Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Nov 21, 2008

Andrea rated it:

(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 intima More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2009

Ebony rated it:

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 to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 17, 2009

Kid rated it:

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 th More...

1 comment like

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...

0 comments like

Jun 22, 2009

Dawn rated it:

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 othe More...

0 comments like

Aug 03, 2010

Jamila rated it:

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 he More...

0 comments like

Oct 07, 2010

westernway rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like

Jan 08, 2009

Laurel-Rain rated it:

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 demonstrat More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 21, 2011

~Jessica~I'm a Hoodie Ninja~ rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 07, 2009

Sara rated it:

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 relation More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 22, 2010

Rebecca rated it:

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.

0 comments like

Jan 02, 2009

Jean rated it:

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.

0 comments like

Feb 06, 2009

Emma rated it:

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.

0 comments like

Oct 27, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

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 a More...

1 comment like

Apr 30, 2009

Jo rated it:

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

0 comments like

Jan 05, 2009

Mary (BookHounds) rated it:

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,

0 comments like

Jan 28, 2009

Stefanie rated it:

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.

0 comments like

Jun 27, 2011

Meg rated it:

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.

0 comments like

Apr 24, 2011

Carol is currently reading it

I heard her speak and really liked her. Very funny. I didn't realize she had a book and then I looked her up and read this review "...a fearless, nasty, affectionate, wildly spiritual, sex soaked smart and un-putdown-able Valentine from hell." So, there you have it!

0 comments like

Aug 30, 2009

Andrea rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like

Aug 09, 2011

Kathy 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...

0 comments like

Sep 26, 2010

Suefly rated it:

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...

0 comments like

Aug 17, 2009

Sasha rated it:

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".

0 comments like

Apr 02, 2009

John rated it:

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.

0 comments like

Mar 16, 2009

Kelly rated it:

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.

0 comments like

Oct 23, 2009

Carmelo rated it:

This book is a loving yet fearless introspection and self analysis- looking at love and dysfunction and the self.

0 comments like

Feb 09, 2011

Hillary rated it:

Eh. It was entertaining. I was looking for a memoir on the subject of love and sex addiction and that was it.

0 comments like

Apr 24, 2009

Nessabella rated it:

she was brave to write this. i was overwhelmed and cried a bit. good for anyone with codependence issues. oy!

0 comments like

Feb 09, 2012

Zubie rated it:

A bit disappointed by this book. Her writing style is good, but I felt like she was holding back. It all felt incomplete to me.

0 comments like

Feb 13, 2011

Karen rated it:

I always end up reading this book around Valentine's Day. . .

0 comments like