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    Cocaine's Son: A Memoir
    Cocaine's Son: A Memoir
    Cocaine's Son: A Memoir
    Audiobook7 hours

    Cocaine's Son: A Memoir

    Written by Dave Itzkoff

    Narrated by Mark Turetsky

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    New York Times journalist David Itzkoff crafts a powerful, remarkably honest memoir that no reader will ever forget. Growing up, David understood his father to be a trusted ally and confidant-a man who always had some hard-won wisdom to share. But he was also a junkie. As David grew older, he fell into the same trap, until he and his father hit the road in search of their "morning after." "A memoir can be great for many reasons, but one quality matters more than all the others-brutal, uncomfortable honesty."-Chuck Klosterman
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 18, 2011
    ISBN9781449867423
    Cocaine's Son: A Memoir
    Author

    Dave Itzkoff

    Dave Itzkoff is the author of Mad as Hell, Cocaine’s Son, and Lads. He is a culture reporter at the New York Times, where he writes regularly about film, television, theater, music, and popular culture. He previously worked at Spin, Maxim, and Details, and his work has appeared in GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired, and other publications. He lives in New York City.

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    Reviews for Cocaine's Son

    3.5/5

    23 ratings9 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Dave Itzkoff writes well of his growing up with a cocaine addict for a father. While this was not my favorite book, I was interested to read about this strange life of living with a father who spent his life getting high in filthy drug houses, but who managed to somehow continue to build a fur business. A crazy life for a kid.
    • 4/5
      Unfailingly witty and honest, Dave Itzkoff explores his complicated relationship with his quirky drug addicted father in his memoir, Cocaine's Son. Itzkoff describes his childhood where his parents struggle with their marriage and his father constantly lets him down. He comes of age trying to distance himself from his father as his father comes to rely on him to bail him out of drug fueled situations. The latter part of the book is dedicated to the slow reconstruction of their relationship. Sweet at times, Itzkoff's story expounds on familial common ground, the power of forgiveness and love.
    • 4/5
      Although not the best book that I've read on the effects of addiction on the family members of an addict, this is a deeply personal and revelatory book written by a very talented and insightful writer. I think the most unique part of this memoir is that the author did not focus solely on his father but on himself and his own experiences that although his father was not directly involved in, his father was always in the back of his mind. Almost like a drug is usually on the mind of an addict.
    • 4/5
      I was pleasantly surprised by Dave Itzkoff's memoir of his efforts to reconnect with and better understand his father whose long addiction to cocaine had made him a shadow figure in his son's life. I appreciated that this was not a book charting the actual recovery of his dad or a book that soley focused on the author's childhood and how that childhood suffered under his father's addiction. It was refreshing to see that the book was set more in the not so distant past and included what happens to a family dynamic AFTER addiction. Clearly, Itzkoff's father has MANY emotional issues apart from his addiction, and it is touching to see his son try to understand, as an adult, what drives his father. While his father's past sins may not be forgotten, the process of forgiving has clearly begun.
    • 3/5
      This review is coming from a daughter of an alcoholic, who also blamed him for the anxiety disorder and abandonment issues she has. I could relate with much of what David was trying to say here in his book "Cocaines's Son".As a young person, I found it very painful that my father chose bars and buddies over attending dance recitals and school functions. The dread of wondering if the funny, easy going Dad or the angry, foul mouthed drunk Dad was going to come home each night. And on some nights I lay awake waiting to see if he would make it home safely if at all.David's Dad is a hard man to like and live with high or sober. The beginning of the book starts out from a child's perspective, where as most kids, we want our parents to be our heroes. David's Dad falls sorely short. David has to endure many let downs and embarrassing moments by his father. Growing into a healthy, let alone loving, respectful relationship is more than likely not going to happen but nonetheless they try.David does not have a lot of harrowing tales for us to wade through and his book does not leave you with dark depressed feelings. As you move through the book you mostly feel the disappointment and desire for a better relationship for them or for David to just give up already!I am very pleased with which he chose to close out his memoir. It is very emotional and heart warming. After going through a very difficult emotional time myself, at one time I felt that I'd rather be dead. Then realizing my children were not enough to keep me here was a startling revelation that helped me reconcile my feelings toward my father. I was able to understand the emotional pain he lived with and I was then able to forgive. Unfortunately, he had already died but I found peace and a different perspective in how to view my childhood.This book is not a heavy downer. If you have experienced disappointments from a parent and not reconciled, you may benefit from this book.
    • 4/5
      This memoir captured my attention quickly primarily due to the Itzkoff's writing craft than the topic. Within pages, I was caught up in the relationship between his father and himself in a very intimate way. Itzkoff revealed bits and pieces of their lives together and separately that really gave me a fuller picture of both men (and their separate relationships with others) than a straightline memoir would have provided. Itzkoff's writing is brutal, candid, and beautiful. I found phrases that were lyrical and noteworthy. Other sentences were harsh and difficult to read. He is unabashed to speak the truth as he sees it about himself, his father, and anyone else in his world. It made me uncomfortable yet I found comfort in some phrases for issues/situations in my own life.I felt privileged to read his memoir.
    • 4/5
      This is an interesting account of the effects of a father's use of cocaine upon his son's life. The son uses many examples to illustrate his fathers's character and actions. Sometimes things get a little jumbled up as the leaps from past to present are huge, I would have appreciated a more linear approach.Quite evidently, the author found resolution in writing this memior and it was gratifying to take that journey with him. This is a searingly honest effort and sure to be noticed in the substance abuse recovery community.
    • 5/5
      It's a beautiful book, beautifully written and a remarkable story. Hard to imagine how someone who went through a childhood like that, being shut out in the hall for calling his father a junkie, a word the boy didn't even know the meaning of; and later having to drive into the city, a place he'd been forbidden by his father to drive, to pick up that same junkie on the street. So many incidents, so many therapy sessions, and yet Itzkoff comes through it with perspective and grace and forgiveness. I got the feeling this book was more valuable to that process than all the therapy sessions father and son endured together. It was an amazing, spellbinding journey.(the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the title - it implies that both father and son are nothing more than cocaine, and have not transcended it - which is the whole point of the book)
    • 3/5
      This new book by the New York Times culture writer David Itzkoff is actually part memoir/part rant. Itzkoff writes of the trials of growing up the son of a prosperous fur merchant, who also happens to be a cocaine addict. While an excellent provider for his wife and two children, Gerald Itzkoff was not a fatherly figure. He was rarely home and when he was, he was either high or coming down from a high.Dave’s rebellion against his father took the form of becoming a heavy drug user himself. While criticizing his father for his drug-induced absences from his life, Dave coasts through Princeton and early adulthood in a fog of marijuana and other drugs. Eventually Gerald is clean and sober (although we have no idea how and when that happened) and he and Dave attempt to reconcile. They try couples therapy and shared activities. Eventually Dave begins interviewing Gerald about his early life and how it led to his drug addiction.Notably absent from this memoir is much about Dave’s mother. She appears to have been a serious drug user herself, but she escapes the blame for Dave’s confused and sad childhood. Also absent is any true emotion. I did not have any of the expected feelings of empathy, sadness or anger I would expect from hearing this tale. I suspect much is being held in reserve for the next book!That said, Cocaine’s Son is fairly interesting and well-written. Thanks once again to the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program for sending me this book.