This review is from: A Small Journal of Heroin Addiction (Paperback)
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.
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This review is from: A Small Journal of Heroin Addiction (Paperback)
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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: A Small Journal of Heroin Addiction (Paperback)
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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
poetry and prose blended with artistic genius,
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
|nothing else like it,
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Misleading Title,
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
|