09 April 2012

Review: The Book of Drugs: A Memoir


The Book of Drugs: A Memoir
The Book of Drugs: A Memoir by Mike Doughty

My rating: 0 of 5 stars



Mike Doughty did a lot of drugs.

This is one of the things I didn't know about Doughty prior to picking up The Book of Drugs. I also learned that I'm apparently the type of fan he hates - a fan of Soul Coughing who doesn't love his solo stuff. To be fair, the stories he tells of his time with Soul Coughing would likely make me want to forget that time as well, but the story is almost less about Soul Coughing and more about the drugs.

Thus the title, I guess.

The book is more or less a blitz of stories from early in life right up through recent times. The drugs, the drinking, the music, the touring, his point of view of his former band members, his post-Soul Coughing breakdown, etc etc. The stories are really only separated by paragraph breaks, and come at you full tilt. It's quick, but can get a little exhausting at times.

Either way, this book might have limited appeal to those who do not know or care about Doughty or Soul Coughing. It's not an especially good book about addiction, and his stories about being drug addled are not the interesting rock star kind one comes to expect from celebrity memoirs, but the honesty is a plus for the book, not a minus. If it's your thing, pick it up.



View all my reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment