Book review on “Drugs” by J.R. Helton for Rapid River Magazine. Published September 2012.
The context of J.R. Helton’s newest novel, “Drugs,” is as simple as it’s title. It’s a fiction book about drugs, experiences with drugs, and how one man lives his average life on drugs. Although categorized as a fiction book, “Drugs” reads more like a memoir and has no central plot except that the life depicted in the story is centered on ample drug use. This main character, “Jake,” isn’t some kind of junky or anything. He’s depicted as a man who, on the surface, would just seem like a normal guy trying to get through his work day, get home to his wife, and sit down for a drink. With this “drink” come a couple painkillers, some weed, nitrous oxide, MDMA, cocaine, or mushrooms. Practically every sentence in the entire is filled with mentions of this drug or that drug, thoughts and feelings while under the influence, or the quest to obtaining the desired effect, followed by small asides detailing sex and careers.
“Drugs” doesn’t try to find a deeper meaning in life and it doesn’t try to shock or impress the reader. All J.R. Helton does is describe the ins and outs of being someone in the culture of drugs. Someone who isn’t afraid to alter his conscious despite the crazy or mundane situations that follow. Jake goes from complaining that his doctors won’t help him obtain the “right” painkillers to passing out from too much mushrooms and weed and ruining the evening with his wife. Helton’s book “Drugs” might not hold you at the edge of your seat drooling for the next page, but it is a unique and telling insight into a life of someone who has experiences with substances not many of us would be comfortable trying. He depicts the reactions with intense detail and doesn’t let any sort of “deeper meaning” get in the way of his stories.
Link to official publishing here. (p.13, bottom)
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