Codeine Diary: A Memoir

by Tom Andrews

Book Overview

When mathematician Tom Andrews slips and breaks his ankle on an icy Ann Arbor street, it is no ordinary fracture: for Andrews, a hemophiliac, the fall begins a "bleed"-that is, the pooling of blood... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316042447
• ISBN13: 9780316042444
• Release Date: February 1998
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 and higher

Customer Reviews

Amazing!

Like Mr. Andrews, I have a bleeding disorder. We also share the sad distinction of having to be hospitalized for "bleeds". These are always terrible, trying times. My god how I wished I'd had this book with me during my last bleed. Andrews captures the experience perfectly. There is all the fear, the humor, the midnight pleas for more pain medicine, the frustration, the urge to get up and get back to your normal life. It's all there. And without a word wasted. The loss of Tom Andrews was a tragic moment for poetry, but I will continue to honor his memory by buying as many copies as I can of Codeine Diary (as well as his wonderful poetry collections) and handing them out to everyone I know (especially my patients with bleeding disorders). I know that the world has much to gain from his wise words.

Beautiful

This novel is at times funny, at other times heartbreaking, but entirely wonderful. It is a shame that Tom Andrews passed away so soon after the publication of this, his first novel. He was a great writer and a family friend who will be missed.

Inspiration for us all

As I read this I entered a world where only 20,000 others are forced to endure in the USA. That world being that of a Hemophiliac. We can never know what suffering is as Mr. Andrews does, but this book has shown us a shocking glimpse of what it's like. I have been awakened from my shallow existence and can now overcome what measly barriers life has given me. Mr. Andrews, thank you for sharing your life with us. I sir take my hat off to you for your courage and wish you nothing but the best of luck in the future! I must also conclude by saying that you are a damn good poet as well, but then again Charles Wright is your mentor. But please do me a favor from now on, try to live a sedentary life for you have much poetry left to write. It would be a shame to deny us of many more years of your wonderful poetry, by risking it all on some reckless adventure. Your life is your own, but remember that you also have a legion of loyal readers that you are now responsible for.

Andrews' poetic prose is delightful.

Andrews provides a glimpse inside the personal space of a poet who happens to be a hemophiliac. _Codeine Diary_ is a carefully wrought memoir that reveals Andrews' passion for language and life, and it is this love of language which makes this uniquely witty and introspective book more than personal. It is good that it was written. - C.M.