Reviews
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Requiem For A Dream. Reviewed by H. Forrester
Informed by the author’s own struggle with drugs, Requiem for a Dream tells the story of four dreamers who are held back by their own personal addictions. Hubert Selby Jr’s turned to both painkillers and heroin after being dismissed from the marines for ill health. Much like the characters in his book, drugs left him unable to achieve his dreams. Written is 1978, Selby Jr’s novel is still a very relevant account of how addiction can affect us all.
Requiem for a Dream begins with the main character, Harry, and his best friend Tyrone, pawning off his mother’s television in order to be able to buy heroin. We discover that this isn’t the first time Harry has done this and that Harry’s mother, Sara, often goes to the pawn shop to buy her television back, fueling the vicious cycle; however neither Harry, Tyrone nor Sara will admit that they are suffering an addiction, and Sara even goes so far as to make excuses for him.
Harry also has a girlfriend, Marion, and together they are trapped in the ideological world of being young and in love, believing that life has no consequences. In attempt to achieve their dream of one day owning a chain of art cafés, the three turn to dealing heroin, but of course, their addictions cause them to use rather than sell, and leave their dreams far out of reach. Not only do they not make any money, they also break down their relationships, leaving drugs as their only common interest.
Meanwhile, Sara struggles with her own depression and loneliness, she dreams of one day appearing on television. After being given the opportunity to appear on a TV game show, Sara begins to prepare by losing weight, however she struggles to do this naturally and so turns to highly addictive diet pills. These pills prove equally dangerous as any other drug as they drastically alter her mental state, and leave her in an institution.
Requiem for a Dream reinforces the fact that we are all susceptible to addiction, and it affects not only the user, but those close to them. Perhaps if it wasn’t for Harry’s addiction, Sara would not have felt so lonely and allowed her own addictions to emerge. It also demonstrates the idea that creativity is vital when it comes to the recovery of those suffering from addiction. Hubert Selby Jr’s outlet was his writing; it aided him in his recovery and he eventually kicked his habits and stayed clean and sober until his death. Even on his deathbed, he refused morphine despite spending decades addicted. The novel stresses the importance of creativity, relationships and the need to be proactive. Sara’s obsession with television proves that having a creative outlet is such an important part of living a healthy lifestyle, and helps fill a void that some may fill with drugs.
The Damage Done. Taken from AMAZON reviews May 2013
Think about the most wretched day of your life. Maybe it was when someone you loved died, or when you were badly hurt in an accident, or a day when you were so terrified you could scarcely bear it. No imagine 4,000 of those days in one big chunk.
In 1978, Warren Fellows was convicted in Thailand of heroin trafficking and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Damage Done is his story of an unthinkable nightmare in a place where sewer rats and cockroaches are the only nutritious food, and where the worst punishment is the khun deo - solitary confinement, Thai style.
Fellows was certainly guilty of his crime, but he endured and survived human-rights abuses beyond imagination. This is not his plea for forgiveness, nor his denial of guilt; it is the story of an ordeal that no one would wish on their worst enemy. It is an essential read: heartbreaking, fascinating and impossible to put down.
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