This is one of my favorite books of all time. It’s one of those books that when I read it, I was blown away by it, told everyone about it, bought copies of it for gifts, and made everyone talk about it. I haven’t read it in a decade and it’s more and more clearly a younger reader’s book — the very quote I took for the header of this post suggests this. There’s a kind of void and fear of being young and being pinned down and wanting all the freedom in the world and also experiencing the fear that if you miss certain opportunities you have to just give over to your worst impulses at the heart of this book and at the heart of a lot of people’s early and mid 20s (and maybe late 20s and early 30s too — don’t judge).
And I have never even done drugs! (Not like DRUGS like they are here).
I hate books and movies where someone’s on drugs, but I love this book. Mostly because drugs here are an obsession, a compulsion, and they defy language. They allow for clarity and vision and wonderment but they destroy and alienate and isolate.
The narrator is not a good person, and he’s not ever really going to be one. He’s a brilliant protagonist, but he’s not a good man. But these stories are also hilarious and hurtful and horrifying and crazy and bleak.
You might love it. And you should check out — especially the story “Emergency” to test those waters.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Son-Stories-Denis-Johnson/dp/031242874X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=jesus%27+son&qid=1552147175&s=books&sr=1-1)