this book will make you want to seek out the company of dangerous, or at the very least rogue, men, go to exotic places where you don't speak the language but have a very definitive view of what it should look, smell and taste like in your head, live fast and hard and find an opium den and try some.nick tosches is a great, rollicking raconteur. he's a dying breed of man (maybe not a bad thing, in the long run), of writer, of a certain kind of teller-of-tales. he'd be very comfortable hanging with hemmingway (though i like tosches a whole lot more than papa) or robert capa (i think i like capa more than tosches), and there will always be something to drink and there will always be devastating and attractive women nearby.he's very much a testosterone writer, but the kind that goes down slow and smooth, if you get my drift.this is a good little read. i'd recommend it to most anyone who likes a goodly told yarn.
I've read several of Nick Tosches' longish pieces in various magazine. He is a very good writer. There are passages in this book that are incredibly lyrical. His descriptions of his opiated high are often fabulous.And yet, the book is just too short. We barely scratch the surface of what is actually a very deep subject. Tosches skirted around the edges of his subject, but didn't really take the time to engage with it.I would've much preferred it if he had interspersed his personal vignettes with a more in depth cultural history of opium.This book is what some would call a non-book, i.e., it is an article in book form.I will keep reading Nick Tosches pieces--because he really is quite a good writer--but won't be recommending this one to friends.
