Diary Of A Drug Fiend Book

Reading this was a visceral experience. It's description of the depths of addiction and psychosis was gut wrenching and because it was so nuanced, strange and terrifying it seems clearly to have sprung from Crowley's own experience. The narration unexpectedly switched between the two main characters mid story from the arrogant and self centered "protagonist," Peter Pendragon, to the eminently more likeable Louise Laleham, who up until that point had been given about as much depth as a sports car Peter might have been obsessed with. This switching of perspectives was a saving grace for the book as Peter had already become a tiresome character and the surprising change of tone and perspective not only kept the story fresh, it reflected a bit more skill as an author than I had suspected from Crowley.

The book had a very entrancing tone and effectively drew me into it's strange logic and absurd meanderings, at times whimsical and almost slapstick in portraying the main character's sheltered and drug addled naivete, at times unabashedly glorifying the highs the characters were experiencing in lurid detail. People wouldn't do drugs if they weren't fun and this book certainly doesn't shy away from exploring the glamor of a cocaine binge or the transcendent euphoria of a heroin high. However, the depths of madness to which the characters plunge following their starry eyed honey moon with the drug and each other rounds out the portrayal in a most crucial way, giving this book perhaps it's most powerful and honest moments.

Contextually, this book was written as a means of raising funds for Crowley and attracting followers to his cosmology, Thelema. As a result it is often guilty of being sensationalistic to sell itself by virtue of controversy and taboo, as well as ultimately devolving into a cringe-worthy recruiting pamphlet for Crowley's mysticism, where he placed himself as the central prophetic figure. Crowley cast himself in the book as the cult mystic figure, King Lamus, who is portrayed as a shadowy figure in the London underground, but revealed to be a venerable sage with profound insight and a cadre of loyal followers who worship the ground he walks on. Crowley was many things, but humble certainly wasn't one. Taken with a grain of salt, the proselytizing moments are still quite fascinating in that they are some of the most straightforward presentations of Thelemic occultism one is likely to find. However, and this is important, this book feels very dangerous particularly to impressionable people because ultimately it IS a recruiting tool and it not only advocates the possibility of controlled use of hardcore drugs, it offers Crowley's cosmology as a means by which one CAN use hardcore drugs in a controlled way. Through that lens one can see how Crowley could earn the title "The Wickedest Man in the World" because it can easily be argued that this book seeks to encourage addictive behaviors while using the same behaviors as leverage to gain followers of Thelema.

Despite it's flaws (and Crowley's, which are many) this book is remarkably intriguing not only for Crowley's effective writing and keen insights into drug use, but also for the historical context, the window into occultism, and the sheer spectacle of audacity of one of the 20th century's most infamous figures.