This was an interesting book to read-- short, very clearly organized and adroitly addressed by a conscious author to an aware audience, with an elegant prose style. Stylistically it was easy to read (if you are well-read in classic literature), and fairly light, although some sentences barely save themselves from incoherency-- one contained 6 semicolons and two colons.

What was more interesting to me was that after spending so much time elegantly describing his time as an opium addict and then encapsulating his withdrawal and recovery in language that is both sympathetic and pensive-- after dwelling on the significance, the near monumental moment that started him down the path to addiction... he glossed over the decision to become sober again. He barely explains it at all. He simply reveals that he had some pressing concerns that demanded his complete attention and that he needed to survive.

I had to read his biography to look for an answer-- and that's where it becomes even more interesting. It is curious to me that such a deeply religious, conservative man was willing to "eat opium" when it was, although legal, not condoned by the conservative, religious community.