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Love Junkie: A Memoir
by
Rachel Resnick (Goodreads Author)
Rachel Resnick hits her forties single, broke, depressed, childless—a train wreck. After an ex-boyfriend breaks into her home and vandalizes it, Resnick takes the time to look back over her romantic and sexual history to ask the question: What is wrong with me? Her addiction to sex and love has cost her in damaging ways throughout the course of her life. At the root of
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published
November 11th 2008
by Bloomsbury USA
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(Disclaimer: Rachel is a former writing teacher of mine; I attended a bunch of her private workshops in LA. This is her new memoir.)
What a book! It's as if she reached inside herself, tore her heart out, and squeezed its contents all over the pages. This is a brutally honest recount of her relationship battles and lifelong addiction to love and sex. I literally could not put it down; read it in one sitting. There is very much I could relate to on several levels, and her deeply intimate details m...more
What a book! It's as if she reached inside herself, tore her heart out, and squeezed its contents all over the pages. This is a brutally honest recount of her relationship battles and lifelong addiction to love and sex. I literally could not put it down; read it in one sitting. There is very much I could relate to on several levels, and her deeply intimate details m...more
I just finished reading Love Junkie and she reminded me how easy it is to be a big brain and a big baby. Grown ass woman with an emotionally stilted child inside hoping that someone else will heal, save, or at least help get past childhood wounds. When I got over the waste of white privilege, I could see how unloved women practice unloving themselves in unhealthy and oftentimes abusive relationships. I’m glad she wrote the book. It’s her creative responsibility healing. It’s not stellarly told b...more
I'm not really sure what it says about my general state of being to have read this.
Is it terrible? Well yes. . .it is!
I thought I would never tire of memoirs by addicts of various self-destructive bents - but I think Love Junkies brought this camel down. This book made me feel really bad.
The redemptive arc of these memoirs is really predictable - and that's their raison d'être so I'm not really complaining. . .and I'm not mad at Rachel Resnick for writing this and for Bloomsbury for seeing som...more
Is it terrible? Well yes. . .it is!
I thought I would never tire of memoirs by addicts of various self-destructive bents - but I think Love Junkies brought this camel down. This book made me feel really bad.
The redemptive arc of these memoirs is really predictable - and that's their raison d'être so I'm not really complaining. . .and I'm not mad at Rachel Resnick for writing this and for Bloomsbury for seeing som...more
Jul 28, 2009
Peter
added it
A well-written but disturbing memoir... While very good to rate may be inappropriate, it's so personal it verges on violation of "taste" (in fact it raises the question of what standards there should be for personal revelations eschewing confessional boundaries to exhibit a pornography of the soul, with dirty illusions laid bare on paper sheets degrading the last sexual taboos), & seems something Freud would slaver over relishing Resnick's childhood hang-ups, suicidal-alcoholic mother, &...more
Was good in that it made me feel less alone with the struggles I go through in the dating world. Even made me feel better in some regards because I could say, "Well, at least I didn't do THAT." It gets a little too mired down in the where and how at times, but that could be because I could read story after story of how she sold herself out to the highest bidder. I suppose there's only so much of that you need to expose before readers get the point though. Was hoping for a solution other than 12-...more
Rachel has a real problem: she’s always falling for the worst kind of men. She knows she’s disturbed. She knows she needs help. But falling in love feels so good. How can it be bad? This is a tale of addiction like no other. After all, how can falling in love be compared to shooting heroin? Yet this is undoubtedly an addict’s tale – harrowing, shocking and laughable at times and yet no less compelling for all of its wayward humor. Even as we wince at reading Rachel’s involvement with drug addict...more
Resnick has clearly spent years thinking about what she terms as "love addiction," and I agree with her about its roots in childhood. Reading about how Resnick's parents treated her made me shudder but sadly I could relate. It makes sense that she seeked out love and affection from relationships but found herself trapped in harmful ones because she only attracted men that would abuse her because deep down I am sure she felt like she didn’t deserve real love and continued to punish herself subcon...more
got this book not knowing what to expect, thought it would be full of phsycobable, but i found it very moving and raw in the way in which she is so honest about herself and her desire to be loved.
How could anyone not be damaged by that upbringing.I hope that the writing of the book was cathartic and that the authors life is now full and rewarding and that she has now exorcised the demons of her earlier life. By the end of the book it now seems she has found the stable loving relationship she was...more
How could anyone not be damaged by that upbringing.I hope that the writing of the book was cathartic and that the authors life is now full and rewarding and that she has now exorcised the demons of her earlier life. By the end of the book it now seems she has found the stable loving relationship she was...more
Rachel Resnick’s exploration of love addiction opens with a traumatic moment in her life when she finally hits bottom. Already at a low point, her financial resources strapped, she is barely hanging on…And then she comes home to find that someone has drenched her computer’s
hard drive – her priceless possession where all of her work is stored. She describes the computer as “a living extension of my brain, an expression of my soul, a museum of my fragmented life…” This clearly demonstrates the de...more
hard drive – her priceless possession where all of her work is stored. She describes the computer as “a living extension of my brain, an expression of my soul, a museum of my fragmented life…” This clearly demonstrates the de...more
1 like · like · see review
I got this book from the Library expecting a bunch of long words with too many vowels to be thrown at me. You know, when people go through things and get "diagnosed" they all of a sudden speak like a doctor and expect you to understand. So I was prepared to drag out the ol' dictionary on this one...but to my utter delight, it was not like that at all.
I read numerous reviews bashing Ms.Resnick calling her a grown ass woman who can't stop whining......but I didn't feel that way.
Rachel Resnick is...more
I read numerous reviews bashing Ms.Resnick calling her a grown ass woman who can't stop whining......but I didn't feel that way.
Rachel Resnick is...more
Desperate and at times disturbing—Love Junkie is a memoir that is almost too honest. Resnick, a forty year old writer, is our junkie. The book recounts her relationships from childhood to middle age as evidence of her love addiction. An addiction she claims is as gripping as heroin. Resnick opens her story by describing scenes in which her mother threw herself at men while neglecting her children, and segues into history vividly repeating itself over a string of Resnick’s own failed relationship...more
This was a very interesting book, fairly well-written, from the perspective of a woman who is a sex and love addict. It is at times humiliating, leaving you feeling empty, and at times, humorous, witty, sarcastic. It is the journey through a life of a common and yet seemingly taboo topic - the addiction to people - strangers - acts of intimacy that create nothing but the exact opposite. It is depressing, uplifting, inspiring, and possibly a great subject for many to relate to.
I think this book should have come out in the summer. It's a perfect read for the beach. I liked the writing itself and the author is very sympathetic, but I would have liked to see more self-reflection that connected the dots instead of anecdotal episodes about her poor choices in men. About three-quarters of the way through, it became very compelling and real, but the conclusion was vague and disconnected.
Utterly compelling memoir about a woman who had a Dickensian, disturbed childhood and a mom who neglected her. As she became older she looked for love in all wrong places and was often drawn to crazy, abusive men. This book is so vivid that it will get under your skin. It will also make you realize that you can change your mindset and get over your love addiction if you really want to.
Oct 27, 2008
Jennifer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who struggles with love and sex obsession
This brutally honest account of Resnick’s personal compulsion toward sex to fill the void of her horrific childhood is a must read for anyone who seeks to understand love and sex obsession. Resnick details is vivid prose her dysfunctional childhood wrought with abandonment, sexual confusion, her mothers alcoholism and neglect. It is a miracle she made it without turning to alcoholism herself. Her escape of choice was men and loveless abusive relationships instead. She confused sex with love and...more
Engrossing
This book was absolutely engrossing. Some of the parts were hard to read. But I could not put it down. I alternated between repelled, pitying, angry, compassionate,disgusted, empathetic. The way she would flashback to trauma in her life, then to destructive behaviors kept the book fascinating.
If I had to recommend one book right now, it would be l
This one.
This book was absolutely engrossing. Some of the parts were hard to read. But I could not put it down. I alternated between repelled, pitying, angry, compassionate,disgusted, empathetic. The way she would flashback to trauma in her life, then to destructive behaviors kept the book fascinating.
If I had to recommend one book right now, it would be l
This one.
Reading this book is like watching a car crash; you know you shouldn't but you just can't help yourself. Resnick takes us on a very personal and harrowing journey through her failed relationships and how her parents influenced this life path. The narrative is well written and takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster as her words bring her addiction to vivid life
This is a very bittersweet memoir of a woman with a very sad upbringing. Her mother kills herself at 14 and the father get custody but doesn't want her so he farms her out to foster families that he pays. Of course she goes looking for love in all the wrong places and substitutes sex for love. It is amazing how she can remain somewhat positive through out her life. Overall a good read,
a dissection of psyche by delving into the hellish circles of love addiction and its roots in a family dynamic of rejection and loss. while these issues are painstakingly revealed, and progress is made on the recovery path, the actuality of overcoming love addiction remains questionable.
Sometimes beautiful, sometimes terrifying and other times downright hilarious, Love Junkie was a journey. The sheer honesty in this book is an inspiration. It is a reminder that yeah, not everything ties up neatly (ahem ... Eat Pray Love) and we do our best truly looking at ourselves for who we are, what we were and what we have become. And it isn't always pretty.
Wow...this was a sad memoir. It made me feel so bad for her. And it makes you realize how much a poor childhood can screw people up for a lifetime, if they don't get help. Reading about Rachel Resnick's mother and father treated her made me shudder. (Thank goodness I am so lucky to have such warm and loving parents.) And it makes me wonder why anyone would treat their children that way.
And it makes sense that the author then seeked out love and affection from relationships, and found herself tra...more
And it makes sense that the author then seeked out love and affection from relationships, and found herself tra...more
Aug 09, 2011
Kathy Duey
added it
This book is not for sissies... Its very desciptive, funny, and highly sexualized... Very frustrating at times bec. you want to shout at her and scold but if you like reading memoirs or like anything but human tragedies you'll like this...
Really intresting book. Not a fluff book by any means, but a funny yet wry look at the obsessive need some of us have to be in love. Resnick presents a pretty clear and not always flattering look at her life. She touches on her relationship with her beloved yet absent father, drunk mother and the many men who have been in her life. It is not always an easy read, but on some level(s) the book resinated with me. I have not always been the best judge of character when it came to romantic 'partners'...more
If you think your love life stinks, you should read Resnick's memoir of her dating life. I was cringing when I was reading about the men she dated and the abused she endured in the name of "love".
To her credit, Resnick does not blame her problems on men, but on her poor judgement in selecting men. But I suspect she has sent more than better specimen running the other way, screaming.
While I pitied the author for her terrible childhood, writing a memoir about your addiction to sex/unhealthy relationships is inherently sordid and probably not a good idea.
This is about falling for the 'wrong' type over and over and issues with your Father, I could relate to much of this.
Sep 08, 2012
Rosanne
added it
Again, can't remember if I liked or hated it. o_O I really need to write this stuff down as soon as I read it!
This book is a loving yet fearless introspection and self analysis- looking at love and dysfunction and the self.
Eh. It was entertaining. I was looking for a memoir on the subject of love and sex addiction and that was it.
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I'm a writer and entrepreneur. My first memoir, LOVE JUNKIE, came out inn 2008 with Bloomsbury in hardcover, and this past October in paperback. It's also published by Bloomsbury in the UK, and translated into Czech by Jota. I've gotten incredible support from other writers. See the quotes below.
I have a special site devoted to this memoir: www.lovejunkiethememoir.com, a new blog to go with at ww...more
More about Rachel Resnick...
I have a special site devoted to this memoir: www.lovejunkiethememoir.com, a new blog to go with at ww...more
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Jul 06, 2009 02:47pm