got this book not knowing what to expect, thought it would be full of phsycobable, but i found it very moving and raw in the way in which she is so honest about herself and her desire to be loved.
How could anyone not be damaged by that upbringing.I hope that the writing of the book was cathartic and that the authors life is now full and rewarding and that she has now exorcised the demons of her earlier life. By the end of the book it now seems she has found the stable loving relationship she was craving all her life.Very interesting reading.
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There's a shocking and, if you'll pardon my perverse delight, downright revolting (yet, somehow, hysterical) scene of self-degradation in Gravity's Rainbow that almost made me gag the first time I read it (the only time I will ever read it, it was so gross, thank you very much, Mr. Pynchon!), that I never thought in a gazillion years I'd read another variation of in serious literature again -- a not-at-all-hysterical variation of, that is -- until reading Rachel Resnick's riveting memoir, Love Junkie.

Love Junkie chronicles the years of Resnick's sex addiction and harrowing self-destructive spiral into increasingly exploitative (no, make that masochistic and psychologically cruel) relationships the like of which cost her so much emotionally I'm frankly floored she came through the self-induced chaos with anything resembling a life left, let alone what was left of her shredded sanity and self-esteem intact enough to write so lucidly about the ruinous experiences that might have easily and understandably driven anyone else to suicide. Her lust for sex and acceptance almost annihilated her. But she survived. And I have a signed and inscribed copy of Love Junkie to prove it! See?

The homage and allusions Resnick paid William S. Burrough's Junky alone makes Love Junkie a cut above your typically flat and anticlimactic tell-all reads. ( )

Intimate and powerful exploration of an addiction that leaves you thinking about how your own upbringing has coloured the way you form intimate adult relationships.

Ms Resnick appears to have been frank, honest and open about her addiction to "love". Let's hope the process of writing this book has allowed her to set her personal demons aside and that she may now form more 'appropriate' and fulfilling relationships in the future with or without the attendant macaw in her life! ( )

Almost every woman who has spent time searching for Mr. Right has, at one point or another, fallen hard for Mr. Wrong. We've all had at least one relationship where we temporarily lost sight of ourselves and became regrettably jealous, insecure, or needy. Rachel Resnick, however, took it to a whole new level. She couldn't break free from the cycle. She compulsively sought out and clung to a series of increasingly destructive and dysfunctional relationships before she acknowledged her "love addiction" and sought help from support groups and 12-step programs. This memoir takes a gritty and unflinching look at her lowest moments of sexual and emotional debasement, explores the family dynamics that helped shape her addiction, and chronicles her journey towards self-awareness and love. ( )

Desperate and at times disturbing—Love Junkie is a memoir that is almost too honest. Resnick, a forty year old writer, is our junkie. The book recounts her relationships from childhood to middle age as evidence of her love addiction. An addiction she claims is as gripping as heroin. Resnick opens her story by describing scenes in which her mother threw herself at men while neglecting her children, and segues into history vividly repeating itself over a string of Resnick’s own failed relationships. She lives her life choosing one ill-suited mate after another in a frantic need to be loved. She pushes herself beyond her limits in a constant pursuit of an intimacy that evades her. When it comes to sex and love, she has absolutely no control over herself. She tirelessly pursues affection at any cost.

Resnick lays out her history for the reader to devour and judge in a completely straightforward way. The author at times is unlikable but her story is too well told to deny. Her memories range from heart wrenchingly sad to completely outrageous, and at times scarily relatable. The book ends without warning and with questionable hope for the author’s fate, but unnaturally haunts the reader long after the story’s completion. ( )