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This is a weak pick. There was a lot to like about this, but I couldn‘t quite fully invest in it. I thought the narration of the audiobook was excellent, and the voice that comes through in the writing is unique and engaging. However, the plot just felt too disjointed. There is a distinct shift in the book after the narrator returns from Iraq and his descent into heroin/opioid addiction and bank robbery feels like it‘s from an entirely 👇🏼

Whelp, this happened. So now I am waiting at the tire place. Hoping to be able to just get it repaired instead of replacing it all together. Listening to the tagged audiobook while I wait to hear what the damage is.

Romantic reading date at the Jiffy Lube 😅
Husband is reading the newest Dresden Files book!

@Blueberry

1. Cherry by Nico Walker 🍒
2. Mrs. March by Virginia Feito
3. Either coffee or tea ☕🍵

#weekendreads @Blueberry @rachelsbrittain

Holy shit, what to say about this book? The easiest read of my life. The dialogue flows nicely and yet rugged at the same time. I went into this book knowing nothing about it and I ended it changed. Finding out that it is actually a memoir made me gasp. I appreciate Walker and his vulnerability to put out something like this. Do yourself a favor and read this right now.

I read Cherry when it was first released after hearing an interview with the author on NPR (from prison maybe?) Meh, the book didn‘t have the resolution it needed, and well- I don‘t recall all the issues, but I know it has been sitting on my TBsold pile for 2.5 yrs. I am excited for the new adaptation though. I ♥️ Tom Holland. The trailer doesn‘t feature a single needle though, and the addiction is a central feature. #filmadaptation #veteran

You‘ll either appreciate the writing as raw or loathe it as amateurish, but Nico Walker‘s semi-autobiographical debut is undeniably different than most books from any major publisher.

I really wanted to like this book. Some of it was funny. A lot was offensive and I would have to remind myself that it was the character and not the author ... or was it?? But in there end, I felt like I had read this before. Guy goes to war, guy becomes a junkie. I kept looking for a new angle and new voice and none was coming. As we entered the third act I realized that I really did not care about the main character. Maybe that was the point.

2nd book club attempt was a resounding failure. Getting to 22% was hard enough. Thankfully I have a conflict with the meeting so I won‘t feel too badly about skipping.

HARD. PASS.

This was a difficult read but one of the benefits of books is that it takes us out of our own experiences and shows us something else. I've read a books about addiction, war and prison - this book explores them all and bank robbery too. Most of it I didn't 'like' - there are parts that are extremely disrespectful and rude; but that unfortunately is a reality for some people and to close our eyes and say we don't like it, doesn't help.
Very good.

I don't know how to express what I think about the path to addiction as shown here. This is a relatively close-to-home issue where there's a lot going on, in all kinds of ways, with all kinds of people. Either way, the sections in Iraq will be an instant classic.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

An incredibly tough read and impossible to review because it feels akin to reviewing someones life. This is auto-fiction and as such I am fighting my nature to want to untangle the fact from the fiction. If there is one reason to pick up this novel then, it is for the sections set in Iraq. Walker gives a very believable, no frills account of the life Iraq circa 2005. The picture he paints is ugly but entirely believable.

This was an interesting book about a man who joins the army and goes to Iraq and doesn‘t really seem to know what he got himself into. Written in a stream of consciousness type style, it really captivated the mindset of a soldier in today‘s world. Parts were a bit tough for me and a but repetitive. #booked2019 #solidersstory

This is an excellent example of this style of writing — it just turns out that this style isn‘t to my taste. Despite that, it‘s a fast read, and I was curious enough that I saw it all the way through.

Imagine your most unflappable friend as a cocaine addict who unintentionally deploys to Iraq and then returns to his life of nonchalant, graphic sex. That‘s this book. It‘s entertaining, easy to read, and muses profoundly on anal sex and true love, often in the same sentence.

Were the outcomes of all the wars decided by push-ups and idle talk, America might never lose.

This reads like a millenial Catcher in the Rye if Holden Caulfield had turned to hard drugs, enlisted in the army, gone to Iraq and then tried to make a go of it as a bank robber. Unremittingly profane, misogynistic and with a cynical carapace that entirely fails to hide the vulnerable manchild beneath. Often bleakly funny, and I suspect the account of his tour of duty in Iraq is nearer the truth than the military brass would ever admit.

Great line!

My reading buddy 🖤📖📚

Excited to come home from work and pick up where I left off!

I only just noticed the skull on the cover. This is a fun read. Opiates, Iraq and hopelessness; the American dream. It's all quite horrible but uniquely written. A bit stretched out at the end but overall a brilliant depiction of war and what it does to a young man. I feel ashamed.

there are almost no redeeming qualities in this narrator, who is a depressed, misogynistic piece of shit. the book itself is extremely well written without the pacing problems of many debut novels. i LOVED this book. you might hate it. that is extremely valid.

***DID NOT FINISH***
I wanted to like this book I did but it just wasnt holding my interest unfortunately.
#bookreview #bookblogger #bookblog

Books that are mostly about people‘s time doing drugs are never my favorite. This one is interesting, but I still never find the search for drugs and doing them to be thrilling reading.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ An army medic returns from Iraq with severe undiagnosed PTSD. To cope, he develops an expensive heroin habit, & in desperation, begins robbing banks. Nico Walker penned this semi-autobiographical novel while in prison. It‘s honest, crude, & wholly devastating. The conversational style is brash & often offensive, but to me, felt genuine & necessary. These types of stories are too common. Our service members need better support. 👇🏻

▶️🎧

So 2019 started with a 💥 I blazed through this in 2 days and boy what a ride! I appreciated the easy-breezy writing style which matched the narrator‘s devil-may-care attitude. Some call him racist and sexist, I just call him a lost soul. He really doesn‘t mean to hurt anyone, but of course he ends up doing just that — himself as much as anyone. We need more books by and about veterans!

I thought this was going to end up being a bit of a gimmick that Walker wrote the book from prison, but I ended up really liking it. One man‘s semi-autobiographical story about joining the army post-9/11, becoming addicted to opioids, and becoming a bank robber to finance his drug habit. And on the way very insightful about the state of America right now.

This book really challenged me. It is autobiographical fiction and the main character is awful. He is misogynistic, racist, selfish, and self destructive, but he does have a story to tell. An important and devastating one, about the realities of war, especially as we know it now, and its aftermath. This is a story worth the telling and the flawed, but unflinchingly honest, storyteller, is exactly the right one to tell it.

The perfect week to read this book as it is the memoir of a #veteran from my hometown of #cleveland. Set in the mid 2000s, it‘s an excellent story of the challenges in middle America, returning war vets and young adulthood.

Interesting read, I think the story of the author might actually be more interesting. I would definitely like to see what else he can do.

This audiobook was quite the surprise. I was not expecting a story so terrific. Walker‘s writing style is a throwback in the vein of Bukowski or Salinger, but the story is gritty and real. If you‘ve ever suffered from drug abuse, you‘ll really enjoy this one. If you haven‘t, you‘ll enjoy it all the same.The author is in jail. I hope he writes another. I listened to Cherry in less than 2 days. One of the best this year. Overall rating: 4.57 stars

Lunch break reading 💀

If the Heroin Diaries met fiction met also non-fiction b/c apparently parts of this story are true, it would result in this book. It‘s a fucking mess that reads like stream of consciousness inside the mind of an addict with PTSD but it‘s also what made it fascinating to read. I didn‘t love it but I liked it a lot. It‘s got a lot of graphic descriptions of drug use and murder and many dogs are killed in the story so if you read it, read w/ caution

Sweet Jesus: this book is devastating

Took off work today.....#catsoflitsy

No apologies in a book that is at times, difficult to take .There is dark humor, in a coming of age story made of bad choices.Nico Walker captures the drift of youth and a tour of duty overseas , the moments of terror ,the boredom in between.How coming home offers little peace,more bad choices but his strait on intensity made me want to know what happens next.

This always happens, my hot , new , non renewable hold comes when I am bogged down in many wonderful books including a 1152 pager!I guess I need wine! I got the other one @vivastory and it is so delicious!🍷

Cherry is funny, honest, & really took me on a journey with a surprisingly likeable junky. The narrative felt like it was going somewhere, to some kind of climax, or rock bottom, but the result was meh. There didn't feel to be any resolution, just circular tapering off to meet the opening scene of Emily shoving ice down his pants to bring him back to life. But that scene was the beginning; and there was no life to hold on to at the end. #heroin

Extremely dark and graphic, which is probably why so many reviews are so-so. However it is very well written, and is a powerful social critique of modern military culture and American approaches to addiction.

Another story of wasted life and youth. So much talent down the drain for nothing.

I almost always visit the library or book store on my bf‘s go back to work day (he works 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off); since I went to the book store with my sister on Sunday and had a book to return anyway, I stopped in for a quick visit to the library tonight after work. Couldn‘t resist a selfie since my outfit felt very library appropriate.

3/5🍒. I am not sure how I feel about this book. It reminded me of requiem for a dream without a real ending.... Without the back story about the author I don‘t think I would have cared about any of the characters.

Nico Walker, the author of this fictionalized memoir, is serving 11 years in prison for bank robbery. This is the raw and abrasive rapid fire account of how he got there—an account of a man who has experienced the depths of anguish and desperation. It‘s hard to understand what it‘s like to reach this kind of bottom. This book is Walker‘s attempt to show us.

Nico Walker's Cherry is clearly not for the faint of heart. Graphic sex, violence, and drug use dominate this novel, but, for those of us not immediately turned off, the overall reward is worth it. This is a fascinating, yet heartbreaking story that is all too real for many Americans. Happy to add this one to my permanent collection.

I'm in army phase of this story. This book is so real, and unreal at the same time. Like he is realistic and almost reasonable, but insane, and that's kind of the appeal. #armymedic #addict #fuckedupbooksaboutfuckeduppeople

Here we go! Let's see if Walker's book is worth the hype.

This is a heavy and difficult read. That being said I believe the author did an excellent job of presenting the reader with what it‘s like to be an addict.

This was one of the most difficult (emotionally) books I‘ve read in a long time. It‘s full of drugs, language, sex (the worst kind), even animal cruelty—I so wanted some growth, some change, even a glimmer of hope for the protagonist. Sadly, it just shows the downward spiral of a drug user. The parts about Iraq seriously depressed me.