What's Left of Us: A Memoir of Addiction Review

What's Left of Us by Richard Farrell is a modest appearing book, a plain white background showing a pair of beat-up boots. But what lies between the covers will soon have you captivated and horrified at the same time.

This is the world of heroin addiction.

It often leads to death. It almost did for Richie. He had a death pact with two other junkies, but first he needed a new pair of shoes. He couldn't die in these shoes with holes in the toes! So they lifted a pair of shoes from a local store and proceeded to buy the best dope they could afford, planning to overdose in an abandoned building. Stories like this are told from an addict's viewpoint, and the absurd almost makes sense.

Richie's attempted death was thwarted, he is found and brought to the hospital. Surely, this is a sign that he was meant to live, he thinks. And so he submits to a week of detox. He bids farewell to his love, heroin.

What's Left of Us chronicles each day of Richie's journey to sobriety. It doesn't just tell what happens, but it allows us into the thinking that steadily improves day-by-day and the flashbacks of the past that led to this condition. The reader becomes part of Richie's world.

People usually just sweep drug addiction under the rug. But if you want to understand some of the thought processes involved in the making - and the unmaking - of a heroin addict, this book will open your eyes.

After all, it's what's left of us that matters.