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The Story of Junk A Novel Linda Yablonsky 9780316968089 Books

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The Story of Junk A Novel Linda Yablonsky 9780316968089 Books

I decided to give this book a try after I saw some people taking about it in one of my book clubs. I really wasn't sure what to think as I first dove in but I'm so glad I gave it a try. All throughout the book as you're following her life in this junkie world as an outsider looking in you know it's wrong. She's making terrible decisions and ruining her life but at the same time as it's being described I felt drawn into this world and why it was so beautiful to her and completely understood why she continuously made these horrific decisions. The writing was off the charts and I loved every word.


Tags : The Story of Junk: A Novel [Linda Yablonsky] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A New York City junkie and heroin dealer re-evaluates her life when one of her associates reveals her identity to a DEA agent,Linda Yablonsky,The Story of Junk: A Novel,Back Bay Books,0316968080,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction General,General

The Story of Junk A Novel Linda Yablonsky 9780316968089 Books Reviews

I am not exactly a stranger to the life Linda Yablonsky describes in "The Story of Junk," and I must say that this simplistic, dispassionate little tale of NYC junkies does no justice to the complex, often highly sensitive and intelligent heroin users I have known. Anyone who picks up this book hoping to gain some insight into why people use heroin will be deeply disappointed. "The Story of junk" doesn't even do an adequate job describing the effects of heroin; at times the drug used by the lead character sounds much more like cocaine or speed than heroin (for a far superior book on heroin addiction check out Danny Sugarman's "Wonderland Avenue").
Yablonsky, who claims to be a former heroin addict and dealer herself, has created an oddly detached and indifferent protagonist/narrator. What motivates this 30+ year old character to do what she does is anyone's guess. She does not appear to care much about anything or anyone (that includ! es her girlfriend) which makes it difficult for the reader to care much about her. In fact, for a junkie, she cares remarkably little even about heroin. Unlike her musician girlfriend who has some real mental problems and might even come across as halfway sympathetic if only we knew a little more about her, the lead character does not seem particularly troubled and no real attempts are made to explain her drug addiction and her predilection for heroin. Heroin tends to appeal to people who feel and care too much and use the drug to create a "buffer" between themselves and the rest of the world. A number of heroin addicts I've known suffered from acute manic depression that would not respond to lithium; heroin helped keep psychosis at bay, stabilized their moods to a degree, and even enabled some of them to lead relatively "normal" and productive lives. Obviously none of this applies in the case of Yablonsky's protagonist. One gets the idea that she us! es the drug for no reason other than that her friends do. ! Are there individuals who start messing around with a drug like heroin simply because the people they hang with think it's a cool thing to do? Sure there are; they just don't make for the most interesting and compelling stories.
Yablonsky does have her moments. Her descriptions of downtown Manhattan's people and places are dead-on. Parts of her dialogue show promise as well.
She is at her worst when she attemps to analyze America's "drug problem" and drug policies. Critical thought is not her strength. She lacks both the intellect and the courage to challenge the conventional "wisdom" about illegal drugs and the people who use them. Not only has she clearly not done her research, but anything that goes beyond 12-step mantras and mainstream stereotypes of drug use is simply over her head. Ultimately, she has written an extremely simplistic book about a highly complex subject.
Devoid of the stream-of-consciousness rambling that accompanies many stories in which drugs are at the forefront, Yablonsky's narrator gives us the straight dope (pun intended) about how a regular girl might come to use heroin, begin dealing, become a junkie, and get busted. The book is fascinating and realistic, which leads me to believe Yablonsky might either be very close to her story or be extremely skilled at research. The writing is very matter-of-fact, and our unnamed narrator could be anyone. The reader identifies and empathizes with her. The consequences of her use are neither minimized or exaggerated. Very well-written and engaging.
In this promising first novel, Linda Yablonsky paints a humorous, off-beat picture of New York's elite drug culture in the 1980s. The narrator/protagonist is adrift in a world in which who you hang out with matters more than how much money you make. A would-be writer, she's an aimless thirty year old druggie who works as cook in a chic downtown restaurant. Her natural hipness makes her a favorite of the "in" crowd and gradually she's drawn to the glamour of an aristocracy which, as a middle class Jewish girl from the burbs, doesn't reflect what is familiar to her. Adopting the vices of the elite, she finds a role she can cop--drug dealer to artists, models and entrepreneurs. Spurred on by her reckless girlfriend, a marvelous rockster named "Kit" whose helpless charm and deviant life style are brought vividly to life by Yablonsky, she is soon buying and selling heroin for them. An endless stream of people herd in and out of their apartment, and she observes everything that goes down with the deadpan humor of a cynic and the naive detachment of someone who has nothing to lose. Her anxiety increases as she places herself further and further at risk, betraying the tough veneer she presents to the world. Surprisingly, when she gets busted her life calms down--the crisis enables her to acknowlege a number of issues she's been avoiding since her arrival in New York her total lack of identity and her desire to become a writer. At this juncture, Yablonsky attempts to take on bigger issues to do with drug addiction and destructive behavior and,in my opinion, she takes a wrong turn. She struggles to link the character's pathology with the history of the Holocaust and her heritage as a descendant of survivors, for example. It doesn't come across and a strict editor would have told Yablonsky not to go there.
At the end of the story, she is stunned and confused, but has managed to change the imprisoning architecture of her life--no small feat for a human being, and a huge task for a novel to make both authentic and interesting. It's enough in a first novel (and an autobiographical work) to describe the transformation the character goes through and acknowledge the issues raised as a result of the character's experience. Neither Yablonsky nor her narrator need to know all the answers, but one of them should ask the right questions--and then leave it at that. Since the book is based on personal experience, it's possible Yablonsky rushed it to completion--who can afford to wait a decade or two to digest life's experience?
The author's eye for detail and ironic sense of pathos make for a tale which is both exotic and urbane. Despite her immersion in a chaotic, intense world, there's a soundness to the narrator's voice which inspires trust in the reader. As an outsider, she's adopted a New Yorker's consistently sarcastic, humorous attitude but, in contrast, has an underlying helplessness and sincerity which suggests she is more of a human being than she likes to admit. I liked her character a lot and look forward to more novels by Yablonsky in the future--a second is long overdue!
Dull, repetitive story that has been told so much better by so many others.
Received it with no problems and in fine shape! Thank you so much! Rebecca
Great read.
a former teacher of mine wrote this and she was the best teacher i ever had in college here in nyc. she took us on outings of various important cultural events and had us write editorial reviews on the events. i expected her to be no less honest in this book and my feeling was she was.
I decided to give this book a try after I saw some people taking about it in one of my book clubs. I really wasn't sure what to think as I first dove in but I'm so glad I gave it a try. All throughout the book as you're following her life in this junkie world as an outsider looking in you know it's wrong. She's making terrible decisions and ruining her life but at the same time as it's being described I felt drawn into this world and why it was so beautiful to her and completely understood why she continuously made these horrific decisions. The writing was off the charts and I loved every word.