Reviews of The Adderall Diaries

“Stephen Elliott’s superb, sprawling meta-memoir might be just what the genre needs to salvage it from the legacy of James Frey.”

—TIME OUT NEW YORK, five of five stars

“Nakedly manipulative and all but impossible to resist….[The first sentence] sucked me in twice, because the moment I revisited The Adderall Diaries (intending only to select quotes for this review) I immediately started reading the book again.”

—THE BOSTON GLOBE

“A refined, beautiful work of art…deserves a place on the shelf next to such classics of uninhibited American introspection as On the Road and A Fan’s Notes.”

—KIRKUS, starred review

“Elliott remains intently curious and utterly devoted to the healing alchemy of clear, lacerating language….With astute insights into anger, despair, drug use, sadomasochism, and the elusiveness of love and justice, Elliott is a poet of pain.”

—BOOKLIST

“Stephen Elliott does anything but disappoint…While the title suggest ‘gothic romp,’ The Adderall Diaries is more Montaigne-esque: a thoughtful inquiry into the relationship between our memories and our understanding of our selves….The beauty of The Adderall Diaries lies in its nuanced treatment of this powerlessness, at the heart of which rests not only our understanding of ourselves, but our inability to every truly know another.”

—KQUED ARTS

“Brilliant, memorable prose…an unforgettable read.

—FOREWORD

“You don’t just read The Adderall Diaries; you fall right into them. You read as if you are a few words behind the writer, trying to catch up, to find out what happens, to yell at him that he’s doing a great job. And he is. It’s a brilliant book.”

—RODDY DOYLE

“The Adderall Diaries is a startling and original concoction, an irresistible melding of reportage and memoir and reconstruction. This is Stephen Elliott’s best book, perfectly suited to his gifts as a seeker, as a storyteller, as a poet of wounds, unwelcome and otherwise.”

—SAM LIPSYTE

“The Adderall Diaries is phenomenal. With jittery finesse and a reformed tweaker’s eye for detail, Stephen Elliott captures the terrifying, hilarious, heart-strangling reality of a life whose scorched-earth physical and psycho-emotional dimensions no one could have invented—they absolutely had to be lived. By all rights, the author should either be dead or chewing his fingers in a bus station. Instead, he may well have written the memoir of an entire generation.”

—JERRY STAHL

“I felt like a voyeur reading Stephen Elliott’s memoir—what is shocking and unbearable to most of us is commonplace to him. Although a murder trial provides the structure for this book, it is really about the strangeness of life, about things that don’t make sense and never will, about lessons that don't get learned, and ultimately about what we can and can’t know about ourselves and others. Reading The Adderall Diaries is like taking a step toward the edge of a cliff so you can peer down and imagine what it might be like to slip and fall. Normally we shudder and step back. Stephen Elliott jumps, and his harrowing, riveting memoir convinces you to follow him vicariously.”

—AMY TAN

“The Adderall Diaries begins like the ocean, seemingly able to take in everything—prize fights to Paris Hilton—until the ocean forms into a river, making its way through unmapped territories—a murder, an absent father—and finally this river is distilled into one precious teardrop. Stephen Elliott is one of those ‘people who keep searching when everything is dark’—I don’t know a more hauntingly fearless writer, and this is an immediate, visceral, and ultimately beautiful book.”

—NICK FLYNN

“Elliott writes as if his life depended on each sentence.”

—STEVE ALMOND, THE BELIEVER

“I can’t think of a more courageous writer than Stephen Elliott.”

—JONATHAN AMES

“Stephen Elliott knocks my fishnet stockings off.”

—AUDREY NIFFENEGGER

“How can such clear and compassionate humanity come out of someone so haunted and actively self-destructive? The mystery of the human spirit is writ large in this beautiful, strange memoir.”

—JANET FITCH

“Elliott ruthlessly flays the truth past the point of tears, to heights of consciousness achievable only through the masochistic act of writing. Elliott may be writing under the influence, but it’s the influence of genius.”

—VANITY FAIR

“Somewhere along the gamut between amphetamine-mined gonzo lit and brilliance…. [Elliott] fashions a work that is gracious and gothic, scattered and scorching.”

—BLOGCRITICS MAGAZINE

“The Adderall Diaries is the profoundly talented author’s most compelling and brilliant book yet. It’s a Rubik’s Cube of a memoir whose pieces never quite click into place – but oh, the pleasure for the reader in the twisting and the turning, and the rewards of suspending disbelief in favor of immersion in the game…. Equal parts personal revelation and stinging social analysis…. you won’t find a more provocative, masterful, thrilling ride than this.”

—THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

“Both the prose and the perception that fuels [The Adderall Diaries] are ragingly vivid and engaged…. [T]hough it sidesteps traditional memoir elements of revelation, redemption, and closure, it affords both reader and author something much more valuable: a transcendent inquiry into the nature of the self.”

—THE STRANGER

“[The Adderall Diaries] is a brilliantly executed memoir disguised as a true crime book.”

—PORTLAND MERCURY

“A serious literary work designed to make you see the world as you’ve never quite seen in before.”

—THE WASHINGTON POST

“A grim, soul-searching account of addiction and writer’s block…. A frenzied exploration into the arbitrary nature of truth and innocence, with mystery and speculation at its core.”

—SALON.COM

“Elliott has taken on memoir and taken it in new directions.”

—TIMEOUT CHICAGO

Home Job Openings Latest News Events and Author Tours Poem of the Week
	Search by keyword, title, author last name, or ISBN. Browse and Order Books: Creative Writing Cultural Criticism Essays For Educators Gay and Lesbian Literature Literary Criticism Memoir Novels Poetry Short Stories Translations View all books Request a copy of our Spring 2010 catalog DONATE ONLINE! Contact Us About Graywolf Internships Request an Exam Copy Job Openings Submission Guidelines Permission Requests Media Requests	Reviews of The Adderall Diaries “Stephen Elliott’s superb, sprawling meta-memoir might be just what the genre needs to salvage it from the legacy of James Frey.” *—TIME OUT NEW YORK, five of five stars “Nakedly manipulative and all but impossible to resist….[The first sentence] sucked me in twice, because the moment I revisited The Adderall Diaries* (intending only to select quotes for this review) I immediately started reading the book again.” *—THE BOSTON GLOBE* “A refined, beautiful work of art…deserves a place on the shelf next to such classics of uninhibited American introspection as On the Road and A Fan’s Notes.” *—KIRKUS, starred review “Elliott remains intently curious and utterly devoted to the healing alchemy of clear, lacerating language….With astute insights into anger, despair, drug use, sadomasochism, and the elusiveness of love and justice, Elliott is a poet of pain.” —BOOKLIST* “Stephen Elliott does anything but disappoint…While the title suggest ‘gothic romp,’ The Adderall Diaries is more Montaigne-esque: a thoughtful inquiry into the relationship between our memories and our understanding of our selves….The beauty of The Adderall Diaries lies in its nuanced treatment of this powerlessness, at the heart of which rests not only our understanding of ourselves, but our inability to every truly know another.” *—KQUED ARTS* “Brilliant, memorable prose…an unforgettable read. *—FOREWORD* “You don’t just read The Adderall Diaries; you fall right into them. You read as if you are a few words behind the writer, trying to catch up, to find out what happens, to yell at him that he’s doing a great job. And he is. It’s a brilliant book.” —RODDY DOYLE “The Adderall Diaries is a startling and original concoction, an irresistible melding of reportage and memoir and reconstruction. This is Stephen Elliott’s best book, perfectly suited to his gifts as a seeker, as a storyteller, as a poet of wounds, unwelcome and otherwise.” —SAM LIPSYTE “The Adderall Diaries is phenomenal. With jittery finesse and a reformed tweaker’s eye for detail, Stephen Elliott captures the terrifying, hilarious, heart-strangling reality of a life whose scorched-earth physical and psycho-emotional dimensions no one could have invented—they absolutely had to be lived. By all rights, the author should either be dead or chewing his fingers in a bus station. Instead, he may well have written the memoir of an entire generation.” —JERRY STAHL “I felt like a voyeur reading Stephen Elliott’s memoir—what is shocking and unbearable to most of us is commonplace to him. Although a murder trial provides the structure for this book, it is really about the strangeness of life, about things that don’t make sense and never will, about lessons that don't get learned, and ultimately about what we can and can’t know about ourselves and others. Reading The Adderall Diaries is like taking a step toward the edge of a cliff so you can peer down and imagine what it might be like to slip and fall. Normally we shudder and step back. Stephen Elliott jumps, and his harrowing, riveting memoir convinces you to follow him vicariously.” —AMY TAN “The Adderall Diaries begins like the ocean, seemingly able to take in everything—prize fights to Paris Hilton—until the ocean forms into a river, making its way through unmapped territories—a murder, an absent father—and finally this river is distilled into one precious teardrop. Stephen Elliott is one of those ‘people who keep searching when everything is dark’—I don’t know a more hauntingly fearless writer, and this is an immediate, visceral, and ultimately beautiful book.” —NICK FLYNN “Elliott writes as if his life depended on each sentence.” —STEVE ALMOND, THE BELIEVER “I can’t think of a more courageous writer than Stephen Elliott.” —JONATHAN AMES “Stephen Elliott knocks my fishnet stockings off.” —AUDREY NIFFENEGGER “How can such clear and compassionate humanity come out of someone so haunted and actively self-destructive? The mystery of the human spirit is writ large in this beautiful, strange memoir.” —JANET FITCH “Elliott ruthlessly flays the truth past the point of tears, to heights of consciousness achievable only through the masochistic act of writing. Elliott may be writing under the influence, but it’s the influence of genius.” —VANITY FAIR “Somewhere along the gamut between amphetamine-mined gonzo lit and brilliance…. [Elliott] fashions a work that is gracious and gothic, scattered and scorching.” —BLOGCRITICS MAGAZINE “The Adderall Diaries is the profoundly talented author’s most compelling and brilliant book yet. It’s a Rubik’s Cube of a memoir whose pieces never quite click into place – but oh, the pleasure for the reader in the twisting and the turning, and the rewards of suspending disbelief in favor of immersion in the game…. Equal parts personal revelation and stinging social analysis…. you won’t find a more provocative, masterful, thrilling ride than this.” —THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE “Both the prose and the perception that fuels [The Adderall Diaries] are ragingly vivid and engaged…. [T]hough it sidesteps traditional memoir elements of revelation, redemption, and closure, it affords both reader and author something much more valuable: a transcendent inquiry into the nature of the self.” —THE STRANGER “[The Adderall Diaries] is a brilliantly executed memoir disguised as a true crime book.” —PORTLAND MERCURY “A serious literary work designed to make you see the world as you’ve never quite seen in before.” —THE WASHINGTON POST “A grim, soul-searching account of addiction and writer’s block…. A frenzied exploration into the arbitrary nature of truth and innocence, with mystery and speculation at its core.” —*SALON.COM* “Elliott has taken on memoir and taken it in new directions.” —TIMEOUT CHICAGO	In your cart: Your cart is currently empty.
©2004 Graywolf Press All rights reserved. wolves@graywolfpress.org This website was made possible through a grant from the Bush Foundation.

Browse and Order Books:

Reviews of The Adderall Diaries