Original Sins

June 1, 2022
Hill's arresting, confessional memoir limns a life of near-fatal drug addiction. The book opens with the author ironically shooting up heroin at the funeral of a friend who has died of a drug overdose, before flashing back to Hill's childhood in Wales and England. The son of an evangelical minister, he becomes increasingly consumed by doubt and, at 18, loses his faith--as, in due course, do his younger brother Jonathan and two sisters. As a university student, he discovers smack (heroin), and, well, "Smack, it was just heartbreakingly lovely." So lovely that he soon becomes addicted, and using heroin and crack five or six times a day becomes a medical necessity. The story of his life as addict is so harrowing that it is often painfully hard to read. Hard to live, too, since at 27 he attempts suicide. Miraculously he survives but is remanded to an inpatient psychiatric ward, and his life becomes an exercise in repeatedly trying to become clean and failing. The book is anything but a failure, though. It's remarkable--beautifully written and wonderfully insightful. Doubt and faith are twin themes that inform the captivating story and, without doubt, will also captivate readers of this extraordinary memoir.

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