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Saint Mary Blue [Paperback]

Barry B. Longyear (Author)
List Price: CDN$ 23.37
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Book Description

Publication Date: Dec 1 2000
"A barrel of laughs with a kick in the groin for a punch line...The laughs were good and the tears were better. If there's anyone out there whose life isn't affected by a drunk or junkie, he should still read Saint Mary Blue, just because it's good."

—Steven Brust, author of The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars

Product Details

  • Paperback: 504 pages
  • Publisher: Backinprint.com (Dec 1 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0595138853
  • ISBN-13: 978-0595138852
  • Product Dimensions: 14 x 2.8 x 21.6 cm
  • Shipping Weight: 757 g
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,420,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars  5 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars When you can't call for help. Jun 21 2000
By Anthony Hinde - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I'm not sure what prompted me to read this book. Take a look at that cover art, not very inspirational. But it is written by Longyear and his work is usually good. It's not that this book is full of adventure or has a rich plot line. It doesn't even have exotic locations or lots of sex. What it does have, in truck loads, is empathy for the human condition. The main character is Jacob Randecker. He is a thinly veiled version of the author himself. They say that autobiographies are usually crap but then they also say write what you know. Whatever the case this book is undeniably excellent.

Jacob is an addict. He is addicted to alcohol and prescription medications. But then that's the most common kind. He doesn't think that he needs help but his wife and his friends, (the ones he has left), are adamant that he does. They use all of the pressure that they can, to get him to go to a rehab center called Saint Mary's. This is an actual hospital in the U.S.

The novel takes us through the program with Jacob and his group. We come to love Jake and each of his group. We also fall for the members of the hospital staff that we meet. It is that sort of book. I hope writing this book was cathartic for Longyear because reading it sure was for me.

I want to leave you with a small section from the dust jacket that I think may have helped my decision to read this book:
- One third will make it the first time around.
- One third will have to try again.
- One third are already dead. It just takes them a while to lie down.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars One author's journey from denial to health. Sep 17 1998
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This is Barry B.'s journey through drug and alcohol detox, thinly disguised as fiction. For anyone who has ever wondered about this process, the personal stories, justifications, and revelations may be more than you bargained for; for those of us who have had some experience with rehab it will probably cause painful memories to resurface. Longyear is a dab hand at breathing life into characters and making situations ring true. You will want to stay with this book to find out who survives, who "re-tread", and who just can't make it without their addictions. It's worth trying to find!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Reality Bites Dec 2 2001
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This book is a chronicle of Barry Longyear's experience in a drug and alchohol rehab, written as a fictional work. It is a gutsy, no-holds-barred account of the roller coaster ride that is detox and recovery. Longyear, a die-hard atheist, writes beautifully of the struggle to find "a power greater than yourself" to make the program work. The characters are hilariously funny and poignant, witty and emotionally wretching at the same time. The plot draws you into their lives so that you root for the ones who make it and cry for the ones who do not. Longyear stresses addiction as a disease, not an easy or popular concept for "normal" people, but a true one nevertheless. This is as real and honest a book about addiction as they come, and I love it. Barry Longyear is a superb science fiction writer (see The God Box and Sea of Glass as examples) but here he shines as his own biographer. Humor and pathos were never so expertly combined.

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