A Life in Smoke: A Memoir
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.54 (772 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0743289595 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-08-04 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
She lives in Reading, Pennsylvania, with her husband and son. Julia Hansen was born in 1963 in Vineland, New Jersey.
Try, try, try again Jeannie As an avid never smoked non-smoker, my eyes were opened to the complexities of trying to break this one little habit. I have much more respect for my friends and family members that have accomplished this feat through the years. Hats off to Julia for not letting past defeats lessen her determinat. A Life in Smoke: A Memoir Lori A. Crutchley Fantastic Read! I found this to be a completely heartfelt realistic view of the life of a smoker trying to quit. The tongue-in-cheek humor actually comes across as a coping mechanism instead of snarky storytelling. It is easy to find yourself truly caring about this person and wanting them to suc. "I fell in love with Julia" according to beatrix schwartz. I picked it up for one of my patients who wants to quit smoking and decided to skim through the book myself before passing it on to her. It was completely absorbing. I fell in love with Julia. Her honesty and humor inside of all the pain that's clearly revealed and shared by her touched me deeply
Hansen's writing is skillfully rich in detail, but for readers, the very premise of chaining herself to a radiator is itself like inhaling that first cigarette—to some the very idea is distasteful, to others intriguing. In seven chapters marking each of her days enchained, Hansen explores her experience of withdrawal and delves into her memories of the life that led to this self-imposed bondage. She describes her mother's daily cigarette, her father's abandonment, her stepfather's reticence, her time writing porn and health advice, her battle w
In the end, Hansen's story was painfully simple: She smoked to survive her life. What followed: seven days of cold-turkey misery, comic absurdity, and revelation as Hansen stepped from behind her wall of smoke to face her addiction to nicotine -- and some painful truths. She bought a 72-foot length of chain that was "unwieldy as a corpse" and locked herself to a radiator in her dining room. "I accepted the certainty of my untimely death with gallows humor and a calculator. Clanking around her house like Marley's ghost, white-knuckling cravings, and struggling