The writing is quite beautiful. The story is hard to take, but it will be/would be useful and helpful for those who have no context with people suffering from addictions and want to gain insight into the lives and thinking of those who do. The conversations with family and friends that surround the experience of loss and addiction are insightful and therapeutic, though for a reader engulfed in these personal sorrows, the reception will depend on their tolerance of more. They may find these interactions helpful, but some may find them too overwhelming.

I appreciated that the book didn’t glorify the rampant irresponsibility of playing with drugs and the numbing affects of alcohol, but laid out the stark consequences that affect a body, and those who care for that person. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t cool, it wasn’t set up as something you’d want to dive into and experience in any fashionable manner. It was presented as disgusting and vile, unattractive and damaging—and I appreciate that reality amid a SLEW of NA novels that glorify the lifestyle.