| I Want My Life Back |
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| Reviewed by Angus Douglas | |
| Friday, 16 December 2005 | |
 Author: Steve Hamilton  So, what's a health-conscious teetotaler like you or me to learn from the memoir of a rampaging drug addict? LOTS. I like Steve Hamilton. Steve comes from that halcyon South African era... Botha, Biko, Cruywagen; Dallas, Dynasty, Dagga; Rabbit, Rothmans, Rhoodie. He grew up in the 70's and 80's and all of the above (but for dagga) don't get mentioned in his book. Steve was too busy getting stoned. A sane response to an insane time? No. Steve's dad was an alcoholic, and so Steve became a drug addict. He doesn't blame his dad but whilst things were getting out of hand in the house Steve escaped to drugland. Gays have Oscar Wilde, vegetarians have Hitler - sorry I mean Brigitte Bardot, but who do drug addicts have...? Timothy Leary, Micky Rourke, Motley Crue!?? Well now they have Steve Hamilton. He's everything a recovering (note the ...ing) druggy should be. Looks twice his age, acts half his age; an evangelist for sobriety; lives in Cape Town; devotes his life to getting kids to stay of drugs; doesn't have bonds, pensions, insurance and all that other stuff non-druggies have to worry about. And, most importantly, every day he has to wake up and slay the addiction dragon. Reading Steve's book is enough to make most people feel good. There's nothing like spectacular failure to make the mediocre feel better about themselves - and Steve Hamilton was very good at spectacular failure. But the wonder of life is that there is always redemption for even the lowliest of souls. I Want My Life Back is an engaging account of one man's journey from addiction to grace and then finally to redemption. Even the most well adjusted of us can do with a story like that. |
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