Good Morning, Destroyer of Men’s Souls: A Memoir of Women, Addiction, and Love

This is a beautiful book. Ive read many addiction memoirs, but nothing quite like this. To see addiction through the eyes of a codependent person was completely new for me. I think the author may have broken new ground. Her writing is evocative and lyrical. The story she tells is tragic and ultimately heroic. The characters we meet in this book are so well drawn, so clear, that I felt as though Id spent a day sharing a house with all of them. The author also excavates the history of AA and Al-anon, as well as the seminal research and writing around codependency. This book is a must read for those like me who have only experienced addiction from the other side. I could not put this book down, and read it over the course of an afternoon. If you are an addict, or know an addict, or simply love good writing, then read this book.

Reading Nina Arons memoir felt to me like sipping from a thick, heavy mug of hot juice: undoubtedly an indulgent treat but also soothing in its familiarity, a detailing of the choices each of us makes every day to bring us closer to love. The memoir rang of true-ness in Ninas case, truth, but a universal true-ness for the rest of us, specifically women. The otherness by which we sometimes make the most significant decisions of our lives, until life simply wont let us anymore; the automatic ease some of us have for putting other peoples needs before our own; the endless chase to recapture youth, that moment of power and mania and lusciousness and abandon, that first adolescent high. I adore reading of romantic love, but a rarer pleasure is witnessing unconditional family love, which gets lost between the rom-coms and the Ozarks of the world. Nina portrays her family as close-knit, complex, darkly humorous, and foremost dedicated to the individual beauty in each of the selves that make up its ranks. It is love, yes, that propels this book, but specifically devotion, first to the family unit, then to the paramours, then to the drugs, then to the children, then to the self. And always and sometimes back and back and back to all of those things.

This well written book, which I was aware of before it was even published, was way too painful for me to finish. I too had a person in my life who was an addict. I understand the crazy romance of it. However, even if you spend years and years with people like this, its likely that they are only going to suck the life out of you. You are not going to save them or save your relationship. Its sad but true that no matter how charismatic they are they have little to give. Like the famous quote which is the title of the book, the drug of choice is a destroyer of souls. A very sad book.

This book is beautifully written and achingly honest. It humanizes addiction and those who experience it and/or love others who struggle. I found it deeply moving, smart and help my interest throughout. Nina Renata Aron is a very gifted writer and I cannot recommend this book more highly.

You don\’t have to be, or love, or even know an addict to be enthralled with this book. Written with self-deprecating humor and introspection, and rich in spot-on metaphors, this is an oddly upbeat book.

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