Gone to the Crazies - Hardcover

Weaver, Alison

3.33

326 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061189588 ISBN 13: 9780061189586

Publisher: Regan Books, 2007

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Traces the rise and fall of the author, a privileged Manhattan daughter of an emotionally distant father and alcoholic mother, whose own acting-out behaviors in childhood culminated in a dangerous drug addiction in her early adult years, a period marked by her attendance at an isolated private school and free-falling East Village parties.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

"A wise and eloquent book...in Weaver's expert hands the drug addiction and rehabilitation memoir has finally come of age."--Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Absurdistan

"[An] amazingly sane and graceful book . . . Weaver is a sure-handed storyteller and a clear-eyed observer."--David Gates, author of Jernigan, Preston Falls, and The Wonders of the Invisible World

"Gone to the Crazies is a stark and powerful debut."--Honor Moore, author of The White Blackbird

"A talented young writer with a fertile ground from which to make sense of her complex story."--Natasha Radojcic, author of Homecoming and You Don't Have to Live Here

A wise and eloquent book...in Weaver s expert hands the drug addiction and rehabilitation memoir has finally come of age. --Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Absurdistan"

[An] amazingly sane and graceful book . . . Weaver is a sure-handed storyteller and a clear-eyed observer. --David Gates, author of Jernigan, Preston Falls, and The Wonders of the Invisible World"

A talented young writer with a fertile ground from which to make sense of her complex story. --Natasha Radojcic, author of Homecoming and You Don't Have to Live Here"

Gone to the Crazies is a stark and powerful debut. --Honor Moore, author of The White Blackbird"

-A wise and eloquent book...in Weaver's expert hands the drug addiction and rehabilitation memoir has finally come of age.---Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Absurdistan

-[An] amazingly sane and graceful book . . . Weaver is a sure-handed storyteller and a clear-eyed observer.---David Gates, author of Jernigan, Preston Falls, and The Wonders of the Invisible World

Synopsis:

As a child, Alison Weaver's life shone with surface-level perfection-full of nannies, private schools, and ballet lessons. She had all the luxuries of a wealthy Manhattan upbringing. But her childhood memories were laced with darker undertones: Her father was emotionally absent and her mother was a beautiful, aloof alcoholic. Neither parent approved of their daughter's outbursts and emotions - and in the midst of her parents' own flaws, Weaver was constantly reminded that she was a mess that needed fixing. By the time she was a teenager, Weaver had found escape in alcohol, marijuana, and late night abandon. But when her exasperated parents had her shipped away - in handcuffs - to the cultish Cascade School, everything changed. Within the surreal isolation of the school's mountain campus, she left her old self behind, warping into a brainwashed model of Cascade's mottos and ideals. Graduation two years later left her unprepared for the harshness of the real world - and she soon fell back into a mind-numbing wash of drugs.

Stumbling into freefall in New York's East Village in the 1990s, Weaver's life began a downward spiral marked by needles and late-night parties, mingled with fears of HIV and death. Ultimately, faced with the reality of her rapidly escalating self-destruction, Weaver was forced to face her inner darkness head on.

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