Today, a review from my partner, Ron:
A Life in Smoke is an odd sort of book. In it the author documents her many attempts to quit smoking and a whole load of rationalizations as to why she took up smoking and continued to self sabotage all of her attempts to quit. Some as drastic as chaining her self up to keep from smoking.
Her feelings of letting her loved ones down by failing only further drag her down into self loathing and self pity. Quitting is hard, and there are more psychological addiction issues than physical ones. And she does touch on most of them, but it seems almost like an accident when she does.
As someone who did quit pipe smoking when he had a "silent" heart attack I can tell you it’s not easy. But six weeks after surgery I resumed smoking cigarettes, which I had never smoked in my life and don’t really enjoy. And can’t seem to stop, even though I do try.
In the afterword, she tells the eternal truth of quitting. When it’s time it’s time. She finally quits by telling herself to wait a bit when she wanted another cigarette. And had been a long time off, this after all of her failed attempts. Which most long time smokers know "it was just her time to quit". We all know when it happens and for some it never does. I hope I’m lucky enough to get a second time to quit.
This book is Recommended With Reservations…..anti smoking people will use it to attack the smokers in their lives. And smokers will have a lot of their already high level of guilt and anxiety over smoking quite heightened.
Tags: A Life In Smoke, Book Reviews, Books, Julia Hansen, Memoir, smoking
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August 25th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Hi there
I just quit 10 days ago and still feel quite good.
But it was the same last time and then I started again after 8 months, so I’ll see if it works this time.
The problem is that nicotine is one of the most potent drugs in terms of addictivenes. Your body and your brain will ever forget it. That’s why most smokers stumble over “oh, a single cigarette won’t make me start smoking again!” and that is the biggest mistake you can make.
Anyway, I might read the book for inspiration,
thanks for the tipp.
Greets Julia
October 8th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Thanks for this excellent post! As a woman I know that smoking is more harmful to me than it is for men.