Love Is the Drug

By Sarahbeth Purcell

Book Overview

Wonderfully empathic, smartly comic, and wickedly insightful, this captivating debut novel maps the progress of an unforgettable young woman endeavoring to mend a broken heart and find salvation.

"Hello, my name is Tyler Tracer and I am falling apart. I am twenty-four years old, and I have no ability whatsoever to choose an occupation or a hair color."

Meet Tyler, the singularly irresistible and straight-talking heroine of Sarahbeth Purcell's touching first novel. An incurable romantic, Tyler's chief obsessions include music, list-making -- and David, the man who broke her heart. Despite an exhaustively detailed list of reasons for why she should just forget about David once and for all -- including (but by no means limited to) chronic illness, terminal self-absorption, and geographical inaccessibility -- Tyler remains hopelessly hooked on him. Hence the wild ride she embarks upon in the wake of her father's death, a ride that takes her from her hometown in Tennessee to sunny Los Angeles, all in hopes of saving David from his ominous take on life.
This hilarious and dark cross-country expedition finds our young heroine negotiating the universally perilous terrain of sex, love, and relationships with uncommon verve, wit, and more than a little recklessness. Along the way, Tyler discovers, among other things, the uniquely redemptive powers of roadkill, the fact that enduring love tends to blossom in the most unexpected and unlikeliest places, and, above all, that nothing can stop her from making her own rules and mapping out her own life. Not even herself.
A joyous triumph of a debut to which readers will respond with a sense of instant recognition, Sarahbeth Purcell's Love Is the Drug spins a story of bold living and loving that crackles with energy and innovation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743476166
• ISBN13: 9780743476164
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Very witty and well written, but a little slow.

The writing in this book was fun and full of interesting insight and metaphors. But the plot was pretty shallow and repetative and boring. I kept waiting for some BIG thing to happen and nothing ever really did. Just small blips then a "big" ending that left me underwhelmed. Good book, worth the read, but don't get your hopes up to high.

Much better than I thought

I bought this book almost a year ago and had a little trouble getting into it. I picked it up again on my way to the beach thinking it was good fluff for beach reading, but found myself crying my eyes out on my towel. I think a lot of women, and people in general, will relate to being in love with someone who's lukewarm in return so the beginning of the book captured me in that sense. When she returns to her parents' home and describes her relationship with her father, I found it to be complex and not "pat." Her father is an alcoholic and she hates him and loves him, and the writer captured well the complexity of that relationship and her feelings. Her flawed father saved her in a sense and gave her direction (but her own direction...you'll know what I mean when you read the book). His note to her and the armadillo chapters were the parts that had me bawling! I would definitely recommend this book.

A Goddess Of A Writer

I've read this now twice in as many days. I plan to pass it on to anyone who needs a kick in the right direction. I also picked up a few of the CDs mentioned in the book and she has pretty awesome music taste, too! Sarahbeth Purcell is the most important voice for new fiction today. And judging from the author photo on the jacket, she is quite a looker, too. Do I hear MOVIE? This is not the last you've heard from this writer, that's for sure. An instant classic. You must buy it.