The Utter Catastrophe

The Utter Catastrophe by Sandra Hutchison (Book 3 in the Lawson Trilogy) 400 pages

Hutchison has done it again; she has written a book that sweeps the reader into its fictional world!

In the third and final book (much to my dismay) of the Lawson Trilogy, the topics are much, much heavier—the opioid crisis, drug addiction and recovery—yet it is tempered by a romance.

It’s the summer of 2016. Winslow Jennings is now Lawson’s Chief of Police. He and the other chiefs in the nearby small towns are overwhelmed with drug-related deaths. Winslow doesn’t realize it, but the crisis is about to hit home.

Everyone in Lawson has noted that Winslow’s cousin, Dave Cantwell, and Dave’s wife, Peggy, have been acting strange. They seldom leave the house anymore, don’t interact with their old friends or their extended family. It’s been a bad year for them with Dave hurting his back at work. But they still manage to make it work. Or so they thought.

The Cantwell’s have three children: Megan, Mike and Zach. Megan, twenty-one and just home from college, has noticed that her parents were acting stranger than usual, but she shrugged it off as to her being away. When they overdose in a nearby town after making a buy, it is up to Megan to become the adult. Mike is in Afghanistan and Zach is a middle-schooler.

As Megan tries to sort out her parents’ financial affairs and save their farm, there is another problem looming on the horizon. Seems her first, and only so far, love, Noah, is back in Lawson. He has recently been discharged from a rehab center and is home to bury his wife and raise his daughter. But can Noah say clean? Megan still has feelings for him, but it would not be smart to get involved with a drug addict.

At times, “The Utter Catastrophe” was a tough book to read, but Hutchison managed it with compassion. I really liked that Hutchison focused on those left behind to clean up the mess(es) and muddle their way through life instead on the addicts themselves, and how they could not get off that road.

I also like that Winslow and Mary did not take center stage in this chapter, but they were strong supporting characters. The Somali refugee family (whose names I can no longer recall) are also supporting characters who help to frame the story of a small town in big trouble,

“The Utter Catastrophe” is another 5-star read in Julie’s world!

 

The Royals

Shirley J.        Adult Fiction                     Roayl Family,  Drug Addiction,  Kidnappers

The Royals by James Patterson and Rees Jones    125 pages

A short story by James Patterson and Rees Jones regarding the kidnapping of a lesser Royal in the English Royal Family  who happens to be a drug addict.    Also several murders occur during the Elite Agencies trying to locate the kidnappers and bring them to justice.   A quick read and not a bad story.  I would recommend this story to mature highschoolers on up.  Helps if you are a royal watcher.   

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy  560 pages

"In this masterful work, Beth Macy takes us into the epicenter of America's twenty-plus year struggle with opioid addiction. From distressed small communities in Central Appalachia to wealthy suburbs; from disparate cities to once-idyllic farm towns; it's a heartbreaking trajectory that illustrates how this national crisis has persisted for so long and become so firmly entrenched.

Beginning with a single dealer who lands in a small Virginia town and sets about turning high school football stars into heroin overdose statistics, Macy endeavors to answer a grieving mother's question-why her only son died-and comes away with a harrowing story of greed and need. From the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, Macy parses how America embraced a medical culture where overtreatment with painkillers became the norm. In some of the same distressed communities featured in her bestselling book Factory Man, the unemployed use painkillers both to numb the pain of joblessness and pay their bills, while privileged teens trade pills in cul-de-sacs, and even high school standouts fall prey to prostitution, jail, and death."

I used the summary from Booklist here because this book covers a lot of material and I didn't think I'd be able to summarize it as well. 

Needless to say, this is a pretty sobering read. However, I found the book to be fascinating and very informative. The book makes an impact by giving you information about the company that produces OxyContin and how it was advertised and introduced to doctors, but the author also gives you unsparing, personal portraits of people affected by the opioid epidemic.  The summary makes the note that "In these politically fragmented times, Beth Macy shows, astonishingly, that the only thing that unites Americans across geographic and class lines is opioid drug abuse. But in a country unable to provide basic healthcare for all, Macy still finds reason to hope-and signs of the spirit and tenacity necessary in those facing addiction to build a better future for themselves and their families."

I don't know if I have as much hope as the author does about the future. I also found myself thinking more about Rudy Guiliani (especially the next time I saw him on the news), since he was involved with Purdue Pharmaceuticals' team of attorneys.  I do have hope that the more people who read this book, the more that people will have understanding and sympathy and find a way to work together towards a better future.  This is a sobering, interesting book that I think many people should read.

I'm Just Happy to Be Here

I'm Just Happy to Be Here: A Memoir of Renegade Mothering by Janelle Hanchett  310 pages

"From the creator of the blog "Renegade Mothering," Janelle Hanchett's forthright, wickedly funny, and ultimately empowering memoir chronicling her tumultuous journey from young motherhood to abysmal addiction and a recovery she never imagined possible."

At 21, Janelle Hanchett didn't expect to get pregnant, especially not with a guy she'd only known for three months. Rebellious and a free spirit by nature, Janelle found that after having the baby, she was bored, feeling directionless, and seeking relief in wine way too often.  Over time, her drinking habit became worse and she started taking drugs. Along the way, she had more children, but she was still battling addiction and wound up separating from her children. For 10 years, she went through rehab to therapists and finally found sobriety (although in a way she never expected).

I had read a review of this book as well as the above quote and this one (both from the publisher): "This is a story we rarely hear--of the addict mother not redeemed by her children; who longs for normalcy but cannot maintain it; and who, having traveled to the bottom of addiction, all the way to "society's hated mother," makes it back, only to discover she will always remain an outsider."  I found this to be an interesting book, and definitely a kind of memoir that I had not read before ----- but I actually didn't enjoy it that much.  I didn't find the book "wickedly funny," and actually most of the time found I was pretty unsympathetic towards the author.  That's a personal reaction --- and I know some readers may really enjoy this book.  I just didn't like it that much.

The Book That Matters Most

The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood  348 pages

Books about books are nirvana for readers. And this book is one of the next best things to heaven. I could barely put it down.

Ava thought her twenty-five-year marriage to Jim was strong. Then she sees a text on his phone from another woman, a woman Jim claims to be in love with, and her life begins to completely unravel.

For years, Ava has wanted to join the book club at her local library, but membership is held to ten members, and there is a waiting list. However, the librarian is one of Ava’s best friends. She knows that Ava needs the group, so she bumps her to the top of the list.

The book club picks books based on a theme for the year. Each member gets to pick a book based on that theme. The theme for the upcoming year is “The Book That Matters Most.” Each member is to pick the book that has changed his/her life, the book that has had a substantial impact on his/her life.

Hood’s story is broken into chapters, each with an epigraph from that month’s book and the theme for the chapter. The titles range from The Great Gatsby to Pride and Prejudice, from The Catcher in the Rye to Anna Karenina.

Ava’s life is complicated by her rebellious, just-out-of-rehab daughter, Maggie, who has gone to study in Florence. Along with Ava’s story, Maggie also has a section in each chapter that tells of her decent into addiction at the hands of a much older man whom she follows to France.

As Ava tried to come to terms with her new life, a retired detective shows up at her door, wanting desperately to put to the bed, at last, the tragic events of Ava’s childhood that have haunted her.

Ever since I first read this book’s title, I’ve been trying to determine which book matters the most to me in my life. Two of the strongest runners are Jonathan Hull’s Losing Julia or Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind (the book version, not the movie version). But if I had to name just one, could I say, “All of them?”

I loved The Book That Matters Most.  I give it 6 out of 5 stars.

Party Monster: a Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland

Party Monster: a Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland , by James St. James, 287 pages

With the recent release of Michael Alig from prison, I found myself saying, "Who?"  I had no knowledge about the Club Kids culture of New York City in the '90s, so I read this true-crime tale written by James St. James.  (Note: if interested in drag queen makeup tutorials, google James St James transformations on Youtube).  James St. James writes of an incredibly decadent, superficial, drug-fueled nightlife, where the cast of characters is simultaneously sympathetic and repulsive, all at once.  He describes at length the rise of Michael Alig, from shunned party-goer to the organizer of must-attend, blow-out bashes, where wild events would take place, all in a frenzy of tons of drugs.  Alig, who comes across as someone who just desperately wanted to be loved, soon becomes addicted- both to drugs and notoriety, which soon spirals out of control, culminating in a night of murder and months of denial.  The writing is very scattered and conversational, which I found engaging, but others might not.  There are many funny events in this book, but those, combined with the shadow of addiction and murder, made me feel a little uncomfortable laughing.  This was later turned into a movie with Macaulay Culkin.

Buzzed

Buzzed by Cynthia Kuhn, 385 pages

Buzzed is a nonfiction book that details the effects and history of various types of drugs. These range from caffeine to nicotine to heroine to inhalants. Buzzed not only tells you what they are and what effects they cause but goes into the science behind why people abuse them and how they effect the brain. All the information is presented in a mostly unbiased way that is sorted into useful chapters. However, they also use a lot of chemical names that as they put it "look like alphabet soup". These near unpronounceable names popping up and being referred to frequently can make it difficult to read at times.

Overall it was a very informative and for a nonfiction, scientific book was not too painful to get through.

Snow Queen

The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham
258 Pages


This is a story of two brothers, Barrett and Tyler Meeks set between the years 2004 and 2008.  Barrett has just been dumped via text and is examining his history of failed relationships when he sees a strange light and has an almost religious moment.  Meanwhile Tyler is trying to write a wedding song for Beth who is dying of cancer.  Both Tyler and Barrett are dissatisfied with their lives and are struggling to find a place and purpose for themselves.

Cunningham has written several well received books in the past including The Hours and A Home at the End of the World (which I really liked) which is why I choose to read this novel.  However, like many authors, I think Cunningham sacrificed story for artifice.  The language and metaphors are well written and somewhat engaging but the story never really picks up speed or reaches a grand denouement.