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    Happy Ending
    Happy Ending
    Happy Ending
    Ebook97 pages43 minutes

    Happy Ending

    By David Rat

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    Every Happy Ending implies a not-so-happy beginning, and David Rat's story—from a groundbreaking career as the drummer of the 'Noise-Rock' cult band Rat At Rat R to a devastating addiction to heroin—follows a path from soaring heights (and highs) to the hellish basement of desperate addiction (the lowest of all possible lows).

    David Rat's gripping memoir is written not in conventional prose but rather, true to his highly artistic nature, in modern free-verse. His story documents not only his addiction but newfound loves, and lost loves too, and ultimately focuses on the source of his eventual recovery— his young son James.

    Indeed, fatherhood was David Rat's inspiration, as well as his motivation, to beat the needle. Brutally honest, gripping and openly apologetic, David Rat's story stands as a testament to hope, as well as a tribute to young James, and confirms that even in the darkest of circumstances a
    Happy Ending is still possible.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Books
    Release dateSep 29, 2012
    ISBN9781301072651
    Happy Ending
    Author

    David Rat

    A small town boy with the face of Adonis, David Rat came to New York City in the late 1970s to be an artist. With big city rock n’ roll dreams he became the drummer for the seminal art noise band Rat At Rat R. David worked the door at the infamous downtown Pyramid Club, juggled clingy girlfriends and looked forward to finally garnering his father’s approval as a mainstream success in the music industry.The story-telling quality of David’s poetry calls to mind the lyrical elegies of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” and Iggy Pop’s “Look Away.” Tragic luminaries of the period such as Greer Lankton and Ethyl Eichelberger provided the inspiration for some of David’s best work. But immersered within the world of the New York City underground David became addicted to heroin, and the 'names' and wide-eyed descriptions of the era dropped away, with testimonies to painful longing and the ritual redundancies of addiction taking their place. Only with the birth of his first son did David finally find the motivation and the strength to kick his habit and banish the needle from his life.Today, David Rat lives in Chapeco, Brazil with his fiancee and works as a Professor de Inglês. He remains dedicated to his music, to writing and to his son James.

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    Reviews for Happy Ending

    3/5

    11 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      'Happy Ending' is a memoir in free verse, and there's a lot to like about it. It's painfully honest, very direct and - for the most part - genuinely poetic. In many ways it's a romantic book, with artful turns of phrase which pull whole worlds of meaning into otherwise simple observations. A lover's blue eyes are 'the color of Marilyn Monroe's car; the color of Picasso's guitar', images which suggest the exotic, the unobtainable, a life beyond reach.As might be expected in a story of heroin addiction, the theme of the outsider figures prominently, and the idea of winners and losers is recurrent. Rat is clearly on the side of the losers, who 'aren't going away', and (albeit he is ostensibly talking about his dog) he offers a bitter insight into the losers' plight with the words 'too mean to love...thrown away and beaten - you can't blame us for hating you.' He is perhaps not quite so successful when he steps back and addresses politics with a big P, but such moments are few and far between, the majority of the book remaining in the realms of the intensely personal.Which brings us to the motivation at the heart of 'Happy Ending' - Rat's son, James. The final poem is an extremely poignant open letter to him, the simple language only serving to enhance its power. '...not all little boys get the best daddies,' writes Rat. 'You got me; I'm sorry.' My favourite reference to James, though, is from halfway through the book, when the author is recalling a session at Narcotics Anonymous: '...someone said they heard a glimmer of hope in my voice... That's what you sound like.'
    • 4/5
      My first thought when I finished this book was wow. I was blown away. This memoir not only packs a punch, but keeps you intrigued and reading more to see what will happen. I was captivated from page one and my attention was kept throughout the entire book. I couldn't put it down and had to read it in one sitting.I found the words on the cover and the image to be very contradicting. How can needles have a happy ending? They almost always have a negative connotation and bring bad news. The cover art was creative and had a stark contast between the colors and the white background. It is an intriguing cover that captures your attention.The prose was very well written and each verse broke my heart. The writing was so compelling and vivid, and stated everything bluntly. No sugar coating here. With every word that I read, I could feel the emotion that the author felt, I felt the heartbreak and the pain. The writing was done in a way that each word was not wasted, and the short verses had twice the impact of the long ones.The author's story tells of heart breaks, loves won and lost, fame and fortune and the dark world of drugs. It seemed as though everytime David Rat got out, something else would bring him down back to the drugs. However, the one thing that finally got him out completely was his son. His love for him was no match for the drugs.This was a dark book that I usually don't read and it was a change of pace from what I have been reading lately. It definitely brought a new perspective to the world around me. I know that drugs and rehab exist and the dangers of them. However, the way that this memoir was written made it seem so much closer to home than usual. For anyone who has ever known of a drug addict or has been affected, I would recommend this book. The pain and struggle that resonates with each word as it is read just grabs hold of you and won't let you go. Not until you finish it all.
    • 2/5
      I received this e-book through librarything and read it in one sitting. Sad, depressing, but ultimately hopeful.
    • 2/5
      This book was very dark and depressing. I think it would be good for his son to read it someday so that he knows that his father loved him. I feel bad for the author. Would I recommend this book to others? Not really. People that don't do drugs don't want to read about that agony people that go through when they take the drugs. People that do take drugs wouldn't want to read this because its depressing enough to make you want to take drugs if you already do. It was well written though even if I don't care for the content.

    Book preview

    Happy Ending - David Rat

    Happy Ending

    by

    David Rat

    Open Books

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard word of this author.

    ©2012 David Rat

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, to include electronic and mechanical means, without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

    Cover art Addicted to creativity by Danielle Kerr

    Learn more about the artist at www.menitti.com

    For more information about David Rat, please visit www.open-bks.com

    Contents

    What People Are Saying About David Rat, Happy Ending and Rat At Rat R...

    A Note From Angie

    Forward by Fiona Helmsley

    From the Author

    LETTER TO AN AIDS VICTIM IN HEAVEN

    BORN TO USE

    JADE

    MONKEY

    WAR

    NEWARK

    THE SADDEST WORDS EVER WRITTEN

    MISS ANTHROPY

    GOING OUT

    WE DID IT TO OURSELVES

    KOJAK

    POPPIES

    DOWN

    WITCH TRIAL

    C-BLOCK

    THE PLACE WHERE DREAMS GO TO DIE

    GEN-POP

    JAMES, I WROTE THIS FOR YOU

    THIS IS WHY...

    VENGEANCE FOR VENGEANCE

    BAG AND BAGGAGE

    SURVIVEICIDE

    OH CANADA

    UNREQUITED

    JAMES

    GREER

    SLUGGO'S GALLERY

    ETHYL

    CHICK VEINS

    STEPHEN

    THE GIFT

    GO BACK TO NEW JERSEY

    BLIND FAITH AND THE DRUG ADDICT ANGEL

    SOCIALIZATION PROCESS

    WORTHY

    DAD

    BORN TO USE

    THE DILAUDID DELUGE TRICKLED CRIPPLED CARNIVAL SPLENDOR

    JAMES, IF I SHOULD STUMBLE...JAMES, IF I SHOULD FALL...

    What People Are Saying About David Rat, Happy Ending and Rat At Rat R...

    There are more fresh musical ideas on Rat At Rat R`s first album than one could absorb in an entire day of listening to hit radio. - Robert Palmer, N. Y. Times

    KING RAT! - Katherine Ludwig, Paper Magazine

    WOW! KEITH MOON - John McEnroe, tennis superstar

    A Fantastic Riot Boy! Trash the Senses! - Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth

    Absolutely Beautiful ..but are you okay? I am worried about you. - Miss Sabrina, wife of rock legend Sky Saxon

    Dancing Master of the Ongoing - Scott Wannberg, poet legend

    The way you feel about my Music is the Way I feel about your writing - Miss Brittany, Alabama Shakes

    Hauntingly Beautiful - Linda Tolbert, supermodel

    Keats is Alive and Well, Obviously - Teri Louise Kelly, author-publisher, Blunt Trauma Press

    You are a gem Mr. Rat, Genius as usual! - Beauregard Houston-Montgomery, East Village Eye

    You are going to Heaven, God told me so - Verless Doran, author

    I Love You Daddy - James Sidney Tritt

    Go listen to that Rat at Rat R record that came out in 1985, you'll hear stuff no one else was doing. - Glenn Branca, composer

    The soul that wrote this book is beyond the grime of winner or loser..amazing - Bob Auclaire, artist-television personality

    Had to pick my heart up off the floor and put it back in my chest..Too close, too real - Julie Dulak, animal rights

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