Review: Solid Memoir About Addiction, Mother-Daughter Relationships, and Choices
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 23, 2013
“Speed Needles” is an unapologetic memoir-style book of a young girl’s childhood and how, as a young adult and then as an adult, she became both a drug addict and a prostitute. Ashly has a rough childhood; while she had grandparents who loved her and whom she obviously loved, her mother was a self-absorbed drug addict with a string of boyfriends that she consistently sided with and picked over her daughter. For most of her childhood, Ashly is staunchly against drugs and is a “good girl,” until one day out of a mixture of curiosity and anger at her mother, she decides to try drugs with a co-worker. She goes from snorting to smoking to shooting up, and from that point on she’s caught in a cycle of drugs, abusive boyfriends, and drama with her mother and family.This book was a brutal read for me, because it differs so much from my own childhood and now adulthood. It’s hard to read about anyone’s unhappiness, and “Speed Needles” is no different. Ashly’s anger in the first few chapters is palpable—anger at her family who judges her, at her mother who abandons her time and again, and at her mother’s boyfriends who use her. It’s an anger that hurt my heart, because no one deserves a mother who can’t put them first. However, as the book progresses the author’s narration becomes more matter of fact as Ashly takes control of her life in her own way—she is unapologetic about her choices, and doesn’t write about being a prostitute as if it’s different from any other profession. It’s just how she makes money, with regular clients and rules of business. That she prefers clients who make her feel special or who show her love or sacrifice speaks to her missing out on those things in her childhood, and gives the reader empathy for why she chooses prostitution.I think this book will prompt polarizing reactions, and I can see how its content would offend some people. I am not one of the offended, because I enjoy reading about different perspectives and trying to understand how we all turn out the way we do. I do think that Ashly is a sympathetic character in her own life; while I felt for her grandparents and the pain they must have gone through as a result of Ashly and her mother, you understand Ashly’s life path once you hear it through her voice (and I should add that I thought “Speed Needles” was quite well written).