Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207004 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 72 pages

Customer Reviews

Absorbing, but slight
Before proceeding, I must note that this "book" is in fact a reprint of an article originally published in the September 2000 issue of Vanity Fair. So, while is a cute and well-designed wee book (it takes a little under an hour to read), those looking to save themselves the cost of a movie ticket and large drink are advised to consult their local library. That said, it is an amusing and exotic travelogue recounting Tosches' quest to locate a real-life operational opium den and sample its wares. While he makes a modest attempt to justify his journey on medical grounds (it is reputed to aid diabetics), he freely admits his enchantment with the orientalist vision of sumptuous opium dens with loose-limbed ladies. Thus, he travels from New York, to San Francisco, to Hong Kong, to Bangkok, to Phnom Penh, to Paris, and finally to a secret location in "Indochina" where he fulfills his quest. (It should be noted that he could have written an equally interesting essay by going to places like Afghanistan and Iran, where opium has a rich historical tradition.)

From the very beginning-a witty dissection of a $35 onion dish at a trendy New York restaurant-Tosches' writing is sharp and engaging. His descriptive talents are topnotch, whether describing the various foods he encounters (and there's a lot), the Thai sex shows he's watching, or the actual smell and texture of opium. He's also good at explaining the economics that led to opium's demise (opium derivatives such as heroin and morphine are easier and cheaper to make, and thus deliver higher profit margins to drug dealers). It's an engaging little essay, but it's hard to imagine why anyone would purchase it in book form.

One curious note is that while he mentions earlier writers on opium, such as Thomas de Quincy's 19th-century memoir Confessions of an English Opium Eater , Mark Merlin's On the Trail of the Ancient Opium Poppy, Edward Brecher's monumental 1972 study, Licit and Illicit Drugs, and even extolls The Big Smoke: The Chinese Art and Craft of Opium, which is unavailable in America, he fails to mention Barbara Hodgson's recent coffee-table book, Opium: A Portrait of the Heavenly Demon. It's also odd that he fails to mention fiction's most famous opium addict, Sherlock Holmes.