Apology to the Young Addict

by James Brown

Husband, addict, father, skeptic. Now sixty-with years of sobriety under his belt-and the father of three sons, James Brown writes about finding a new path in life, making peace with the family whose ghosts have haunted him, and helping the next generation of addicts overcome their disease. Opening with the tragic tale of an elderly couple consumed by opioid addiction and moving through the horrors of a Las Vegas massacre to the loss of a beloved sponsor, these essays draw on Brown's personal journey of recovery to illustrate how an individual life, in all its messiness and charm, can offer a blueprint for healing. Haunting and hopeful, Apology to the Young Addict is a reinvention of the recovery memoir and a lasting testimony from a master writing at his peak.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Essays, Addiction

143 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 3, 2020

About the author

James Brown is the author of several novels, and the memoirs, The Los Angeles Diaries, This River, and Apology to the Young Addict (to-be-published March 2020). He is the recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Fiction Writing and the Nelson Algren Award in Short Fiction. His work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, GQ, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Ploughshares, and The New England Review.

Reviews

[Patrick O'Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is always an intense rewarding pleasure to read new work from James Brown. His two previous memoirs, the highly acclaimed The Los Angeles Diaries, and the tremendous follow up This River, set the bar for “addiction memoirs.” Although trying to label Brown’s work as only relating to that sub-genre would be like stuffing an immensely large square peg into… well, to be honest, into what I don't know. But let me put it this way, if Brown wrote the ingredients label for your favorite food his lean and powerful prose would still stand out and demand you take notice. Thankfully Brown sticks to literature and his third, and perhaps strongest memoir, Apology To The Young Addict, gives the reader a ringside seat as Brown not only survives the wreckage of his former alcoholic/addict past, but reveals that he has come out the other side—brutally honest, introspective, and all the wiser.

Apology To The Young Addict is a memoir told in connecting chapters where Brown’s “characters” are the down and out, a pair of geriatric drug addict neighbors, friends and family affected by his addiction, the rising and falling stars in Alcoholics Anonymous, and Brown himself as he navigates his own metamorphosis of recovery. Unflinching and self-reflective Brown exposes the devastation that his addiction has wrought by chronicling the decline of those around him while ultimately allowing the reader to truly see him for who he is now—a man taking responsibility for his actions and making amends for his wrongs. Apology To The Young Addict is the brilliant conclusion of Brown’s journey started in The Los Angeles Diaries—yet it stands alone as a defining homage to the human spirit and survival—an excellent heartfelt and dark memoir from a writer at the top of his game.

Originally published in The Orange County Register June 4, 2020

[Katie.dorny · Rating 4 out of 5]

An astonishing set of essays that lays bare the realities of addiction.

[Bethany Ault · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt so many emotions while reading this collection of essays, being in recovery myself. It took me back and made me reflect on my own journey with addiction, the bad the ugly, my rock bottom, and now my recovery. It’s made me consider going to meetings to build my sober support system, to further help me stay on the right track. What I appreciate about this book is that James doesn’t shy away from any aspect of what it’s like to be an addict/alcoholic. I’ve also learned more about AA meetings so now I’m more intrigued to go to them! I highly recommend this book!

[Steph Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant for so many reasons. I'm not sure there's too many of us who can say we haven't been touched by addiction in some way, whether our own or that of someone we love, and because of that I think this book speaks to all of us on so many levels. Though addiction is not something I've ever had to battle, I know plenty who have, both friends and family, and Brown's essays hit close home.

Each essay stands well on its own, but they flow together perfectly. The writing is what I expect from Brown: honest, raw, and eloquent. The prose is stunning and real, and through each essay you feel like he is sitting next to you telling you some of the hardest stories to hear, but with enough grace and truth to keep you hanging on for more. His use of second person POV in two of the essays is brilliant and compelling, though that can easily be said for the entire book.

Even if addiction has never been on your radar, this book still has so much to offer. It is an important picture of human struggle and the odds we face in looking for redemption and second chances. It can be taken in slowly, one essay at a time, or devoured in one or two sittings. The latter is probably the more likely route.

[Ray Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read all three memoirs by James Brown, The Los Angeles Diaries, The River and Apology to a Young Addict, over a period of two days. I would highly recommend taking this journey. It's challenging not to use the cliches in describing Brown's writing so I will cut to the case and tell you that his narrative style echoes that of Twain and Hemingway. Like Hemingway he honestly, and often brutally tells, his heroic story of survival and resilience with short, sharp sentences that describe the action and painful tragedies in his life. Yet at times, his prose flows like Twain writing about Jim and Huck on the river, free to love each other outside the evil in the world. It is lyrical, especially when he ends a chapter with insight and hope. I can relate to many of his experiences, addiction, loss, hospitalization, desperation, survival and redemption. Jim Brown's story, his brave bearing of his soul from prepubescence, through adolescence, adulthood, middle age and officially senior citizenship, is precious reading that will encourage and inspire you.

[Joseph Hirsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writer Richard Price once said words to the effect that you don't judge an artist by how good or bad they are at what they do; you judge them by, if you were to take away their ability to create art, whether or not they would go insane. By this standard, James Brown is one of the most important American writers working today. That he's a great writer in a technical sense in addition, with a clarion-clear voice, is just icing on the cake.

In a literary landscape already glutted with memoirs (a lot of them self-serving) and brimming with stories of addiction (ranging from the sensational to the purely depressing), James Brown has fashioned not just a perfect piece of writing on the subject, but one that has real religious and spiritual heft to it. It may be some kind of first, a book that not only examines addiction but penetrates through it to break through and become a meditation on the conditio humana: suicide, self-destruction, self-loathing, family, death, disease, chance, God and hypocrisy, in short, everything.

The stories and essays are universally strong, but standouts in my mind after having just consumed it (in less than twenty-four hours) would be the opener, "The Good Neighbors," about some seemingly innocuous octogenarians harboring a dark secret behind the bucolic facade of their garden patch and their country house, and an intense recollection of when the author's family reunion in Las Vegas almost intersected with the path (not to mention the line of fire) of the most lethal mass shooter in American history.

Another piece that deserves special mention is "The Last House on the Block." I single it out because it uses the second person, which I usually find mannered. But the device is used here to great effect to put one in the mind and body of an addict, to let the reader experience the rationalizations that go on in the brain of the alcoholic telling themselves that one drink won't hurt as the chills and sweats break out across their skin. Like all the other pieces here, it weaves deftly through a minefield of what, in a lesser artist's hands, would have just been a dog's breakfast of cliches and rote testimonials familiar to anyone who's been in recovery or has had their lives touched by addiction (which I guess is all of us at this point). Sure, such stories are always therapeutic for those recounting their sins and striving to better themselves. But how often do these musings transcend being an exercise and rise to the level of literature? Not often. And even then, they don't compare to this collection. Highest recommendation.

[Bory Thach · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Brown’s Apology to the Young Addict is the third book to his memoir trilogy. It reads with clarity and precision that readers will appreciate. He doesn’t hold back while detailing the harsh realities of addiction, and it explores how people are susceptible, whether a recovered AA sponsor, or middle-class elderly couple to an innocent teenage girl, nobody is spared once affected by this illness. The beauty of its seamless narration, how it moves throughout with simplicity shows the mastery that James Brown has achieved as a memoirist. The accounts of addiction and sobriety contain a meticulousness that is rare and seldom found in literary writing. Each depiction is heartfelt, painful and writhing with life and death struggles that every addict must confront. A message of hope and redemption, both spiritually and physically empowering while continuing to reverberate long after the book has been put down.

[Jack Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Apology to the Young Addict,"James Brown's memoir is not only a compelling story, but is in fact the quintessential framework for the understanding of alcoholism and drug addiction.
James Brown will take you on a journey to a place that is only a mystery world to most people. I am positive that this book will hit home in some context of your own lives or the lives of your friends and family. James Brown pulls you into a deeper understanding that speaks to the otherwise perplexed alcoholic / drug addict as well as people that do not have an addiction problem. I got a clear understanding of what fuels the perpetual downward spiral of the addicted to what is key for the survival of this roller coaster life.
Thanks James Brown , I felt a personal connection to this work and so will others.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: alcoholism, drug use, child abuse

This is an incredible memoir. Brown chronicles several of his experiences through his life related to his and others' drug and alcohol abuse, along with how AA has impacted his life. You'll meet Brown as a child and adult, as a father, as a spouse, as a sponsor, and as a sponsee. His storytelling skills paint very vivid pictures of a wide array of situations, and I was engrossed from the start.

It took me a while to read, as some of the stories were so intense that I needed to sit with them for a day or two. It was absolutely worth it to take it slowly, and I highly recommend this strategy to any other reader. Don't rush this one.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Brown is wonderful writer, and all of his chapters are interesting and insightful. The very first chapter, "The Good Neighbors," captures your attention and interest. I also really enjoyed "Leaving Las Vegas," "God of My Understanding," and "Bone by Bone." All of the essays in this book are related to Brown's past history of addiction and his present road to recovery. I have read the first two books in this trilogy , The Los Angeles Diaries and This River, and this is as beautifully written and memorable as the others. Highly recommended.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apology to the Young Addict is a harrowing, deeply moving and inspiring tale of pain, loss and redemption. I've read The L.A Diaries and This River, and Apology to the Young Addict is a superb last act in a trilogy of books I cherish. It also stands alone as a testament to Brown's immense skill, courage and unswerving honesty. He is a writer to trust in terrifying times. Highly recommended and Bravo!!!!

[Dean Ramser · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the challenges of self-awareness is being honest with your memories. James Brown not only brings self-awareness to this memoir, his well crafted writing style moves the reader to a place of introspection and self-evaluation that the reader may not expect. Sobriety is a long journey that never ends, and Browns insightful prose invites the reader to experience his personal journey, and in doing so the reader gleams perhaps a bit more awareness of their own path.

[Dirk Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you think you've had it with addiction memoirs, James Brown will change your mind completely. Brutally honest, tender, forthright, challenging, these essays lay bare the day-to-day struggle to overcome addiction and the remarkable, perhaps unearned second chances we can create for ourselves. A compelling read.

[Diana Mielecki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of this type of recovered drug addict book I have read, this is one of the best. The author genuinely seems to want to help prevent others from falling into addiction. While he speaks honestly and plainly, Brown avoids overly sensationalizing and wallowing in the prurient details in an effort to sell books.

[James M · Rating 5 out of 5]

One true sentence

Jim Brown needs to be read. Most writers never write that one true sentence. Jim's memoir is crowded with true sentences. He's writing about people we all know. Some of those folks are ourselves.

[Barbara]

James will be at the March 24, 2020 Pen on Fire Speaker Series & Salon. More at www.penonfire.com/speakerseries.

[taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It feels like I’m praying to nothing and that’s what I’m trying to get away from. The nothingness. That life is nothing. That I am nothing. There’s an emptiness inside me that so badly needs to be filled, and when you take away the drugs and alcohol I’ve been trying to fill it with, I don’t know where to begin.” I am not an addict. But as someone who has spent a lot of time desperately trying to understand my father & his addiction, this memoir hits home harder than any other substance use disorder related book I’ve read.

James Brown pulls readers in with his well crafted writing and powerful anecdotes. He explores concepts of triggers, relapse, and hope for the future in structured chapters through a realistic, yet deeply empathetic lens. This is a beautifully written, honest book about addiction and the shame, stigma, and mental health concerns that so often accompany it. Brown is the real deal & I will recommend this book until the end of time.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the title essay was the best in the book.

[Jackie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been addicted to James Brown's books since reading LA Diaries and he never disappoints. Wonderfully written, hard to put down, and as an addict myself - so much that I could relate to (especially the description of his judgements of the 12 Step fellowship). Thank you for writing another one James!

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m super blah towards AA and the author (rightfully for him) writes about it a lot, it clearly plays a huge part in what got him sober. Even that difference in sobriety journey aside, this is a really good book.

[Zibby Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir is full of essays that show the author's journey from addiction to parenting to healing. I loved how the author jumped into different points of view so you could get a complete picture of what addiction can do to families and people. Some of the sections were written in the second person, so we experience the detoxing. The one about the mass shooting in Las Vegas had me on the edge-of-my-seat. The author also included some tender moments with his family. This book gives us a 360-degree view of the different sides of addiction and how it permeates someone's life.

The author says, "I open it up to questions. Hands rise. This is the part they usually like best, and in the process of answering, I end up telling them how I used to love alcohol, the smell, the taste, how it made me feel, how, had I been able to stop after three or four or even ten drinks, I'd still be at it. At some point, though, it quit being about how it made me feel and started being about how I felt when I didn't drink or use." I thought this was such an interesting distinction and beautiful writing.

To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/jam...

[Selena · Rating 5 out of 5]

don’t even know what to say, this was an extremely touching and poignant story of addiction. brown has an enthralling and emotional style of writing that had me hooked from the first page. the entire work was moving, but the titular chapter was a haunting and heartbreaking introspection on addiction and i’ve never read anything like it. i really hope anyone whose life has been touched by addiction gets a chance to read through this book.

[Julia Amante · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read all of James Brown's books and find each one enlightening. He shares many stories of addicts who were part of his life. He uses a wide angle to create a broad picture of the concept of addiction. His experiences allow readers to put themselves into the scenes and see this topic through a new perspective.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

More a series of essays than a straight-ahead memoir, this book offers the unique perspective of the recovering addict/alcoholic. James Brown is always worth reading.

[Max Lemuz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The young addict of whom Brown speaks of is a possible byproduct of his own past addictions, and through such reflective moments as this, he is able to tell a story that transcends that of the typical "addict in the midst of addiction" narrative. Instead, Brown is digging deep and showing how the addict identity, even during sobriety, is "a real disease" and one in which never leaves you. Not just in its external struggles, but in the way it shapes one's relationships and the guilt, love, and regret that comes with them. Each story in this integrated collection is a wonderful and oftentimes heart wrenching reflective journey that readers will be able to use to question their own impact in the world.

[Andrea Ingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a soulful and deeply moving memoir. Even if you don’t have addiction problems, it’s a worthwhile read for the spare and emotionally honest prose, and for Brown’s exploration of regret and the darkness that we all harbor in one way or another.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book but it was slow moving and really not all that interesting. It seems the author could have expounded a lot more on the topic of addiction and recovery. Instead, it’s random anecdotes that really never tie together. Pretty boring.

[Gypsai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made a deep impression!

[Shraddha Potti · Rating 3 out of 5]

ZAMMM!!!! this one was deep..... also unrelatable but an enjoyable read.. described the cycle of addiction in a gripping manner....

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is kind of all over the place, but in a way, isn't that perfectly representative of addiction?!