Cost

by Roxana Robinson

Julia Lambert, an artist, is spending the summer in her old Maine farmhouse. During a visit from her elderly parents, she hopes to mend complicated relationships with her domineering father, a retired neurosurgeon, and her gentle mother, who is descending into the fog of Alzheimer's. But a shattering revelation intrudes: Julia's son, Jack, has spiraled into heroin addiction. In her attempts to save him, Julia marshals help from her loosely knit clan, but Jack's addiction courses through the family with a devastating energy, sweeping them all into a world of confusion, fear, and obsession. In Cost, Roxana Robinson applies her "trademark gifts as an intelligent, sensitive analyst of family life" and creates a "warmly human and deeply satisfying book, marking a new level of ambition and achievement for this talented author" (Chicago Tribune).

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Family, Book Club, Addiction, Contemporary, Novels

420 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Roxana Robinson is the author of eight works of fiction, including the novels Cost and Sparta. She is also the author of Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life. A former Guggenheim Fellow, she edited The New York Stories of Edith Wharton and wrote the introduction to Elizabeth Taylor’s A View of the Harbour, both published by NYRB Classics. Robinson is currently the president of the Authors Guild.

Reviews

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the most beautifully written, sad, troubling books I have read in a long time. This is the story of a family: a woman, Julia Lambert, a divorced mother of two grown sons; Julia's ex, Wendell (both Julia and Wendell, are professors at eastern universities); Julia's aging parents, both beginning to lose mental and physical capacities; Julia's somewhat estranged sister, Harriet; and the two sons, Stephen who is making plans to attend law school, and Jack, a musician and happy-go-lucky youth. As the story unfolds Julia and Wendell learn, to their horror, and slowly begin to accept, that Jack is a heroin addict. Each character in this story is so carefully drawn; we hear their innermost thoughts and feelings. At the same time there is dialogue and action that moves the story along. It is sometimes excrutiating to hear Jack's voice, the desperation and craving that are so strong--as well as the pain of the parents who would give everything in them to help their son. "Cost" is about the cost to each of them, individually, and as a family, that must be paid to the beast of addiction.

[jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the story of a family like many others. A family of two sisters and a brother, grown up, with spouses and children. A family being torn apart, divided against itself, by many things, including:

1) Rapidly deteriorating mental conditions of both parents - a tragedy in itself.

2) A rift between two sisters, misunderstandings that have deepened into resentment and division

3) A divorce between Julia, the protagonist and elder sister, and her husband Wendell, resulting in Wendell's remarriage

4) Julia's son Steven, without direction in life, deciding to apply for law school and asking for financial help

But all these little schisms pale in comparison to the black hole that appears in the middle: Julia's younger son, Jack, is a heroin addict. And the family's love, money, energy, hope, everything they have, falls into the pit of despair and loss that is Jack and his addition. This is the cost that is referred to in the title of the book. It has cost Jack everything, and then costs his family what they have left.

This book was beautifully written, shifting perspective from person to person, showing us the lives, memories, and relationships of each person in turn. The constant stream of thoughts, of questions, that go through all our minds, moment by moment, is beautifully written as we occupy the thoughts of each character and how their relationships with everyone else around them shift and change in the wake of this central tragedy. This is a true American classic book

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought a good chunk of this novel bordered on melodramatic. It was no doubt a adequate depiction of heroine addiction and how it effects the entire family, but so much of the novel felt cliche. It's new fiction, it just came out 2 weeks ago. Had I read this novel 6 years ago (before addiction was such a hot topic in literature, film and television) I might have had a better tolerance for the story. But the interventionist, the concerned parents who react with anger, guilt and sadness, the brother who is torn between loyalty and love, and the distant sister, the novel felt like something I had already read before. That being said, I did admire Robinson's use of narrative and third person storytelling which encompassed every character. Her strongest scenes were those centered around Edward and Katherine, the grandparents. This is a very well written book but the subject matter is nothing new.

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read like the author did all her research in the library and had never had an actual interaction with anyone impacted by addiction. Also had a totally ridiculous scene in which the two sons actually become briefly "lost at sea" which was the most pained metaphor ever.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some reviews refer to this family as dysfunctional. But what is so tragic about the story is that the family is normal, that such things can happen in any family. Love and resentment. Love and anger. Love and guilt. What family does not alternate at times between these feelings? Julia Lambert, an artist and mother, says at one point in the novel about being an artist, "You had to find it yourself and then make it your own. You had to create your own balance, your own certainty. No one else knew what you were trying to do. You had to find your own faith, you had to stand up for it against the assaults of logic and fear and the articulations of the whole critical world." Her son Jack, in his addiction to heroin, had shown himself to be unable to stand up against the assaults of logic and fear, to create his life as his mother creates her art. Each member of the family feels responsible for what has happened to Jack. But part of the tragedy is that Jack has made his choices, bad ones, and that ultimately only he could save himself.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

First-snow-of-the-year afternoon reading, a b-day gift from my husband, who heard the author reading from her book on NPR. It's a quick read, despite its 500-page length. Sort of a later-in-life Jodi Piccoult type novel, where tragedy destroys a previously happy family.

I found myself curiously untouched by the characters, however. Primarily, I think, because the heroin-addicted Jack, is not developed beyond his addiction, so it's difficult for a reader to care.

The book is heavily weighted towards what comes before Jack goes into rehab. What happens after is told quickly and dispassionately in the last couple of chapters of the novel. Do novelists not learn how to end books anymore? The weak ending, too, reminds me of Jodi Piccoult.

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style:
The most amazing aspect of this novel is its writing. The use of short sentences not only gave the narration its rhythmic flow that is akin to a poem. This rhythmic flow also somehow mimics the thumps of an emotional human heart. The plot is about an extended family whose youngest member, 22-year old Jack, is a heroin addict. The narration is full of human emotions. Out of the 99 books (belonging to 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die - 2010 edition) that I read so far, this is the Best Family Drama by a mile.

The narrative mode:
The use of many first person narrators gave the story several perspectives of the subject in a given scene. It is like you (the reader) has the ability to read or explore the minds of each character involved in a certain episode. The use of all those italics to capture the unspoken dialogues or to emphasize a part of a certain train of thoughts is just utterly brilliant that I have not seen in the other books so far. Rather than verbalizing the thoughts, Ms. Robinson opted to present the inner workings in the mind of her characters. This is more effective for a theme as dark as heroin addiction because as each of the family members help out in the problem, there are more things going on in the mind rather than verbalizing to each other. Ms. Robinson scored well in this approach and what truly astonished me was how she was able to capture what could really be in the minds of an 88-year old fault-finding neurosurgeon (Edward), his 86-year old wife (Katherine) who was beginning to lose her mind through Alzheimer's, 30-year old divorce mother (Julia), her 24-year first son (Steven) and her second, Jack.

The theme:
If you hate heavy melodrama, this book is not for you. I normally stay away from this kind of books but since this is part of the 1001 Books, this is part of my quest. This is not a tearjerker though. I so far got teary eyed in a couple (out of the 99) books so I assure you that this will not make you cry. However, you will surely be able to relate to one of the characters. I just hope that it will not be with Jack, the heroin addict. Because if that is your case, then go on and cry.


What I learned:
Ms. Robinson says that the first two questions that parents usually asked themselves upon learning their child is into drugs are these: "What did I do wrong?" and "What do you do if your son is a drug (heroin in this case) addict?" This novel gives good answers to these two questions so I recommend this to all parents with young children. Young people tend to experiment more on things that they don't know about. These things can include drugs.

The scary and sorry state of being addicted to drugs, in particular, heroin. At the initial stage of the craving, this is how Jack describes how he feels:

"Like fucking hell. My skin is on fire, I want to scratch my whole skin off. My head feels like someone set off a bomb in it, and I want to throw up. I wanted to throw up all evening."

This above description is just on the earlier part. The most unforgettable part for me is the lengthly description of how he feels during his burglary into a pharmacy. You will surely feel sorry for him. What a wasted young soul.

What is heroin. Heroin was diacetylmorphine, a synthesized form of morphine with extra chemical boosters that delivered it quickly to the brain. Opioid addiction destroyed the natural patterns of behavior, including those of survival. The craving subsumed everything else.

The memories that went back:
I had a paternal cousin who was a drug addict and disappeared when he was 18 years old. I saw him selling my grandma's things like alarm clock, etc just to have money to buy drugs. When I was 10 years old, I was even part of the entourage who went to a narcotics station to report him. He was picked up from our house while talking to his girlfriend on the phone.

At 45, I am not sure what is wrong with me. I have never ever seen pot much more cocaine or heroin. I only see them in movies. Maybe I am not that friendly, maybe I look serious, or maybe I look poor that nobody offered me those things even when I was young. My parents had their share of worries that I could be a user since I studied, and for more than a year alone, in Baguio where during my time was where the marijuana farmers deliver most of their harvests. Then those marijuana leaves were delivered together with the Baguio blooms to flower shops here in Manila. Maybe it is one of those things that I am not meant to encounter in my life.

I am just happy that Cost by Roxana Robinson is not one of those things.

[Jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't usually post huge reviews for books, but I had to for this one: The Times and the Washington Post fell all over themselves giving this book good quote, but I just don't understand why.

In a nutshell, the book is about a family dealing with the consequences of their son's heroin addiction. This is a subject that doesn't feel particularly fresh, especially in the last half of the aughts. Anyone who's watched an episode of "Intervention" knows the sequence of events that lead up to one. Beyond that (and I'm trying not to give too much away), the son in question is set apart at the beginning of the story as not being a true part of the family -- and a problem child all along at that. After the big reveal, I didn't exactly root for his recovery.

The writing is relatively simplistic -- not bad, just not that complex. The amount of self-reflection that the characters engage in makes the book slow and unsatisfying. I mean...contemplating the genius of how a mayonnaise lid turns? Really?

I also suspect that I'm not in the target demo for this book. I'm guessing older folks with grown children would get more out of it. Much of the story felt as though the writer were penning it from personal experience -- from this somewhat lofty, academic world of serious art and liberalism. (And I'm as liberal as they come, trust me.) The protagonist, the son's mother Julia, also seems a tad daft. Not naive, even -- just unworldly, which is a bit strange considering she's supposed to be a college professor. It was hard to consistently stay with her as she figures out facts bit by bit.

The real success of the novel is in the author's portrayal of Julia's elderly parents -- the slow loss of physical and mental faculties and related thoughts of powerlessness to biology. The final few pages of the book were, I admit, searing. And I did like reading the first-person thoughts of a junkie -- that was certainly well-researched.

Another review I read said much of the novel was "melodrama." Agreed.

[Duntay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had the library specially order this for me -as they could not get it from inter library loan they actually purchased it. I feel slightly guilty inflicting it on other people when I return it to the library.

It is pretty much a classic what-seems-like-it-will-tear-the-family-apart-actually- brings-it-closer story. It could have been a powerful story about addiction and how an entire family becomes caught in its vortex. But somehow it wasn't. Partially it is because it takes place against a background of distressed barnwood. I understand this is to show that heroin addiction does not only occur among the working classes, that it can happen to any family, but somehow it falls a bit flat in its middle-class earnestness.

Part of the problem is the over use of descriptive language- we know what every character was wearing in every scene, and the decor of every room, particularly in the 'shabby-chic' Maine summer home. The over use of adjectives and similes is a pet hate of mine, and I knew trouble was ahead when every ingredient in a ham sandwich in the opening chapter is described, from the 'translucent, succulent meat' to the tomato with its 'juicy scarlet core' to the slices of bread spread with mayonnaise like 'marble tiles'.

[Laurence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vlot geschreven boek over wat een heroïneverslaving doet met een mens en zijn omgeving. Hoewel het (uiteraard) allemaal zeer dramatisch is, siert het dit boek dat het reëel en geloofwaardig de verwoesting weergeeft, de spiraal waaruit zo moeilijk te ontsnappen is en de twijfels en moeilijke vragen beschrijft waar je niet aan kan ontsnappen als je zoon een heroïneverslaafde is. Daarnaast is het ook nog een erg leerrijk boek, al werd het educatieve soms iets te expliciet uitgespeld.
Zeker een goed boek dus, al kaart het ook nog een aantal andere familiedrama-thema's aan, en dat had niet gehoeven. Een grootmoeder die aan Alzheimer lijdt, broers en zussen die uit elkaar gegroeid zijn, overspel en scheiding. Het zijn allemaal thema's die heel kort aan bod komen, maar eigenlijk een volwaardige uitwerking verdienen. Het is mooi hoe Roxana Robinson ons laat meedenken vanuit het hoofd van alle familieleden, maar soms leidde het maar wat af van het centrale thema, zonder enige echte meerwaarde.
Maar toch: dit boek doet je als ouder nadenken "wat als..." om dan even te rillen en het van je af te schudden en uiteindelijk te hopen dat je nooit moet meemaken dat je jonge zorgeloze kind opgroeit tot een compleet ander onbekend persoon die niets meer om je geeft.

(3,5 sterren)

[Ron Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cost will get tagged immediately as that story about heroin addiction, but what's best about Roxana Robinson's scarily good novel has nothing to do with opiates. Oh, she's done her homework well, and she writes about every aspect of the drug -- its use, its effects and especially its personal, financial and spiritual costs -- with flesh-itching precision. But if heroin is what gives this novel its rush, Robinson's sensitivity to family relations is what makes it so compelling.

Most of the story takes place at a seaside house in Maine. For Julia, an artist and art professor, this was meant to be a tranquil vacation with her elderly parents, but those plans are quickly swept aside. On his way home from Seattle, her elder son, Steven, stops in Brooklyn to see his younger brother, Jack. Immediately, he realizes something is wrong. Drugs had always been part of. . . .

To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...

[Britta · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Boys were sweeter, really, than girls; there was something tender and vulnerable about them. Girls were born with a kind of armor, some kind of knowledge, some connectedness to the world, that boys never acquired."

...and that was the most redeeming thing about this book...

[Jill Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roxanna Robinson - always a brilliant writer - takes the reader through the devastating emotional effect that heroin addiction brings to an entire family, as well as the physical effects it has on the addict. Not one member of 22- year old Jack's immediate family is spared the damage stemming from his drug addiction. Robinson bases most of the story on Jack, his divorced parents Julia and Wendell, and his older brother, Steven. But, she brings in other family members and some others outside the family, who have been pulled into the problems Jack has created by his addiction.

This is the story of a family - three generations - who have long been separated emotionally by misunderstandings. They are brought together in an attempt to deal with Jack's problems and in the process find some emotional healing with each other.

It is a great read. Robinson is unstinting in describing the family's turmoil and the book doesn't end in a wholly happy way, but it ends the way most things like this probably do end in "real life".

[Laurel-Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is the cost of family connections? What is the cost of severing them? Julia Lambert asks these questions during a traumatic time in her family’s lives.

An artist and professor, Julia departs to her summer home in Maine, to try and connect with her tyrannical father, a former surgeon now retired, and her aging mother, suffering from signs of early Alzheimer’s disease. In her father’s presence, Julia feels anger. Constantly. She tries to delve into it, to understand it. She remembers moments in their shared pasts. Nothing seems to erase the feeling.

Divorced, Julia has won the old Maine farmhouse in the settlement. It is badly in need of repairs, but she still feels more connected to herself in this place. She hopes that here she can begin to repair the damaged relationships in her life. Her ex-husband, Wendell, has remarried and appears to be reclaiming his life, separate from her and the rest of the family. She struggles against the resentment she feels.

But then, as if blown in by a hurricane, the news of her youngest son’s heroin addiction is revealed and takes over all their lives. From the first moments, as the family members try to bring Jack to Maine for an intervention, and hopefully, for treatment, their focus is on him and his disease.

It is not an easy thing, convincing Jack to come to Maine to meet with his family. They have to almost “bribe” him, paying outstanding debts and personally accompanying him---this task has become Wendell’s.

Once Jack has arrived at the house, nothing is simple at all. The expert in rehab that they’ve brought in to help with the intervention seems arrogant, albeit knowledgeable. They all find themselves fighting against their own feelings. And then Jack does something that seems to tilt their whole plan on its axis. From then on, the path to eventual rehabilitation is circuitous and bewildering. With family members trying to do their part in the intervention, it all seemingly unwinds and falls flat. Eventually, though, he is admitted into a rehab facility. But, again, nothing goes according to plan.

In the midst of the chaos that is now her life, Julia manages to put together an art show and secure tenure as a professor at her New York university. But her life is never the same again.

And in the fraught-filled days ahead, she comes to know the terrible costs of addiction…For her, for her family, and for her son.

Gracing us with a poignant glimpse into the seamy side of life, this author reveals much when she shows us the addict’s perspective on several occasions in the story. We see the desperation, the gritty need, and the panic, as the addict shoves aside all of his prior knowledge of how to behave in this world, in search of that euphoric high. We feel his fear, his angst, and his pain.

Troubling though it is, this tale brings us back to those initial questions: What is the cost when family relationships are broken? Can anything be repaired?

This book was so compelling that I couldn’t wait to find out how things ended for this family.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was completely absorbing to me. While the central character, Julia, was confronting the issue of her young son's heroin addiction, the book also examined how family crisis bring to light other issues. Julia is spending the summer in her well-loved and well-worn summer home overlooking a cove on the Maine coastline. Her time there is interrupted when her older son confides that he believes his brother is a junkie. Julia rallies her family around Jack and as they gather to intervene they also are forced to confront how they have acted within the family. Julia's aging father, once a renowned neurosurgeon, realizes that he needed to do more than provide his family with a healthy income and beautiful surroundings. Each character goes on an inward journey and reflects on their relationship to their family members.

The book is also beautifully written. It some places it's almost like poetry.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

The term that I think best describes this novel, a chronicle of one family coping with the heroin addiction of its youngest son, is self-conscious. The author's effort shows in every part of it—the prose, the dialogue, the premise—and as I read I couldn't shake the feeling that it all felt a little forced.

Take the subject matter: addiction. Surely that brings with it enough drama to sustain 400 pages. But the author introduces an Alzheimer's subplot for good measure, as well as infidelity, a potential love-child, and all other topics that only ever meet in Lifetime original movies. It seems as though she worried that heroin addiction alone wouldn't carry enough emotional heft. Go figure.

Compounding this is the writing itself, which strains under a few too many literary flourishes, as well as extremely liberal use of italics. By the end, I hadn't connected with this family's pain. I'd been too distracted by everything else.

[Kate S · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subject of this book hit far too close to home. I found the flawed characters believable and, while maybe not likeable, understandable. The chapters shared from Jack's point of view were invaluable to my own life while the sections dealing with Edward and Katharine were less personally applicable. I can understand how the word 'melodrama' would be associated with this story, but I also think families going through any kind of stressor of this level deal with everyday matters differently. This kind of stress also brings to light so many underlying issues.

Overall, I liked this book. I liked the narration, I liked the writing style, I liked the characters and the story. I just don't think I will be picking it up for a re-read any time soon.

[Beth Rear · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a really good book about how a son's addiction to heroin wreaks havoc on every member of the family

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging novel about a family coping with a family member having a heroin addiction. The protagonist, Julia, is a divorced artist and art professor who has two sons aged 22 and 24. She lives in New York City. Steven, the responsible son, has been working as a conservation activist in Seattle. He decides to move back east to study law. His younger brother Jack, a musician, has always been the family risk-taker and troublemaker.

The story begins with Julia at her vacation house for a week to be with her aging parents, both in their 80s. Her father Edward, is a retired surgeon, and is always ready to correct anybody. His wife Katherine, has dementia. Julia’s ex-husband Wendell brings Jack to the vacation house. It is there they fully learn and accept that Jack is a heroin addict. Things become quite eventful from this point!

A novel with interesting characters and very good plot momentum. I learned about what heroin addiction leads people to do and the difficulties individuals have to stop being a heroin addict.

This book was first published in 2008.

[Lena Riemersma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fine writing and word choice define this sober book about an artist trying to deal with her son's heroine addiction while reconciling relationships with her ex-husband, overbearing neurosurgeon father, aging and forgetful mother, estranged sister and college-bound son in her decaying house in Maine.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm surprised that I'd never heard about Roxana Robinson until I recently saw favorable reviews for her new book, "Leaving." One of those reviews suggested that readers start with this one, "Cost," and that's great advice. This is one helluva book.

"Cost" is a tale about family generations and how they get along (or not), particularly here, where the 22 year old son of Julia, the book's protagonist, is addicted to heroin. Thrown into harsh relief are the unwillingness of parents to believe this could happen; the damage, emotional and economic, visited on families with addicts; the inadequacy of treatments for addiction; and what a shit-show addiction is for the addict himself. Families with children in crisis or worse often fall apart; couples divorce.

Many bad things happen in "Cost" - it's a book about desperation. It's a superb novel.

Blurb: "When Julia Lambert, an art professor, settles into her idyllic Maine house for the summer, she plans to spend the time tending her fragile relationships with her father, a repressive neurosurgeon, and her gentle mother, who is descending into Alzheimer's. But ... Julia's son Jack has spiraled into heroin addiction. In an attempt to save him, Julia marshals help from her ... elderly parents; remarried ex-husband; removed sister; and combative eldest son. Ultimately, heroin courses through the characters' lives with an impersonal and devastating energy, sweeping the family into a world in which deceit, crime, and fear are part of daily life."

[Kenedy Holt]

Truthfully it’s a 2.5, I feel like this story had such potential but I really didn’t like the writing style or the ending…

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow this book was so powerful on a whole other level..the writing was phenomenal and I found myself rereading several passages just in awe of how she put the words together and made such a vivid and fascinating picture..you feel these characters, their pain, confusion, desperation and hopelessness and it is so real..The story of this family in their summer house in Maine is anything but ordinary as everyone has their secrets and internal struggles and the author takes you into the hearts and minds of each of them: there is Julia the divorced artist academic who is waiting for her university to recognize her, her father to respect her, her family to understand her and her sons to love her; Edward, her father a retired neurosurgeon who is slowly deteriorating, cant do all he used to and realizes now how arrogant and judgmental he has been all his life and now that he can realize it and change no one cares; Katharine, the sweet dainty silly mother who never complains or comments even when internally she is pained and slowly losing her mind to the onset of Alzheimer's disease and all she really wants to remember is where her relationship with her daughters went all those years ago; Harriet the sister, estranged from her family who is cold and distant, forever silently competing with Edward for things said and done years ago and virtually a stranger to her sister Julia after growing apart years ago.. and then Steven, Julia's oldest son who is environmentally conscious, protective of his younger brother Jack and ready to change the world when he find out the worst about Jack and has to get his family involved to save his life..At the heart of this story is the heartbreakingly realistic and chilling story of Jack's scary addiction to heroin. This revelation happens and changes the whole book into a thrilling spiral into the frighteningly real life of a junkie, a person with no other thought but drugs period. The distant and emotionally challenged family must come together to stop him, save him. It was during this part, Part Two that I thought the book really took off, it was scary and exciting to read about how dangerous heroin is, both while using and withdrawing and the author did a brillant job explaining in detail everything you want to know if you ever even think of shooting up..I respected this book for all it taught me and and showed me about the complexities of parenthood, siblings, relationships, neurology, drugs, addiction and life in general, highly recommended and the only reason it isnt a five-star is because of Part One, how you are never really sure what is going on until you realize it is backstory for the storm unleashed within the next two hundred or so pages..Very descriptive writing you will need to read and read over to appreciate but excellent writing overall..Great book.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been wanting to read this one for a long time. It is not a book that I think is for everyone. It's a fascinating look a family that is dealing with a family member with heroin addiction. Although that is the primary focus of the novel, it's so much more ... it's about the complicated relationships that exist in most families to some degree or another. It's not for the faint of heart ... emotionally speaking. It's not gory or violent in any way but it is emotionally impactful and hits the reader in the gut!

The characters that Robinson presents in Cost are outstanding. They come alive for the reader. The author's beautiful writing and excellent character development really shine in this novel!

The narrative shifting device employed by Robinson was difficult for me to follow initially - throughout the narrative, the perspectives change randomly, making the narrative feel occasionally disjointed. I got used to it eventually but it was jarring in the beginning. In the end, I appreciate the shifting voices and how it contributed to the overall feel of the novel.

I really thought that the voice of the character with heroin addiction was done so well and it really helped me to better understand addiction and its hold on someone in a new way. I thought the novel really did a great job of showing the wide reaching impact of addiction on the entire family unit. And it really made me think about my own family and how the personalities within a family combine to create a unique, interesting, messy, crazy thing unique to that very family.

Although I enjoyed the novel, I did feel that the novel ended fairly abruptly. Robinson built up the story so well, only to end the story so abruptly as to be frustrating to me!

I enjoy Robinson's writing style but can definitely understand that it wouldn't be for everyone. It's a bit of stream of consciousness but with structure. It's almost clinical at times. Yet, I like it and find it interesting. At times it feels as if I am listening in to someone's inner voice. It's an ever-changing emotional dialogue of sorts - raw, uncomfortable, funny, sad, interesting, frustrating, and more.

In the end, this isn't a novel for everyone but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I left the novel having felt as if I learned something and felt something that I hadn't learned/felt before!

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What was the cost of these connections, the cost of severing them?" from "Cost: A Novel" by Roxana Robinson

"She felt grief for her own cold, unfathered childhood, and rage at herself, for making it last so long, and for holding fast to resentment, and for never becoming better than she was." from "Cost: A Novel" by Roxana Robinson

"You could only be sure you would never be free of what had happened." from "Cost: A Novel" by Roxana Robinson

"What should you do, when you saw something going wrong? Sail in and announce your views? Let people run their own lives? How did you decide?"

"Nothing made you certain of your place in the world of art."

"It was the mother who was the enemy of the husband, if there were an enemy."

"The crimes you paid for, as a parent: excruciating, to be blamed for something you’d never dreamt of doing, of hurting someone you’d give your heart’s blood to."

"Addiction robs you of the person you love. Addicts betray our trust.”

"You’d like to defend him from this reality, but he’s created it.

"He’s betraying you all."

"It’s a terrible irony, if you will: the people who most trust him, who most want to help him, are the ones he first betrays.”

"This family had never pulled together in its life."

"Wherever you were was at the center of things; you were at the heart of your own universe."

"Affection flooded through her for her elderly, struggling parents, who were trying to make their way through each difficult day, who were beset and confused by the changing world, handicapped by their failing bodies, finding solace in humor and each other."

"It was a peacekeeping mission, she would not provoke an incident, but she would patrol, with armed guards."

"We think back through our mothers, if we are women, Virginia Woolf had said."





Thanks for the recommendation, Sue Walters

[ducky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a young heroin addict, told from the perspective of an omniscient narrator who delves into the mind of the addict, his brother, mother and grandfather. It explores several questions about life but does not answer any of them, which means it is probably a good book club candidate. The plot is uneventful and the book focuses instead on the characters’ inner thoughts and histories as well as the complex relationships amongst family members. Several questions are brought to the reader, including:

Are we genetically predisposed to certain behaviors? Or are those behaviors developed as part of our upbringing, environment and other people’s reactions to our actions?
What is the effect of divorce on children? What is the effect of affairs on marriage?
Do parents tend to have “favorites” amongst their children? If so, how to they go about choosing their “favorite”?
Is heroin a physical or psychological addition? How far should parents go to support an addicted child?
Is personality a result of nature or nurture?
Should parents feel responsible if their adult child is a non-contributor to society?


I also noticed that the author would visit the same topics several times, almost as if in anticipation of an intermittent reader; this would get annoying at some points since it would do nothing to move the plot along. It appeared that the author did extensive research on medical topics (ie: surgery) and heroin addiction as she explained these things in depth and in a manner that seemed almost to be from first-hand experience.

[Maicie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sincere look at how an addict’s behavior affects the entire family.

Julia’s son is a heroin addict. She enlists the help of her sister, ex—husband, eldest son, and parents to help save Jack from drug use that usually ends in death. I felt the information on some of the supporting characters was unnecessary: the mother’s early stage Alzheimer’s disease and the sister/father conflict was superfluous background. I wanted to learn more about how the disease shaped the eldest son’s life.

Some of the more memorable scenes:

When Wendell, the ex, and Julia are grilling Steven, the sober son, on Jack’s drug use. He finally blows up and expresses his anger that his parents were always rescuing Jack. Steven’s ‘good’ behavior resulted in less attention.

I loved the interventionist. He was the most real character of all. They are usually ex-addicts themselves and have a no-nonsense demeanor that can be quite off-putting.

Page 370: Jack has disappeared. Julia thinks, “What was so strange was that the mornings kept arriving, long after she was able to receive them. Things kept happening, as though the world were still turning.

Page 401: Wendell and Julia are searching the streets and shooting galleries for Jack.
Wendell: “It’s like an exercise in existential torture: our punishment is to sit for eternity and watch our son destroy himself.”
Julia: “Without eyelids, without blinking. And it’s full time.”

The abrupt ending was perfect. The addict often spirals downward for years and then in one swift movement, it’s over.

[Sharon Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, a couple of weeks ago, I was visiting my dad at his new place, an assisted living center in Dallas. It's a nice place as these places go. It has a little library, and we often go there and sit for a bit. On this day, he began to read a book, so I picked up something as well: Cost by Roxana Robinson. I got maybe thirty pages read before Dad and I resumed our walk around the facility.

The next day, I returned to see my dad (before heading back to Austin) and considered "borrowing" the book from the library, but I didn't feel comfortable doing so. Instead, I downloaded it to my Nook and finished it in bed at night. Maybe that's the best place to read because it's conducive to shrugging off your own life and entering those of others. In any case, I was deeply moved by the story and its characters. One of the best scenes in the book is the break-in at the pharmacy. I've read many books on addiction, both fiction and nonfiction, but Cost is the first to grant me entry into the addict's heart and mind. This book takes you there, and I'm both grateful and awed by the experience.

[Fredsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm rating this book as a 4.75. It's excellent. And important.

This novel tells the story of a family, maybe a bit more complicated than most American families, and what happens as the youngest son is revealed to be addicted to heroin. It's a hard and troubling look into the the life of a junkie. The young son, Jack, wants nothing to do with family. He wants their money, but that's all. His world has narrowed down to heroin and how to pay for it. He pays.

His family's life, though, has expanded tremendously. Jack's arrogant ex-neurosurgeon grandfather, who is almost 90 years old, finally looks back at his life and sees that he might have acted differently to his wife and children. He sees his wife's mind faltering and thinks that he might have at least told her that he loved her while she could still concentrate. Jack's father, divorced and since remarried, manages to get over his anger at his ex-wife and allows a friendship to regenerate between them while they work together to save Jack. Jack's mother, a painter and teacher, suffers tremendously. But her paintings seem to improve. And everyone learns a lot too much about heroin.

These characters are visible to me, not only the family at the center of the drama, but also the walk-on junkies who are terrifying in their emptiness.

[Cathleen Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read all of RR's fiction and value her ability to take apart and describe almost clincially the intersection of what is in my opinion social class and human emotion. I love this - because I spent so much of my childhood with my mouth hanging open inside other people's super nice bathrooms and wondering what made me different from everyone else I knew, I enjoy having someone else do the ogling for me for awhile.

This novel tells the story of a drug addict and the impact of his addiction on his family. The problem with the story is that the drug addict never really comes to life - he's always been difficult and that's probably the heart of the story but by the time we meet him his life and his internal monologue is pretty much taken over by his need. It's like he never had a chance in life. He was on a trajectory toward addiction and near certain death.

First of all, I had no idea addiction was that bad.

there's so much in here about the way the brain works - the grandfather is a brain surgeon, his wife is starting alzheimers and the rest of the characters are thinking about thinking and reactions and chemical addiction enough to make brain science seem to be at the heart of the story. but still, what's at the heart is already dead... Still, I wanted to be with this family every minute of the way and was sad to let them go.