It's a "moderate-sized miracle" that Carr is alive, writing for NYT

Mpls. St. Paul Magazine
That's what one of David Carr's former editors says. "Whether he has moved the ball of 'junkie lit' further down the field [with new his book], I don’t pretend to know," writes Brian Lambert. "What I do know is that from the day I first met him nearly thirty years ago, I knew he had talent. He understood the fundamentals of storytelling. A dogged reporter -- a guy who fundamentally wants to know, and be in the know, about stuff -- Carr could always weave the basics of an otherwise garden-variety news item into a narrative with setting, characters, and drama."
> Szalavitz: Why ex-addicts dread addiction memoirs like Carr's (MoJo)