-free"=responsible person with their life back together. This is not always the case...nor is it believable. As Ilyana's problems mount at the end of the book (I won't give away the ending, but believe me, she has to deal with some very heavy stuff)it is extremely unlikely that she decides to give up forever a drug which makes problems roll off your back like the gentle drip of a sprinkler in the summer. Nor would I expect this complex and dissatisfied a character to find the cure for her depression and heroin addiction in a normal boring workaday job and daily exercise. Ellen Miller, you MUST know better than this...Other than that, this is probably the best book I have ever read in my entire life.

Rating:
Summary: Reading this begged a question: How bad is bad?
Review: I know the heroin subject itself is not original, but this book is. The author may be a show-off, but who can blame her, when she has so much intelligence to show off? And she compensates with compelling, horrific glimpses into the addict's life. Oddly, it was the main relationship of the story which struck me as false, particularly the redemptive ending between the two and all those tears. I was afraid the music they would play at the end would be the Indigo Girls. But if that was the price to be paid for the beauty and lyricism of this story's darkness, so be it. I haven't read a talent like Ellen Miller in a long, long time.