The Memoir Spot
A snapshot review of a book related to the Non-fiction Feature
Also in this Monthly Bulletin:
The Non-fiction Feature: Dreamland by Sam Quinones
The Product Spot: Last Week Tonight – Harm Reduction episode
The Pithy Take
Eilene Zimmerman, a columnist for The New York Times, traces her time with her husband/ex-husband Peter, a senior partner at a prominent law firm who eventually dies because of his drug addiction. Her sorrow and guilt are apparent in each word, as she wonders how she could have missed all the signs, how this could have happened to someone so successful and intelligent, and how prevalent is it?
The first half recounts her relationship with Peter and its deterioration, and all the sneaking signs of addiction that, in retrospect, were horribly obvious. The second half examines the addiction that has crept into high-stress work environments like law firms and the tech world, and how the nearly unbelievable need to succeed and seem successful pushes more and more people to drugs and addiction.
If people in white-collar professional jobs, who are among our society’s most well-educated, driven, and high-achieving citizens, are becoming addicts, what does that say about us as a society? I ask myself, what is the point of being here at all, of striving to achieve success in careers and personal lives, if so many want to escape once they get there?
Smacked: A Story of White-Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy
Author: Eilene Zimmerman
Publisher: Random House
272 pages | 2020
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