On Drugs

(GIRAMONDO, 2019)

★★★★1/2

Books and Publishing

An Australian Book Review 2019 Book of the Year

“Wow. Chris Fleming is (somewhat secretly) one of the best writers and minds in Australia and On Drugs is just brilliant. This is searching, insightful, compelling, and best of all, funny. Get on it.” Robert Lukins, author of The Everlasting Sunday and Loveland.

"Engrossing, intelligent, satisfying, and often very funny. Belongs on a shelf next to DeQuincey and William S. Burroughs." Phillip Lopate, Professor of Writing, Columbia University, author of Being with Children and Bachelorhood, editor of Best American Essays and Best American Short Stories.

“Chris Fleming is in a league of his own.” Jonathan Gavin, screenwriter of The Beautiful Lie, The Secrets She Keeps, and Cleverman.

“Probably won’t read a better Australian book this year than Chris Fleming’s remarkable On Drugs.” Sam Twyford-Moore, author of The Rapids.

“The best memoir I’ve ever read.” Laura McPhee-Brown, author of Cherry Beach and Little Plum.

"On Drugs is the kind of book that you'll read in one sitting while the cat starves and the sky gets dark. Fleming is a riveting storyteller, both acutely funny and absurd, and bearing an exceptional mind able to deftly move between his own experience of addiction and wider questions of thought, language and being. You'll come away from this book feeling that doors have opened in your own mind. Exceptional." Nicola Redhouse, author of Unlike the Heart.

"His stories of being a high functioning addict are frank, devastating, and at times, very funny. This memoir is stunning." Elizabeth McCarthy, Book Reviewer on 3RRR and Host of The Wheeler Centre's "Books & Ideas At Montalto" series.

"It's rare to find a writer with the vocabulary and intellectual capacity to depict the grotesque and gratuitous lows found at the depths of a drinking binge while still confronting the higher level problems in representing it. An extraordinary book." - Jack Cameron-Stanton, Sydney Morning Herald / The Age.

"On Drugs is - I have to use the word - mindblowing. A memoir not to be missed." Morgan Smith, Gleebooks Gleaner.

"This is as gripping, intelligent, gut-wrenching, and funny (yes, funny) as everyone says. It's in a league of its own. Please read it." Erin Gough, author of Flywheel and Amelia Westlake Was Never Here.

“This is an amazing book – one of the best I’ve ever read on addiction. Up there with Luke Davies’ Candy, but much less romantic.” Brigid Delaney, author of Wild Things and The Restless Life.

"The way his mind takes topics to extremes may sometimes have been a weight on his shoulders, but it's also allowed him to carry entire universes in his head." Jenny Valentish, author of Cherry Bomb, A Woman of Substances, and Everything Harder than Everyone Else.

"On Drugs is anything but a comfortable read, but it is vital and, for those who brave it, a rewarding experience. While the depths of addiction are conveyed precisely and unsparingly, the voice is so sober and awake that it really does offer hope that addiction – of any kind – can be overcome, and something made of it." James Antoniou, Australian Book Review.

"This is an utterly extraordinary book - just extraordinary. I was riveted." Peter Goers, ABC Evenings.

"The way his mind takes topics to extremes may sometimes have been a weight on his shoulders, but it’s also allowed him to carry entire universes in his head." Jenny Valentish, author of A Woman of Substances and Everything Harder than Everyone Else.

Valentish, Jenny. Everything Harder Than Everyone Else (p. 137). Schwartz Books Pty. Ltd.. Kindle Edition.

"People who don't read this book should be fined." Dr Alex Wodak

Early versions of parts of the book were published in two instalments in the Sydney Review of Books: On Drugs, Part I, and On Drugs, Part II. The latter of these was named in Overland as one of the best Australian essays of the last decade.

For media inquiries in Australia or New Zealand, please contact Nick Tapper: nick@giramondopublishing.com / 0424 697 976

For US / Rest of the World, contact Ismita Hussain: ismita@greatdogliterary.com