I know I don't have to sing the praises of Anne Lamott to readers here! Reprising characters from Rosie and Crooked Little Heart, she tackles teenage drug abuse in this book. Rosie, now a senior in high school, lives with her mom Elizabeth, a recovering alcoholic and her stepfather, James, a novelist and contributor to NPR radio. She's grown up to be an outstanding student and a natural beauty, trouble is she is also a drug addict. She'll try any drug that comes her way and sleep with almost anyone willing to offer it to her. Her parents live in a world where denial is the 4th member of their family at the dinner table and if Rosie tries a little weed, sometimes smells of alcohol, has valium stuck in her jeans pocket and keeps condoms in her tennis racquet case, well that's just what kids do, isn't it? This line from the NY Times book review should send a chill down the spines of every mom or dad :The parents are regularly and convincingly lied to, then later derided for having believed those very lies. “You had to feel sorry for Elizabeth,” Rosie thinks, with something approaching real sympathy. “Getting tricked like that all the time, like a child.”
Scary reading this as a parent, wanting to always give your kids the benefit of the doubt ('the pills weren't mine'.. 'everyone else is drinking'.. 'i just tried pot a few times'). When Rosie's world comes crashing down and her mother finally comes to terms with her daughter's problem, drastic steps are taken, deep pain is felt and expressed, but healing begins.
A very powerful story. It's official, I'm jumping on the Anne Lamott fan bus! (And can't wait to finally read 'Operating Instructions' this summer!!)
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