Dope by Sara Gran

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is certainly a dark and gritty little book. I mean, the title is Dope, so I knew I wasn't going to be taken down a magical road of candy rainbows and hot pink butterflies, but damn. Even I was a little shell shocked by the ease at which the author casually described shooting up heroin as though it was as typical as drinking a Starbucks latte. That said, it was done well. I don't know Sara Gran, but I assume she is not a former heroin addict and street criminal living in the grimy underbelly of 1950s Manhattan. But if you told me she was in a past life, I'd believe you. In fact, if you told me she definitely was not, I might argue that statement.

The main character, Jo, was an extremely realistic portrayal of a tough as nails female criminal who had been screwing people and had been screwed - literally - since childhood. Yet she was the kind of "bad guy(girl)" that is so far beyond repair that you end up somehow rooting for them. I could actually hear her, and all of her fellow junkie and criminal friends', take - no - shit New York accent when I read their dialogue. And how is it possible that I pictured the setting of this story in black and white in my head? Maybe I was taking it all a bit too literal (read : stereotypical), but I'm okay with that. There was no mistaking when and where this novel was trying to take the reader. I'll admit that I went right along.

The one thing I will criticize is the fact that I kept finding myself forgetting the trail of events and people that eventually lead up to the final climax. There must have been 20 similar, interchangeable characters introduced throughout the course of the story, and honestly, I can't even remember a handful of them. Hell, I didn't even recognize the name of the person who was revealed to have set the whole disastrous chain of events in motion right away. That's pretty bad.

And as I mentioned earlier, this one ain't for the faint of heart - there were some scenes that made me kind of uncomfortable in an "I feel like i shouldn't be reading about this" way. The content is 80% drug use - so clearly it's not going to be for everyone. Honestly, it probably wasn't even for me. I tend to stay away from noir fiction, and though I quite enjoyed this novel, I can't say I'm chomping at the bit for another. At least right now. Unless Sara Gran decides to give this genre another go. I feel like she just might be able to get me addicted to this type of junk (see what I did there??).



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