Written for the Road...

Hubert Selby's 1978 novel "Requiem for a Dream" must certainly rank as one of the most effective depictions of addiction ever written. A critically acclaimed film of the same name, released in 2000 and directed by Darren Aronofsky, has brought more attention to the novel. Although I have yet to see the film, I decided to read the book before watching the movie because I wanted to know what dark visions await me when I finally slide that DVD into the player. If the story is any indication, the film promises a devastating experience. This is not a sunshine and smiles book. It is an unflinching look at addiction and its consequences.
There are four central characters in "Requiem for a Dream." There is Sara Goldfarb, a lonely widow who spends her days watching television, eating chocolate covered cherries, and pining for her late husband Seymour. Harry Goldfarb, Sara's black sheep of a son, is another main character. Harry's circle of acquaintances includes his girlfriend Marion, an intelligent, attractive young girl with a talent for painting but paralyzed with defeatist and self-loathing feelings. Harry's best friend is Tyrone C. Love, a young black man who grew up poor in Harlem but would like to escape from the harsh realities of the street. While minor characters come and go during the course of the story, Selby focuses on these four in an attempt to show the trajectory of doom associated with addiction.

Things do not seem to go very wrong throughout the first part of the book. It is summer in New York City and time for fun and sun. Harry, Tyrone, and Marion spend their time partying with their friends, listening to music, and enjoying each other's company. Sara watches her television shows and eats her candy in blissful peace, only occasionally worrying about what her son Harry is up to. Even better news lands in the laps of our four characters in short order. Sara receives a phone call from a company that finds contestants for game shows, promising her that all she need do is fill out a questionnaire and she will have the chance to appear on television. Sara is of course elated, and decides that if she really has a shot at winning some dough she should probably go on a diet and lose a few pounds in order to look her best. Meanwhile, Tyrone and Harry implement serious plans to obtain a pound of pure heroin so they can get rich and retire from street life. After putting in a grinding week working, the two earn enough money to purchase some drugs and begin dealing to people they know on the street. As the money flies in, Marion and Harry start making plans to someday open their own little business. Even though the three are users and breaking the law by dealing drugs, the future seems bright.

Then winter arrives. Things start to fall apart for Sara, Harry, Marion, and Tyrone. For Sara, an attempt at a diet found in a book does not have the expected payoff. At the recommendation of a neighbor, she goes to a local doctor who prescribes diet pills. Sara's cheery demeanor gradually erodes under the duress of non-reply from the game show company and the slavery of the pills. Harry, Marion, and Tyrone are no better off. Their heroin supply dries up, reducing the trio to scrounging for drugs just as their compulsion grows worse. The deterioration of the four protagonists quickly escalates into a bleak and depressing free fall of pain and degradation.

All four individuals suffer untold horrors by the end of the book, but I think the most pathetic account concerns Sara. Here is a lady who seems harmless, who only wants the best for her son and tries to get through lonely days laced with the pain of losing her husband. She fervently believes she will get on television if she can only muster enough self-control to quit overeating. Her naiveté about the dangers of diet pills leads to disaster merely because she has no conception that there are doctors who are quacks. Sara's innocence makes for a truly poignant story. I had less sympathy for the other three characters. Since none of them are idiots by any means, they knew the dangers of drugs but fell into the old trap of "that can't happen to me." That does not lessen the message of the book, but it does make Sara stand apart.

The writing style of the author is quite unorthodox. There are no chapters, no quotation marks, and sentences that run on for miles. This does make it difficult at first to discern who is talking and to whom, but by the time a few dozen pages pass by it makes little difference in the flow of the story. Selby instills Tyrone with a noticeable street accent, and Sara is often alone when we see the sections dealing with her, so do not worry about the format of the novel.

You cannot escape the theme of addictions in this tale. But what is interesting about it is that Selby equates all excessive compulsions. Heroin usage is as damaging to the soul as is obsessive television viewing or overeating. All have the potential to lead to utter destruction whether you are a young kid roaming the streets or a middle-aged widow who rarely leaves the apartment.

In an introduction to this edition of the book, Selby writes a powerful statement about his tale. He says that "Requiem for a Dream" is about what happens when we concern ourselves more with getting than giving in life, and that the book is an examination of what happens when people chase the illusions of the dream of consumerism and materialism instead of following the truth in their hearts. For a powerful story, look no further than this tale.

Written for the Road...

This unabashedly lurid and often highly entertaining book traces Stahl's rise from Hustler staffer, to highly paid prime-time television writer, to his breakneck devolution into self-loathing junkie father and "author of nothing but bad checks." While stumbling cheerily toward rock bottom, he somehow managed to keep landing such plum assignments as writing for Moonlighting and thirtysomething. But fans hoping for backstage gossip about their favorite shows will be disappointed. For all the rivers of every conceivable narcotic flowing here, there is surprisingly little inside dope. "The truth: This book... is less... an exercise in recall than exorcism." Stahl's manic wise-cracking never wavers, whether he is describing his remote and suicidal parents or a grandmotherly babysitter who forced him to lick Jujubes off her nipples every day after school. While Stahl managed to survive his fall with enough "real funny" intact to provoke some grossed-out laughs, what seems meant as a hilarious memoir of his drug-besotted depression too often becomes just a depressing memoir of his hilarity. A study in self-absorption.

Written for the Road...

For a teenage diary, this is extremely well written. Jim Carroll was clearly a gifted writer, and his diary brings the New York City streets of the mid-60's to life. His vivid descriptions of growing up as a street wise kid on the mean streets of the city clearly paint a picture of the period.

That said, this is was NOT a fun book to read. There is much about Carroll's life in this period that is not pretty. His growing dependency on drugs is readily apparent as the book progresses, as is his willingness to do almost anything to pay for his next fix. There are graphic descriptions of both the drug use and his sexual encounters, but even so there is a sense of honesty in the account that somehow seems to be redeeming. In the end, this is a powerful glimpse into a life on the streets.

DO YOU KNOW...

Which countries have the most vacation days?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/07/29/country.comparisons.vacation/index.html

Written for the Road...

This first volume of the correspondence of Hunter S. Thompson begins with a high school essay and runs up through the publication of Thompson's breakout book, Hell's Angels. Thompson apparently never threw a letter away, so the reader has the treat of experiencing the full evolution of his pyrotechnic writing style, rant by rant. The letters--to girlfriends, to bill collectors, to placers of "Help Wanted" ads, to editors and publishers--are usually spiced with political commentary. The style and the political animus always seem to drive each other. For instance, an 11/22/63 letter to novelist and friend William J. Kennedy about the day's cataclysm is apparently the birthplace of the signal phrase "fear and loathing." (Thompson summed up the Kennedy assassination thus: "The savage nuts have shattered the great myth of American decency.") And the willingness to write strangers is stunning: this collection includes Thompson's letter to LBJ seeking appointment to the governorship of American Samoa. You might have thought Garry Trudeau was exaggerating in his Doonesbury characterization of the Thompson-based character Duke. He was not.

MUSIC FIND...

EMICIDA (Brasil)

Video Produced and Directed by Thiago DaCosta

The Hostel Channel...

PRAGUE

Written for the Road...

In Man vs. Wild, Bear Grylls demonstrates all manner of survival techniques when faced with nature's extremes--from crossing piranha-infested rivers to fighting off grizzly bears. He shows us how, armed with the correct know-how and a determination to stay alive, all of us have the potential to beat the elements in even the bleakest of situations.
Bear Grylls is the ultimate modern-day adventurer. He spent three years with the British Special Forces (21 SAS), only leaving when a near-fatal parachuting accident broke his back in three places. Just two years later, Grylls followed his childhood dream and became one of the youngest climbers ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest. He is the host of the Discovery Channel series Man vs. Wild, where viewers tune in to watch Grylls show what it takes to find your way out of the most inhospitable places on earth with little more than the clothes on your back.

Now, in his book, he shows his millions of fans worldwide how to do what he does in an utterly entertaining crash course in surviving every kind of hard ecosystem--mountain, sub-zero terrain, jungle, desert, and the sea. Grylls takes readers on a journey to the corners of the earth and recreates disaster scenarios such as being stranded on a desert island or lost in the snowy Arctic. Perfect for armchair adventurers and extreme sports buffs alike, Man vs. Wild is destined to become a classic in adventure literature.