Zoo Station: The Story of Christiane F. Spiral-Bound | January 1, 2013

Christiane F.

★★★★☆+ from 50,001 + ratings

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This incredible autobiography provides a vivid portrait of teenage friendship, drug abuse, and alienation in and around Berlin’s notorious Zoo Station.

This incredible autobiography of Christiane F. provides a vivid portrait of teen friendship, drug abuse, and alienation in and around Berlin's notorious Zoo Station. Christiane's rapid descent into heroin abuse and prostitution is shocking, but the boredom, longing for acceptance, thrilling risks, and even her musical obsessions are familiar to everyone. Previously published in Germany and the US to critical acclaim, Zest's new translation includes original photographs of Christiane and her friends.

Publisher: HarperCollins
Original Binding: Trade Paperback
Pages: 368 pages
ISBN-10: 1936976226
Item Weight: 1.56 lbs
Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.4 x 10.0 inches
Customer Reviews: 4 out of 5 stars 50,001 + ratings

"An eloquent memoir of teen drug abuse from 1970s Berlin retains a contemporary feel in a new translation. Christiane F.'s story begins in childhood. Readers feel, from her 6-year-old perspective, the sense of frustration and restlessness that permeates the housing projects of Gropiusstadt and her father's violent punishments for mild infractions. At 12, she first tries alcohol, hashish and LSD, and the experiences are described with evocative imagery. That Christiane will ultimately become addicted to heroin is apparent from the first page, and a sense of tragic inevitability pervades each early anecdote. Christiane paints a grim portrait of the drugs-and–sex-work scene around Berlin's Zoo Station, but readers will also see the sense of fraught community that develops among Christiane and her friends. The strong pull of heroin is never clearer than when, after four days of brutal withdrawal, Christiane talks herself into having 'one last and final fix.' Short chapters written by Christiane's mother and a social worker, a photo spread, a foreword and editorial footnotes help contextualize Christiane's life in West Berlin. Readers might, however, wish for more information about how the memoir came to be published, and a note about HIV infection (not a possibility in Christiane's time, but certainly a risk now) would also be helpful. Disturbing but compelling."—Kirkus Reviews

-Journal

Christiane F. is a former heroine addict famous for her contribution in this autobiographical book, and the film based on the book.