- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Arcade Publishing; 1 edition (Jan 10 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1559708425
- ISBN-13: 978-1559708425
- Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 14.5 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 408 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #180,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
What happens when a bright, well-loved young woman gets hooked on heroin and turns to prostitution to keep up her habit? Hopefully, she eventually shakes free, as Australian Holden does, but most likely a lot goes wrong first. In this vivid and riveting account of her own sudden fall and slow recovery, Holden describes the slow pull toward heroin as her friends and her lover are hooked. Mild, almost bored temptation turns into obsession after she gives it a try. As the drug and the life compromises it encourages take over Holden's universe, she loses her job and rarely sees her family and clean friends. Eventually, desperate for cash for the daily fixes for herself and her inept boyfriend, she starts turning tricks on the street. When, one night, a john turns out to be a scout for temps at a brothel, Holden's story turns. The relative stability of the brothel, and the accompanying relationships with sister prostitutes and even some johns, revives Holden's sense of self and self-worth. Throughout, she tells it like it is. Her depictions of the dark realities she lived through are at times graphic, especially in some of the more difficult scenes with johns, but always clear-eyed. She lets the readers see—and judge—the situation for themselves. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* In this breathtakingly candid memoir, Holden, a middle-class Australian with an honors degree in classics, recounts her years weathering the emotional storm of heroin addiction. She retraces her fall, from her first hit of the drug (done as a lark with some friends) to months spent so strung out that she stole from her family and the bookstore where she had worked for several years. Heroin, she writes, was "a scaly green lizard wrapped tight around my mind, blinking its cold eyes at me, blinding me." Ever-desperate to finance her next fix, Holden turned tricks on the streets of St. Kilda, Australia, then spent time in a series of high-class brothels, an experience she found alternately harrowing and empowering. Heroin, she says, alters the body and psyche from the moment it bubbles through one's veins. After her first session as a prostitute, she writes: "The thought that I had perhaps just done something momentous slipped off me as smoothly as the needle glided in." What is most unnerving about Holden's account is the way in which she and fellow addicts relapsed after long stretches of being clean. Holden lavishly praises her family, who remained supportive through the most trying of times. Achingly honest but not for the squeamish. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
GRIPPING MEMOIR OF HEROIN AND PROSTITUTION,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: In My Skin: A Memoir (Paperback)
In My Skin is the harrowing true story of Kate Holden; an average, middle class university girl from the Melbourne (Australia) suburbs who on a whim decides to give heroin a try. We then follow Kate on a five year journey into hell as she slides into the horrors of addiction and then out of desperation prostitution to fund her growing habit.This is a candid, gripping, graphic and well written story, although not entirely what I was expecting from a "drug memoir" Ultimately it's more of a peek into the secret world of prostitution and high class brothels then anything else. Yes the heroin is always present but it becomes almost a nagging afterthought as Kate aka "Lucy" spends a majority of the book giving us an unflinching look into everything you didn`t know you wanted to know about prostitution. "Lucy" makes no excuses for her choices however and her accounts are often told with an odd sort of pride. As she describes how good she gets at her job, how in demand she becomes. With a stable full of regular Johns, men willing to wait hours for her, buying gifts and professing their love. Of course there are still the rough tricks, the fights with the other girls and the slow nights when she hasn't made enough money for her next fix or to pay off her dealer or catch up on the rent. And then there's the abuse to her body -frankly I wondered how she could go on in this lifestyle for years without, well, dieing. In fact she's not even getting high anymore, now its just matter of trying to stave off the sickness she's only ever one step ahead of. Because she can't work if she's dope sick and she can't buy drugs if she can't work. It's a vicious never ending, insane cycle. I found it interesting how Kate started on the streets and worked her way up to the brothels, almost like a right of passage. After losing her job (for stealing) and a couple of failed attempts at rehab Kate/Lucy is desperate for cash (she's now also supporting her deadbeat boyfriend) so she starts working for her dealer/pimp. Walking the streets night after night, in an endless loop of nameless, faceless grunting men, its almost too easy. BJ's in cars, hotels that rent by the hour anything for some cash, to get that next hit. Throughout everything Kate's family stand by her, even at her worst she still visits for the occasional Sunday dinner. Emotionally they're no longer invested, they've had to let her go, unable to bare the lies, disappointments or thievery any longer but they're still always there for her. Still hoping she will come back to them, maybe one more trip to rehab, maybe a methadone program. They never admit to knowing how she's supporting herself but don`t interfere either. Thankfully there is a happy ending to this story but honestly I don't know how one could ever live a normal life again after this kind of interruption. I do wish this author the best though and hope to read more from her in the future because she has a real gift.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A detailed look into the dark world of drugs and prostitution,
This review is from: In My Skin: A Memoir (Hardcover)
This book shares a very detailed look into the dark world of drugs and prostitution. After reading this book, I realized just how niave I really am about this "other world." It is a very detailed & graphic description of the life of a drug addicted young lady (who had everything going for her/very well educated) who takes the huge step onto the streets in order to make enough money to support her addiction. It describes different clients AKA 'Punters' that she encounters and takes you to her world where you actually feel like a part of it and are able to feel her fear, anxiety, & her need for a fix and willingness to do ANYTHING to get it. If you ever wondered about the world of drugs and prostitution/brothels, all your questions (and more) will be answered by reading this book.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.4 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews) 10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well written, sometimes disturbing,
By J. L. Keats - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: In My Skin: A Memoir (Hardcover)
This is not the best memoir I have ever read. It is also not the worst. I find the comment that this book was "self-indulgent" to be amusing, as I would never expect a memoir to be anything but. That's kind of the point. However, that said, Kate Holden is a talented writer, there is no question. She broke many of the beliefs I previously held about heroin addiction, but I was surprised by how superficially her addiction was portrayed in the book - it seemed only to affect how much money she had, and her relationship with the family. This book is not about a struggle with addiction. If you're looking for that, try reading "Dry" by Augusten Burroughs.I found this book to be much more about discovering yourself, your talents, your shortcomings, etc. The sex and drugs are really just the shock factors that pull you into what could have been a very boring tale of self-discovery. This book makes for a good read overall, can be tough to stomach at times, and may frustrate you with the sense that you are only skimming the surface of events and relationships. If you're looking for a truly detailed, involved memoir of struggle and overcoming, I suggest "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls. If you enjoy the memoir genre as a whole, then I recommend this book for the purpose of diversifying your experience with this class of writing. 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Inside a junkie's life,
By Mark Wuschke "Noumea" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: In My Skin: A Memoir (Hardcover)
I knew nothing about heroin addition before reading this book. Why on earth would anyone try it? Why don't the junkies just stop? Who cares about them anyway?In a clear, well written story Holden answers these questions and more. She goes from a bored uni-student from a happy home, to hanging out with "the wrong crowd", and sinks slowly, inevitably into heroin addiction. Her days become obssessed with a single goal - "Do I have enough money for a fix?" Most heartbreaking of all is her repeated abandonment of her family, whose agony she sometimes mentions, but is never important enough to make her stop. Eventually, penniless, she turns to prostitution. The contrast between the dangerous, dirty world of streetwalking compared to the safe clean environment of a legal brothel is striking. As a Melbourne resident it felt chilling to think that I walked the same streets of St. Kilda as Holden did. I occasionaly glimpsed street walkers with amusement, but knew nothing of who they were, or why there were there. This book taught me a lot. 7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Anything *but* boring!!,
By S. Tong - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: In My Skin: A Memoir (Hardcover)
"In My Skin" is anything but boring.You would be denying yourself an amazing reading experience if you approach "In My Skin" as just a former heroin addict's confession. Kate Holden (an arts and creative writing graduate) is an excellent writer and deserves to be recognized and appreciated for her writing, not just for her and her family's struggle in overcoming her addiction. Although her prose in the book glows with a delicate grace and nostalgic tenderness, it never whitewashes the harsh reality of heroin addiction. Her descriptions of people and events are always succinct, there is no superfluous or wasted word. A character springs to life on the pages with just a few lines of concise physical description, action or dialogue. Her narrative grabs the readers and propels them headlong into her journey. I had to remind myself to slow down to savor her writing whenever I caught myself reading too fast. Holden says in an interview that she feels strongly about the negative ways prostitutes and their clients are portrayed in the media and wishes to depict a more realistic picture to show these people are not necessarily bad or monstrous. The part of her memoir describing her experience working in brothels and on the streets does exactly that. The prostitutes are shown as mostly decent women trying to earn honest money honorably while putting up with a lot of crap and the clients are not always misogynistic sleazballs. I enjoy reading a non-judgmental account of the sex industry. The stories are sometimes brutal, often amusing, but always touching. I really wish Kate had told us more stories from her, I am sure, large collection. You can read "In My Skin" for just the ultimately uplifting "story", and you would still enjoy it immensely, but if you don't pay attention to her prose, you would also be missing out on fully appreciating a virtuosic performance from a major new writer. |
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