TOW #8 - The Gilded Razor

In the memoir, The Gilded Razor, Sam Lansky tells heart wrenching stories of his life full of addiction.  Sam Lansky is a very experienced writer, working for Time, New York magazine, The Atlantic, Esquire, and Out.  Written towards an audience who have not experienced addiction, Lansky captures the reader's attention in a way that is so unbelievably fascinating yet so jaw dropping and at times scary to even imagine.  Through the use of exaggerated diction, and vivid imagery Sam Lansky is able to show the reality of addiction and how it is not something anyone should ever encounter.  After being taken to a rehabilitation center in Utah, Same becomes furious and says to one of the workers, “Now, you probably don’t know this because you’re, like, an inbred f***k, but there are only two types of withdrawal that can kill you: alcohol withdrawal and benzodiazepine withdrawal.  If you don’t get me my f***ing Xanax, I will have a f***ing seizure and die right here and my dad will f***ing sue everything you are worth” (Lansky 155).  Through his diction, Lansky displays how insane his addiction made him.  This shows how dangerous addiction really is, and how hard it is to stop. Lansky also illustrates vivid imagery throughout his book.  Right when two men showed up at Lansky’s house to take him to rehab, he imagined the night before, “It seemed like only minutes before that I’d stumbled out of a packed nightclub in a coruscating blur of neon lights, cigarette smoke unfurling in the air, the taxicab sprawl, my doorman leering, the slickened walnut panels of the elevator spinning around me, a clumsy face-first collapse into bed” (Lansky 149).  Through his imagery, I was able to build intricate and detailed images in my head which added even more depth and meaning to the story.  In my opinion, I believe Sam Lansky was able to show a theme of staying away from addiction.  His book gave me another perspective on the life of someone who has been addicted to drugs, and I really enjoyed reading it!