Hammered: Memoir of an Addict

Hammered by GN Braun

 

You know when you watch a movie or read a book and it stays with you, like the Titanic, or Once Were Warriors? Well for me, Hammered is going to be one of those books. To the tune of Candy (a movie I’ll never forget) with a male protagonist who happens to be sharing his true story, Hammered is revealing, raw, and filled with the stuffing of a mother’s nightmare.

It begins with Joe’s trip into childhood, the early abuse, and how drugs saved him. Isn’t it always the way? Drugs and alcohol help push the pain deep down, so what’s left on the surface is a human being who can function rather than fall apart, live rather than die – for now.

What I love about Hammered is not just the grit, or the heartache, but the honesty. GN Braun doesn’t hold back; he tells it all, the theft, the lies, everything. And that’s just the story line.

Braun’s writing is another thing. It’s to the point, visual, and extremely well-edited. Kudos to LegumeMan Books.

Kids get passed Go Ask Alice when they hit around 12 – I was one of them. I’d consider Hammered instead, as long as you don’t mind some serious Ps and Qs. It covers all the drugs, it’s a real account, and it leaves enough to the imagination, rather than delving into the dank and dirty (think Trainspotting) that will scar them for life.

Thanks to GN Braun for putting it out there. Hammered is a very highly recommended read for all Aussies.

 

PEACE

 

HMC

 

PS This is one of my older poems. Reading Hammered dredged it up. Most people ask me if it’s about someone else I know.

It isn’t.

 

MASCULINE

She crawled out of her cesspool to take another breath.

Alcohol, heroin, violence, death.

A busted-up, cataclysmic all-in-brawl.

Get ya gloves on baby, ’cause this is war.

She fought like a demon to escape the pen,

And once out she never went back again.

Followed her dreams, and despite all else,

Found a place where she could grow, rediscover herself.

Now she’s all grown up and you’d never know,

This sweet flower grew from a violent home.

So against all odds a femininity springs,

From a wall built up by the masculine.