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The Adderall Diaries: A Memoir Paperback – Illustrated, September 28, 2010
| Stephen Elliott (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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In this groundbreaking memoir, Stephen Elliott pursues parallel investigations: a gripping account of a notorious San Francisco murder trial, and an electric exploration of the self. Destined to be a classic, The Adderall Diaries was described by The Washington Post as "a serious literary work designed to make you see the world as you've never quite seen it before."
- Print length192 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGraywolf Press
- Publication dateSeptember 28, 2010
- Dimensions5.4 x 0.65 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-101555975704
- ISBN-13978-1555975708
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Elliott may be writing under the influence, but it's the influence of genius.” ―Vanity Fair
“Elliott writes with a grace and precision that calls to mind Truman Capote's landmark work, In Cold Blood. He, too, is fascinated by questions of motive, how our capacity to love is disfigured into evil, and our tangled mechanisms of denial.” ―The Boston Globe
“A searing, self-conscious memoir of drug addiction, obsession and art as a means of survival.” ―Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“It opens with this line: ‘My father may have killed a man,' then continues for 208 taut, high-wire, brilliant pages . . . With candor so raw it makes me never want to use ‘fiercely honest' to describe another writer's work.” ―Las Vegas Weekly
“You won't find a more provocative, masterful, thrilling ride than this.” ―San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
Stephen Elliott is the author of seven books, including Happy Baby, a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award. He is also the founding editor of the online culture magazine TheRumpus.net.
Product details
- Publisher : Graywolf Press; Illustrated edition (September 28, 2010)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 192 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1555975704
- ISBN-13 : 978-1555975708
- Item Weight : 10.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.4 x 0.65 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #504,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,225 in Crime & Criminal Biographies
- #2,059 in Murder & Mayhem True Accounts
- #14,714 in Memoirs (Books)
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For a memoir written while the author abused an amphetamine, Elliott's voice remains refreshingly even. The emotional urgency of expressing pain, and the financial urgency of documenting a murder trial, keeps The Adderall Diaries friendly to readers of literary fiction and memoir rather than self-indulgent. It's only 208 pages, after all. The memoir's accessibility may speak to careful editing --- Elliott's attention to craft after he eased up on the Adderall --- the success of his coping skills while he wrote the book, or both.
The author's voice speaks to the central drama of the book: not the murder trial or his brief masochistic relationships, but rather his struggle to live. By using the trial and relationships as coping strategies, he avoided sinking into anhedonia. This inability to feel pleasure could have led to abusing harder drugs as Elliott did during his teenage years, and thus another heroin overdose, or following his friends into suicide as he felt drawn to do when off Adderall. Yet he remains alive and writing.
His personal life continues to suffer as he ups his dose and snorts it near the end of the book. But by following the murder trial to the end, he cuts back on the drug and reconciles with his father.
Elliott doesn't set out to shock, including mundane anecdotes like working for a tech startup in addition to the darker, more sensational parts. Hence The Adderall Diaries have humor: the flat irony of a comedy of errors. Through it all, prose that hangs together emerges: even empathy with other writers who struggled with depression and amphetamine addiction. A must-read.
I completely related to the writing struggles, still don't have any interest in BDSM, and found the true crime aspects fascinating.
As were some of the Adderall comments. I agree with Elliott that speed is speed; but also that Adderall is or has been in the past extremely helpful for my focus during episodes of ADD or whatever it was/is.
I have to admit to being somewhat bored by forced, hard driving prose--OK we get it, tough childhood. Someone mentions James Frey's A Million Little Pieces mixed with Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I agree with the comparison.
The Adderall Diaries memoir aspects seem at times to be more like semi-novelization, but Elliott is making a good point about memory and how it plays tricks, distorting recollection.
I love the way and style in which the book is written. I could've done without all of the S&M parts, but this is his life and I respect how open he was. It takes a lot of courage to share so much of your story. Once I got past my expectations for the book, I was able to appreciate it for what it was. Stephen did a fantastic job on this memoir and it's definitely not one to pass up.
The critical acclaim is bizarre, and must result from some kind of group think. It's not a great novel, but it's a fun read. I read it on vacation, and that was the right way to read it. An enjoyable little book.
And no, I'm not his mean and terrible father (read the book if you don't get the reference).
Steve Elliott grew up spoiled in an upper middle class Jewish home.
At 13 he was caught abusing his dying and disabled adoptive mother, causing her death, and was put in Read Mental Hospital by the State of Illinois. He has never been homeless or lived in group homes.
Since then he has published 12 books, all of which claim vaguely that he was abused as a child--without providing specifics-- and that he "grew up in group homes". He portrays himself as a sadly oppressed street kid who became successful through his own pluck with no help from a difficult world. He has promoted an elaborate con job into a career as a sad figure.
Recently his adoptive father donated $3,000 to help him start Rumpus, a popular blog, where he pontificates for those with literary pretensions, and rants about what a mean guy his adoptive dad is.
In THE ADDERALL DIARIES, he talks about how his thuggish, larger-than-life father might have killed a man, linking this to a famous murder case that he was pursuing for a television documentary. But since his father is a veteran of two wars, Elliott's guess that "he might have killed a man" can only provoke "Gosh, d'ya think?" as a response. Ed Harris is playing his father, Neil Elliott, in the film, co-starring James Franco.





