A review by deborahwithanoh
The Story of Junk by Linda Yablonsky

I took a while to take to this book, because the descriptions of the junkie lifestyle are not close to me and I cannot comprehend them. Perhaps the junkie life is exciting, but it's boring to read about, to me at least! But this book is only on the surface level about junk itself -- it's about the unhealthy codependent relationships junk makes you form, about running a business you're not sure you should be involved in; it's about 1980s New York. Is New York City just synonymous with the drug scene? It feels like every book I read about junkies is set in New York. The prose hooks you easily and the personalities of the characters are bright and lively and jump right off the page. It's heartbreaking, too, but the ending is hopeful -- a welcome relief. And even though I read this book on the way home from vacation, the sections set abroad, although this was definitely not their intent, immediately gave me wanderlust again. I don't want to go to these places to do drugs, but the descriptions of the places are beautiful in themselves.