Maureen Stanton was just fifteen when she got into angel dust. She was the middle child in a huge family that lived in the small town of Walpole, the most interesting fact of which seemed to be that it was home to Walpole Prison. Maureen's mother would warn her kids when they were growing up that if they didn't behave, they'd end up in behind bars there.
The story of Maureen's drug dabbling didn't really get going until about fifty pages in. Up until then, she told stories of her fairly typical seventies childhood: riding bikes, swimming, hanging out with the neighbourhood kids. She always had a rebellious streak and spoke her mind, so it wasn't too surprising when she started experimenting with drugs in her early teenage years. Her parents split up and this, combined with the large number of siblings she had, allowed her to fly a bit under the radar.
There were interesting elements, one being her straight-laced mother who ended up shoplifting, and stories of Maureen's childhood interspersed with infamous prisoners' stories from the Walpole Prison, like the Boston Strangler. Unfortunately, these stories dangled and then ultimately petered out. I found the same to be true of Maureen's own story. Yes, she had some interesting tales to tell, but they just felt as though they happened without much consequence. She never had an addiction so bad that she needed to go to rehab or struggled too hard to quit her drug habit. She never got in legal trouble. She barely even got in trouble from her parents. It all just basically took care of itself when she felt too introspective the final time she took angel dust and became depressed. I feel as though when publishing a memoir - particularly an addition-type memoir of which there are plenty out there - it helps to have an exceptional story to share. This one just fell a bit flat for me.
I generally read books fairly quickly but was away for a few days just after I'd started this book and didn't have as much time to read as I normally do. I just didn't feel a pull towards this one. My curiosity wasn't piqued as much as it usually is with this particular genre and I wasn't dying to know what happened next. That said, the quality of the writing was good and, more importantly, I'm extremely happy for the author's sake that she didn't have a harder time coming off the heavier drugs she took and didn't become another tragic statistic.
Judge the cover: 3/5
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