Rolling Away: My Agony with Ecstasy (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "As I rise from the couch, something inside my mind snaps..." (more)
Key Phrases: psych ward, Bloom Street, Lynn Smith, New York City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Aspiring actress Smith dabbled in recreational drug use after moving to New York City from smalltown Pennsylvania. Sadly, the recent high school graduate quickly went from being a casual user to an addict. Smith's descriptions of "rolling" on ecstasy are appropriately disjointed and haunting. She deftly conveys an ecstasy user's sense of euphoria, especially the bubbling happiness that spreads like a wave through an "E"-fueled dance floor. But in tackling recovery, she falters. Although Smith's experience in treatment was difficult, and her description of it lends some insight into her subsequent triumph, she lingers too long in very well-trod territory. Once Smith is out of the hospital, though, the book regains its footing as Smith details her appearance in an MTV special about ecstasy use, and the difficulty of dealing with her somewhat emotionally unhealthy family. Smith has written a fervent cautionary tale; even when revealing the drug's joyful moments, her tone is one of warning and regret. As a member of the advisory board of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Smith tours and lectures about ecstasy, and it's likely that this work will find wide readership. The book's greatest strength is its alarming passages about coming down from a high and about the emptiness of living for the next pill-popping moment. (May)
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From Booklist

Fresh out of high school, Smith arrived at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City with big plans and dreams. She longed to be an actress, but she fell in with a bad crowd and found herself experimenting with ecstasy, cocaine, and acid. A bad acid trip isn't enough to scare her off from the lifestyle, and after graduating she gets involved with Mason, a charismatic and handsome drug dealer who quickly draws Lynn into his aimless, ecstasy-filled existence. The constant drug use finally leads to a breakdown, and Lynn's concerned mother brings her to a hospital and checks Lynn into a rehab program back in her hometown of Danville, Pennsylvania. Smith manages to complete the program only to come home to more challenges (her father is an alcoholic) and unexpected opportunities (MTV wants to do a story on her struggle with addiction). Smith's memoir is a must-read for anyone who views drugs as glamorous--her descriptions of bad trips are very vivid and frightening, and the effort she made to turn her life around is admirable. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Atria (May 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743490436
• ISBN-13: 978-0743490436
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,304,007 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No rock bottom in this story!, November 25, 2006

By	Pamela V ""MS V"" (Mississippi Gulf Coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rolling Away: My Agony with Ecstasy (Paperback)

Sorry, Lynn, but being a party girl for five months doesn't make you a recovering addict. The story just isn't that uncommon: Spoiled girl has parents mortgage their home so that she can go to an acting school in New York. Girl is bored and has delusions of grandeur, & is easily taken in by other, more spoiled, rich kids who do recreational drugs to pass the time. (All on daddies dime.) Spoiled girl gets through her "school," is disapointed when she doesn't get auditions for acting jobs, and has to get a job in the real world, waiting tables. Instead of pounding the pavement or trying for auditions, Lynn decides to party hardy and up the drug use. It sounds like 5 months of fun to me! Partying all night - sleeping all day. She mostly had a ball, there was no rock bottom here. She never suffered financially or ended up on the street, all she did was have a semi-breakdown, which caused her to call mommy to come get her and put her in a hospital, which they probably had no insurance for. After Lynn gets out of the hospital, she hangs around moms house for several months, getting a MTV special for writing a 5 minute email, and within a few months - is so bored that she has another "relapse," which makes no sense, except she is just looking for more attention.

Low and behold - Lynn becomes a public speaker - telling hardened criminals how tough it is being an addict. Hello? Does she think her 5 months partying in New York can compare to being raised in the projects while mom's on crack? Has she ever gone without food? And then she goes on Oprah and other talk shows - and writes a book? Congratulations Lynn! Looks like you got the attention you wanted! And for five months on the party circuit!

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I give this book 2 stars because it is interesting to read about her drug trips. But after she gets out of the mental hospital, it's just drivel.

Go back to New York and tell a street person your story. I'm sure they would trade theirs for yours anyday.

14 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars an exaggeration, June 16, 2006

By	Amanda - See all my reviews

I went to the same high school as Lynn...I'd just like to warn any potential readers that the book is full of exaggerations and outright lies. I read the book out of curiosity, and found myself constantly saying "That's not true, that's not how that happened!" Consider yourself warned...this book needs to be read with the same scrutiny as a James Frey book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough Reading - Important Book About Drug Addiction and Recovery, September 24, 2008

By	Roxanne Adams (los angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Rolling Away: My Agony with Ecstasy (Paperback)

I can't say that I 'liked' reading this book - it was at times painfully sad. All young people should read this book, if only to understand that sometimes you don't get a second chance. Lynn Marie Smith had a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. First, you have to be talented just to get in the door, and then you have to figure out how in the hell you're going to pay for everything, if you're lucky enough to be accepted as a student.

Smith was a casual drug user who became an addict, and later, an MRI would prove that she suffered permanent brain damage from her use of the drug Ecstasy. Once she was out of rehab, her days of being a student over, she was back home with her parents, working a dead-end job and living in a small town.

This is the ultimate truth of what can happen to young people who f--k up their lives with drugs. They might not end up as homeless bag ladies with shopping carts, but being stuck in a low-wage dead-end job is a hell on earth, especially when you had a chance to make the big time, and you blew it.

The author's point of view is refreshing - she acknowledges the role that her parents' dysfunction played, but she does not fully blame them (or anyone else) for her problems.