Weekend Recovery Reading: Night of the Gun

I just finished this book on Wednesday and highly recommend it as addiction/recovery memoirs go because it’s well written and incredibly engaging. It’s structure is not unlike Memento as a current NYT reporter puts his skills into tracking down and interviewing people from his past. And what a past it is with years of cocaine and alcohol abuse, five times in and out of recovery, and raising two twin girls as single father trying to sustain a career and himself.

Carr tracks down and collects interviews with old friends, dealers, lovers, counselors, employeers, family members, etc., trading stories in an effort to discover the truth about his mixed up history. He includes medial reports, court documents, and police briefings as well as photos and lots of personal anecdotes to move the story along.

And that’s why it never gets boring. Rather than worry about a detailed autobiography, Carr moves through through episodes as pieces of his puzzle comes together. He’s incredibly self-aware as an unreliable narrator and his strong writing pulls you into what a sick world he came out of and makes for an incredible story.

Here’s an excerpt. Here’s the book’s website. And if you’re in the NYC area, you’ll want to attend his reading next Tuesday at the Union Square B&N, 7pm.