By By Dane Roberts Wans On Bookreview
Drug addiction now has a face. It is a realistic face. It is the face of a person, somebody’s son. Maybe even your next door neighbor.
The subtitle of this book is “Our Son’s Addiction to Heroin,” and it is one mother’s plea to the world to control heroin addiction which is just one form of drug abuse.
“There is no way to deal logically when your child’s life becomes a disaster,” the author suggests. “No one who loves an addict can tread a consistently logical line.”
Author Rita Lowenthal collected her son’s diary and journals and edited them into this book. Using this and the letters that were sent to her from San Quentin where Josh spent some time, along with her own recollection of what was happening. She puts together a story of what it is like to watch your child destroy his life with drugs. The story is told in a linear line. Since the author is a good storyteller what could be depressing narrative becomes very pleasant to read.
Each chapter progresses smoothly. They detail another step in trying to stabilize Josh’s habit. “It’s no secret to those knowledgeable about addition and recovery that people are most vulnerable to relapse when they are closest to achieving sobriety,” she points out. There were many relapses with Josh.
She dwells not on the bad times. They are there. She doesn’t deny them. They are included with the daily adjustment the family goes through trying to stabilize Josh and go on with their life. In this 215 page small book of 24 chapters with an epilogue and what I call a Paul Harvey “rest of the story,” she packs in this period in her life.
The whole book acts as a form of grief release. The question you will ask is: How did Josh get a hold of the heroin at the tender age of 13? And that answer is suggested in chapter 23 when a school friend of Josh looks up Rita after the grief period is done and tells her, “I was a senior at Allderdice. I had been doing drugs for maybe a year. I think I met Josh at the wall behind the school where the kids used to hang out to smoke.”
“Time does heal. Hearts do break, they also heal. Some magic epoxy makes them stronger and better able to do what is necessary,” she concludes in the epilogue.
“Loss is normal,” she points out. We are better people because she shared. I am sure this book was-n’t easy to write.
Josh lived to be just 38. He seemed to be at times a fighter and other times he just went with the flow of the addiction. If this book can do any good his life would have had some meaning.
I recommend this book for parents of young people experimenting with drugs. It will give them hope.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 20, 2007. Read the original PDF.