Customer Reviews

A Small Journal of Heroin Addiction

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

 

 

This book is autobiographical and the English writer/poet, Robin
Marchesi's journal was written within two concentrated periods in his
life. There is a 20 year span which separates the two events. The
first of two chapters deals with his 6 week imprisonment in a Spanish
prison for possessing drugs. In it, he describes the loneliness and
struggle of his confinement. It is a sanctum from which he cannot
escape from, but is a resource from which he draws no self-pity, but
articulates some fantastic poetic imagery. I was drawn into his
literate gift for words which he freely spins and blends with amazing
skill and talent.

The second chapter deals with his flight to San
Francisco to secure a fellow English friend in the throes of his drug
addiction and to bring him back to England. He wanders the streets of
Haight Ashbury in search of his friend and again blends his magical
poetic and prose style in depths that I have never read or experienced
before.

I was fascinated from the first page and mesmerized by the
last page. After I put the book down and went back to reread the
memorable passages I had remembered in my mind, I looked to find that
the words were gone or perhaps were never there. This book stirred my
imagination because it went beyond the written word. It ignited my
imagination. I will surely enjoy reading this book again and strongly
recommend this book as nourishment to anyone's imagination.

I just wanted to express the compassion that i felt after reading this book.
In a sort of twisted way this is a funny book. Marchesi's slant on the things that he experienced, particuarly in the first half, represents a truely unique perception on things. For example the names that he gives the people he meets, tend to be truly detached from reality. And yet all the while you just can't help but feel the big black cloud of emotion that hangs over him for a good deal of his journey, until eventually it shifts.
And it does shift. it shifts with such grace and beauty that i can't discribe it. an incredible feeling of freedom, from a pain that you thought would never end, like intolerable suffering that eventually dissolved and suddenly everything in the entire existence of this world unfolded to reveal it's true and most beautiful side again.
For me, I don't regret buying this book for one second. I don't enjoy fiction books but it was the experiences of the author that drove me on to keep reading. This is great book, give it a chance like i did.

This book focuses on the author's experiences in a Spanish prison and his efforts, decades later, to get another junkie into rehab. It does not deal directly with the author's own struggle to overcome heroin addiction.

The prose accounts of the author's first-hand experiences are more interesting (and in my opinion more skilfully written) than his poetry. I would like to see these prose sections expanded. The book could also benefit from more copyediting.

This book is a literary masterpiece. We submitted Mr. Marchesi's autobiographical book to the Frankfurt ebook awards 2000, thinking that he would surely receive the recognition this book deserves-instead, while taking nothing away from those who did win hard-earned recognition, true e-book authors like Mr. Marchesi were ignored in favor of print authors whose works were digitized as an afterthought to make them eligible for the e-book awards. This is the book that should have won at least one major prize in that competition. This is an important milestone, a 50-year unhealth check on the mores and the drug habits and the literary scene of the 1950's Beat Poets. This beautiful prose/poem book tells a wrenching story of a sojourn in hell on a *bateau ivre*, actually a Spanish Foreign Legion prison on Ceuta, an island on the cusp of Europe and Africa. Diagnosis: the white lady is deadly and dangerous as ever, insinuating herself into lives, ruining worlds, destroying decency. The author, Robin Marchesi, a true survivor of those trenches, is later able to rescue a fellow addict in San Francisco's Mission District. When this book first crossed my virtual desk as a submission from Mr. Marchesi, I read the first few sentences and was hooked (no pun intended). I still consider myself lucky that an original literary work of this quality should be my great fortune to discover and publish to the world. If I do nothing else with my publishing career, this one slender volume will be worth all of it, and more. Right on, Robin Marchesi, for this update from the road-shoulder between heaven and hell.

This small journal of an heroin addict certainly helped to broaden my awareness and sensitivity to some aspects of addiction. This book resolved my personal issue/question of real people wanting to regain control.