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Strung Out

One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me

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Strung Out

By: Erin Khar
Narrated by: Jayme Mattler
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About this listen

 “This is a story she needed to tell; and the rest of the country needs to listen.”
— New York Times Book Review

“This vital memoir will change how we look at the opioid crisis and how the media talks about it. A deeply moving and emotional read, STRUNG OUT challenges our preconceived ideas of what addiction looks like.”
—Stephanie Land, New York Times bestselling author of Maid

In this deeply personal and illuminating memoir about her fifteen-year struggle with heroin, Khar sheds profound light on the opioid crisis and gives a voice to the over two million people in America currently battling with this addiction.

Growing up in LA, Erin Khar hid behind a picture-perfect childhood filled with excellent grades, a popular group of friends and horseback riding. After first experimenting with her grandmother’s expired painkillers, Khar started using heroin when she was thirteen. The drug allowed her to escape from pressures to be perfect and suppress all the heavy feelings she couldn’t understand.

This fiercely honest memoir explores how heroin shaped every aspect of her life for the next fifteen years and details the various lies she told herself, and others, about her drug use. With enormous heart and wisdom, she shows how the shame and stigma surrounding addiction, which fuels denial and deceit, is so often what keeps addicts from getting help. There is no one path to recovery, and for Khar, it was in motherhood that she found the inner strength and self-forgiveness to quit heroin and fight for her life.

Strung Out is a life-affirming story of resilience while also a gripping investigation into the psychology of addiction and why people turn to opioids in the first place. Addiction & Recovery Gender Studies Indigenous Creators Medical Mental Health Awareness Professionals & Academics Social Sciences Women Substance abuse Heartfelt Addiction Memoirs
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This is a brave person telling a difficult story. I learnt a lot about addiction and recovery, even although my particular poison isn’t heroin. There are wider lessons here if one has the ability to see past the surface. Bravo Erin!

Loved this book

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Harrowing, engaging, brilliantly written and well performed. Couldn’t stop listening. I kept finding things to do so I could continue listening to her story.

Absolutely brilliant

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I just wanted to hug Erin the whole time. Brutal and beautiful. Highly recommend reading.

heart wrenching and honest

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Got half way through this book and got sick of hearing stories about the authors’s relationships with men. With a little bit of heroin thrown in. Boring. I was hoping for a story about addiction to drugs. Couldn’t make it any further.

Maybe the second half was better? I won’t ever know.

Only made it half way

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