Recovery

By John Berryman

Book Overview

Poet John Berryman's foundational novel of addiction and recovery was writtenjust before his 1972 suicide and is a powerful portrayal of the protagonist'seternally indefinite attempts to free himself from the grip of addiction.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374248176
• ISBN13: 9780374248178
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Intriguing, self-lacerating, hopeful novel of victory over addiction

John Berryman was working on "Recovery" when he died, and in these pages there is hope of some ultimate victory over addiction. In the character of Alan Severance is the thinly-veiled personality of the poet himself, self-deprecating and perfectionist, attempting to overcome despair in a hospitalized addict's routine of recognition and confrontation. It is by no means an uplifting triumph to acknowledge that he got this far in the struggle -- but that he got this far, and then despaired, says much about the power of alcohol to ruin even the power of hope. This novel will change any romantic notions the reader may have about art and the role of drugs in the life of any artist.