Customer Reviews

Love Is the Drug: A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book almost a year ago and had a little trouble getting into it. I picked it up again on my way to the beach thinking it was good fluff for beach reading, but found myself crying my eyes out on my towel. I think a lot of women, and people in general, will relate to being in love with someone who's lukewarm in return so the beginning of the book captured me in that sense. When she returns to her parents' home and describes her relationship with her father, I found it to be complex and not "pat." Her father is an alcoholic and she hates him and loves him, and the writer captured well the complexity of that relationship and her feelings. Her flawed father saved her in a sense and gave her direction (but her own direction...you'll know what I mean when you read the book). His note to her and the armadillo chapters were the parts that had me bawling! I would definitely recommend this book.

I devoured this book like it was candy until I got to the happy ending, after which I felt like I feel when I eat too much candy. It's not the happy ending I mind, of course, but I don't want books that lie to me to get there, and it feels like this one does.

Still, the writer transcends the "Nick Hornby with girl parts" box into which she might have fallen; voice is more important to me than plot in most cases anyway.

But having come to identify with and care for Tyler I wanted, if not needed, to believe in her redemption. Because through the stories of the redeemed I hope to find paths I myself might tread.

Tyler suffers before her happy ending, but she doesn't work for it; so she doesn't earn it. She seems, indeed, be trading one unlikely road to happiness for an even less-likely one.

The writing in this book was fun and full of interesting insight and metaphors. But the plot was pretty shallow and repetative and boring. I kept waiting for some BIG thing to happen and nothing ever really did. Just small blips then a "big" ending that left me underwhelmed. Good book, worth the read, but don't get your hopes up to high.

I've read this now twice in as many days. I plan to pass it on to anyone who needs a kick in the right direction. I also picked up a few of the CDs mentioned in the book and she has pretty awesome music taste, too! Sarahbeth Purcell is the most important voice for new fiction today. And judging from the author photo on the jacket, she is quite a looker, too. Do I hear MOVIE? This is not the last you've heard from this writer, that's for sure. An instant classic. You must buy it.

I've read this now twice in as many days. I plan to pass it on to anyone who needs a kick in the right direction. I also picked up a few of the CDs mentioned in the book and she has pretty awesome music taste, too! Sarahbeth Purcell is the most important voice for new fiction today. And judging from the author photo on the jacket, she is quite a looker, too. Do I hear MOVIE? This is not the last you've heard from this writer, that's for sure. An instant classic. You must buy it.

Tyler Tracer lives life through American 80?s pop culture whether it is television shows, music, or some other former in from a decade known for furthering the arts (just ask Senator Helms). She makes up top ten lists that Letterman would envy often with four letter words used as participles. As her daddy dies, Tyler draws up a list of why he must not and writes another top ten of why she belongs with her true love David, who lives in Los Angeles.

Her David list persuades Tyler to drive to L.A. from her Tennessee home because she knows he needs her. Tyler also talks in four-letter adjectives, four letter nouns, and four letter verbs, at times all in one phrase, as her road trip includes bad sex with losers and using drugs like cigarettes and crystal meth as fast food. Between road kill and her car killed, Tyler tastes America and conversely America tastes Tyler, but no one knows when either will be ready for the other

Though at times amusing and poignant, LOVE IS THE DRUG never fully captures its audience because the list maker seems too self-centered, self-destructive, and simply inane (this reviewer?s top three list). The road show story line pays homage to the Reagan Era so that even those who moved the Reagan film off network to cable will find the book acceptable (Atria will not have to take it off the bookshelf). Sarahbeth Purcell displays a fine comedic touch with a humorous story line, but the chick in her chick lit tale is shallower than Hal as she makes her top ten rules of the road regardless of impact on others.

Harriet Klausner