Dopefiend Extravaganza at Jerry Waxler’s Memory Writers Network

I met Jerry Waxler  in one of my writing groups.He’s a seasoned writer with an easy-going, introspective outlook. If you follow his reviews, essays and interviews on the Memory Writers Network, you already know this is true. I’ve benefited from his sage writing advice time and time again.

Now it looks like I’m benefiting from his vast writing network. And you are too. A few weeks ago Jerry turned his attention to Dopefiend with a review of the book, and then an essay with writing prompts inspired by Dopefiend. This was followed up with a three-part interview with me that starts here.

Enjoy this feast of essays on all things Dopefiend!

Dopefiend review at The Rearguard

I had the good fortune to sit down with Michelle Hy from Portland State University a few weeks ago. Her Dopefiend review is now live at The Rearguard, PSU’s alternative monthly newspaper.

Here is a little snippet:

Is religion or belief in a higher power really necessary for recovery? “I would say ‘no,’” Elhajj replies. “The wording is very careful. It’s all about a higher power: God as you understand it. And it’s not about any particular religion and I’ve always really appreciated that and that’s one of the things that I’ve really held onto the most in my recovery.”

Check out the rest of the review here.

DOPEFIEND reviewed at The Internet Review of Books

Armed with two bits of advice from a former heroin addict–“Don’t get high” and “Change your whole fucking life around”–Elhajj climbed the twelve steps to recovery. Not without falling down a rung or two, but this is a twelve-step success story, one that should encourage others that there is a way out of addiction for those who really want it… Recovery programs are only as good as the desire of the addict to get clean, and relapses abound. But Elhajj had finally reached a point where he wanted to be clean more than he wanted the heroin he shot into his veins.

Ruth Douillette, on Dopefiend: A Father’s Journey From Addiction to Redemption for The Internet Review of Books