Review: How to Murder Your Life

How to Murder Your Life by Cat Marnell
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Genre: Autobiography
​Page Length: 374 Pages
Publication Date: 2 February 2017
Publisher: Ebury Digital

Stars:  4 out of 5

LINKS: Amazon (UK)

ABOUT HOW TO MURDER YOUR LIFE
By the age of 15, Cat Marnell longed to work in the glamorous world of women's magazines - but was also addicted to the ADHD meds prescribed by her father. Within 10 years she was living it up in New York as a beauty editor at Condé Nast, with a talent for 'doctor-shopping' that secured her a never-ending supply of prescribed amphetamines. Her life had become a twisted merry-go-round of parties and pills at night, while she struggled to hold down her high-profile job during the day.

Witty, magnetic and penetrating - prompting comparisons to Bret Easton Ellis and Charles Bukowski - Cat Marnell reveals essential truths about her generation, brilliantly uncovering the many aspects of being an addict with pin-sharp humour and beguiling style.

'I was twenty-six years old and an associate beauty editor at Lucky, one of the top fashion magazines in America. That’s all that most people knew about me. But beneath the surface, I was full of secrets: I was a drug addict, for one. A pillhead. I was also an alcoholic-in-training who guzzled warm Veuve Clicquot after work alone in my boss’s office with the door closed; a conniving and manipulative uptown doctor-shopper; a salami-and-provolone-puking bulimic who spent a hundred dollars a day on binge foods when things got bad (and they got bad often); a weepy,wobbly, wildly hallucination-prone insomniac; a tweaky self-mutilator; a slutty and self-loathing downtown party girl; and – perhaps most of all – a lonely weirdo. But, you know, I had access to some really fantastic self-tanner.'

My Review:

WOAH! So this is an incredible read BUT it won't be for everyone. The story of Cat's life is raw, it is unabashedly honest to the point of uncomfortable at times, but it is an insight to the life and survival of a some-what functioning addict. It by no means proposes excuses for abusing drugs and the almost unapologetic tone could come across as patronising, yet I can't remember any book I have read that offers such an honest and transparent recollection of addiction.

I would also recommend to those who have a loved one who struggles with drug use/abuse.

What a ride.