A review by felixsanchez
American Drug Addict: a memoir by Brett Douglas

2.0

This is difficult to review. On one hand, it is obvious Douglas struggled with addiction in an incredibly serious way, and has been able to confront and expose this with brutal honesty. But I just cannot get past the fact he is not, or at least does not portray himself to be, a very thoughtful and reflective person. He does not give any thought to where or why his addiction arose other than sheer hedonism - he just liked feeling good, being high. He didn’t analyse his deeply middle-class roots and the privilege of him being a white drug addict, and the ability to ‘bounce back’ after imprisonment, or whilst in the thick of addiction. I admire his ability to be brutally honest, but think this could’ve done with some more hard thinking.