“A powerful and important contribution to the literature of addiction and its impact on individuals and families, Eilene Zimmerman’s Smacked tells the story of her ex-husband’s secret, spiraling addiction, which resulted in his sudden, shocking death. A rare combination of journalistic rigor, personal courage and writerly grace, Zimmerman’s account illuminates, as David Sheff’s Beautiful Boy did, that addiction is not a choice, not a moral failing, and not a problem that any amount of love, intelligence, talent or success can shield or save you from. A shattering story of terrible loss, learning, and survival, this is memoir at its most engrossing and most useful.”
— Bill Clegg, author of Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man
“Heart-wrenching…a chronicle of trying to make sense of a loved one’s struggles with [addiction]. Zimmerman can be keenly observant… but her powers of observation fail when it comes to Peter’s drug use. Even when she discovers his corpse on the floor of his bedroom, she doesn’t notice the track marks on his arms or the drug paraphernalia strewn about until the medical examiner calls her attention to this glaring evidence. Her account of her own confusion is the story that lingers.”
— The New York Times
“[A] moving and intimate memoir...Zimmerman’s wrenching story and her extensive research into the hidden crisis of white-collar drug addiction will resonate with many readers.”
— Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Smacked is a story that will both break your heart and, in the wake of loss, make you think long and hard about what it means to have ‘everything.’ In lucid, precise prose and with a crushing honesty, Eilene Zimmerman traces the emotional and social forces that make it possible for one man, ostensibly on top of the world, to be visibly killing himself and for no one to recognize his fall.”
— Heather Harpham, author of Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After
“A searing account of how the author came to terms with her ex-husband’s unexpected death from a hidden drug addiction ... A timely reading experience in these hectic times.”
— Kirkus
“Poignant . . . . an engrossing narrative laden with elements of pathos and mystery.”
— The Boston Globe
“A heartbreaking, illuminating memoir.”
— People Magazine
“In this brave and suspenseful memoir, Eilene Zimmerman traces a deeply personal family story while illuminating urgent and troubling social issues. Smacked is an exquisite examination of the repercussions of addiction, as well as the influence of white-collar money and ambition, upon a family. A profoundly absorbing and important book.”
— Adrienne Brodeur, author of Wild Game
“An unvarnished and wrenching exploration of opioid abuse in a wealthy, white-collar world that resonates across class and cultures.”
— Newsweek, Most Anticipated Books of 2020
“America’s opioid epidemic is generally seen as a lower-class phenomenon — a plague affecting tenements, trailer parks and other centres of deprivation. But as journalist Eilene Zimmerman shows in her absorbing memoir Smacked, not even those at society’s apex are immune.”
— Financial Times
“A searing and extraordinary memoir, Smacked peers into the life of the white collar addict, showing us how the enslavement to not just drugs, but wealth and success, in this country can ruin marriages and families. Zimmerman achieves not just gorgeous prose and a suspenseful and engrossing story, but also more compassion and insight than I have encountered for this subject. Smacked is unputdownable and addictive, in the best way possible.”
— Claire Bidwell Smith, author of The Rules of Inheritance
“[A] deeply personal story.... [revealing] a professional world of high-achieving personalities who’re more often than not vulnerable to the temptations of addiction. ”