Name: james cao's review of Cherry by Nico Walker
Item: Cherry
Rating: 3
Author: james cao

Nico Walker

"Jesus' Son meets Reservoir Dogs in a breakneck-paced debut novel about love, war, bank robberies, and heroin. Cleveland, 2003. A young man is just a college freshman when he meets Emily. They share a passion for Edward Albee and ecstasy and fall hard and fast in love. But soon Emily has to move home to Elba, New York, and he flunks out of school and joins the army. Desperate to keep their relationship alive, they marry before he ships out to Iraq. But as an army medic, he is unprepared for the grisly reality that awaits him. His fellow soldiers smoke; they huff computer duster; they take painkillers; they watch porn. And many of them die. He and Emily try to make their long-distance marriage work, but when he returns from Iraq, his PTSD is profound, and the drugs on the street have changed. The opioid crisis is beginning to swallow up the Midwest. Soon he is hooked on heroin, and so is Emily. They attempt a normal life, but with their money drying up, he turns to the one thing he thinks he could be really good at--robbing banks. Hammered out on a typewriter, Cherry marks the arrival of a raw, bleakly hilarious, and surprisingly poignant voice straight from the dark heart of America"--

Cherry

Cleveland, Ohio, 2003. A young man is just a college freshman when he meets Emily. They share a passion for Edward Albee and ecstasy and fall hard and fast in love. But soon Emily has to move home to Elba, New York, and he flunks out of school and joins the army. Desperate to keep their relationship alive, they marry before he ships out to Iraq. But as an army medic, he is unprepared for the grisly reality that awaits him. His fellow soldiers smoke; they huff computer duster; they take painkillers; they watch porn. And many of them die. He and Emily try to make their long-distance marriage work, but when he returns from Iraq, his PTSD is profound, and the drugs on the street have changed. The opioid crisis is beginning to swallow up the Midwest. Soon he is hooked on heroin, and so is Emily. They attempt a normal life, but with their money drying up, he turns to the one thing he thinks he could be really good at - robbing banks. Hammered out on a prison typewriter, Cherrymarks the arrival of a raw, bleakly hilarious, and surprisingly poignant voice straight from the dark heart of America.

A Novel

james cao

You just had to remember that it was all make believe. The drill sergeants were just pretending to be drill sergeants. We were pretending to be soldiers. The Army was pretending to be the Army.

National Bestseller Now a major motion picture starring Tom Holland and directed by the Russo Brothers. A young medic returns from deployment in Iraq to two things: the woman he loves, and the opioid crisis sweeping across the Midwest. In this “miracle of literary serendipity” (The Washington Post), after finding himself deep in the thrall of heroin addiction, the soldier arrives at what seems like the only logical solution: robbing banks. Written by a singularly talented, wildly imaginative debut novelist, Cherry is a bracingly funny and unexpectedly tender work of fiction straight from the dark heart of America. A PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FINALIST A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER • ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY • VULTURE • VOGUE • LIT HUB

A novel

kari <33

𝓒.

I went into reading this with Luke Davies’ “Candy” in my head, and this is a very different book, so my expectations were way off. I wasn’t anticipating almost half the book to recount the narrator’s time in Iraq, and I think military stories aren’t it for me because I really had to push through those parts. Overall a bleak and depressing but realistic and and times quite funny novel. Walker did his job, the narrator is an asshole but I kinda feel for him anyway

good. i have questions about many people on this book but i like that about it. would read it again.

Nina

Bailee Strong

2.5
another one im happy to not relate to but gave me an insight into my mother??

Hannah

“Her eyes—green—were bright, merciful, sometimes given to melancholy, not entirely guileless. And I’d listen to her tell me about the abandoned factories and the cemetery where she’d grown up, the places where she’d skinned her knees. And her voice took me over. This is how you find the one to break your heart.”

lucy dacus thank you for this recommendation because wow just yeah wow

Grace M

Not the type of book I usually reach for, which made Cherry a refreshing change of pace for me. I found by the end of it I preferred the first half to the second half of the novel. The first half was a microcosm of 2000s culture and a scathing look at military life during that time. The second half dragged a bit. I thought the bank robbery aspect would be more fast paced but I suppose nothing is really fast paced when your main character is on heroin.

Olivia Mitchell

Not at all what I expected (would’ve helped if I read the synopsis) but quite enjoyable. Fast paced writing and a lot of characters. Super dark but good

A young man falls in love, joins the army and is sent to fight in the war in Iraq. Comes back to the U.S. in the height of the opioid crisis. He speaks on his account of relationships, heroin addiction, PTSD, and robbing banks. It’s a quick paced book, and definitely keeps your attention the entire time. 

Brooke McBride

Kaitlin Haddock

❗️UPDATED RATING ON APRIL 2, 2022. 5 STARS due to the fact that I cannot stop thinking about this book and since it stuck with me for this long, it deserves a 5 star.❗️

4.25 — said to be “the first great novel of the opioid epidemic” - cherry is a fictional autobiography that follows a young medic who returns home from deployment and enters a life of opioid addiction.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW:

this is more than a novel about an addict. it isn’t only about armed robbery or war. it’s about isolation, never feeling satisfied, and being stuck in a cycle you can’t get out of.

cherry is loosely based off the author’s real life struggles with ptsd and addiction. walker’s story shows the lengths one person can go to control their desperation.

cherry was an interesting book to read in the sense that it didn’t feel like a book. it felt like i was gossiping with a friend. walker has this skill that sucks you into the character’s life and the events that come along with it. although redundant at times, it was a fun read (with very unlikable characters).

the writing style is so blunt and in your face that it feels like an average joe wrote it — but i think that’s what is so appealing about cherry. walker’s writing is the kind of habit where your mouth is speaking before your mind can register what is being said. sometimes this went against the book, though. i didn’t understand a few sentences and the over-simplistic writing style ultimately lowered my rating. i felt like i could have shortened a whole paragraph into a few sentences, but it fit the story and how it was told.

i loved how short the chapters were and enjoyed slowly getting to see the main character spiral into his addiction. i enjoyed being surprised with its humor and relatability, which was a great way to break the seriousness of what was occurring. i also found it realistic when it came to his insecurity with who he was as a person, man, and partner.

if you can’t handle drug use, crude language, or death: here is your warning to not pick it up. but if you enjoy novels that are different and interesting and fast-paced, this is for you.

— —

(originally reviewed on instagram!)

jordan

so good. wasn’t expecting the ending, but overall so much better than the movie (i’m sorry tom i love you)

Amy Maddess

This is like what “A Million Little Pieces” could have been without the lying and the sensationalism and the two-part Oprah special.

Jill Swan

I love the writing style. Something in the tone reminded me of the beatniks. I don’t really like war stories, I don’t usually find them gripping, and that was the majority of the content here. I’m very interested to see if he comes out with another book, and what it’ll be like.

Deborah Kerr

The problem with a book like Cherry is that some sections of this book were so poignant, so well-executed and delivered that they deserved 5 stars. While there are other parts--boring, poorly paced, poorly edited parts that made me almost skim-skip to the next chapter/portion of the book.

Walker's writing style will not be for everyone:
- more tell than show
- extremely self-deprecating while still maintaining a misogynistic condescension at its edges
- dry, dark humor in the face of legitimate horror

The topics covered in this novel--a 'fictionalization' of Walker's life--are heavy and Walker does not shy away from any of the ugliness. From addiction to abusive, unhealthy relationships to the war and violent criminal behavior, Walker does not romanticize his life--he calls himself a loser and deadbeat and a terrible person, but he does let us know that there were times when he honestly tried to be good.

The parts that matter/are worth reading: up and through the Iraq War (roughly the first 180 pages of the book).

Everything there after is a repetitive, surface-level recounting of Walker's spiral into heroin addiction. It is literally just page after page of I woke up, got high, hustled to find more drugs, got high, maybe fucked a girl, went to bed and repeat ad nauseam. It is exceptionally depressing, and is not particularly nuanced or enlightening--it adds nothing new to the discussion on the opioid crisis outside of adding to the heaping pile of confirmation of how horrifying addiction is. While I think this was the point--to show us ho repetitively boring Walker's life had become, how addiction hollows you out into a shell that does nothing but chase the high, Walker does not do any deep internal reflection on his motivations. All we are given is: I'm a dope fiend and this is what fiends do. This section would have been greatly helped by an editor coming in with a harsher hand.

The unvarnished recounting of Walker's time in Iraq is horrifying and raw and probably some of the most important published text in the last 5-10 years. If you are in a mental space to read this book and find yourself unable to connect with any part of this story I urge you to power through the section entitled Cherry.

I greatly struggle with the misogyny and white privilege inherent in this story--a veteran, opioid addict bank robber literally handed a book deal while in prison because someone saw his story on buzzfeed and wanted to know more. How many men and women of color in prison have exceptional stories and insight but will never get to tell their stories? If Walker wasn't white, or wasn't a man, this story never would've been asked for let alone published.

Also, Walker writes with a HEAVY HANDED misogyny that is so childish it is laughable. It is never outright stated that he blames any of the women in his life for what happened to him, but is implied that if they were better nurturers and carers, better women, then they would've cared for him and saved him from himself. From his mother to the string of exceptionally young women who parade through the book to Emily, his wife/exwife/loveofhislife, there is an underlying tension of "well, if these bitches hadn't made me feel worthless then I probably would've had the strength to not become a heroin addict."

All of that said: there is some exceptional writing hidden in all of the bullshit. Some lines that will rip your guts out with their poignancy. Some lines that feel like they fell from your head onto the page with their honesty. There are also lines that will make you laugh out loud. 

There is something worthwhile in this story and in Walker's writing, I'm just not sure it merited an entire novel.

THE OFFICIAL MOVIE TIE-IN EDITION. Now a major motion picture from Apple TV+ starring Tom Holland, Cherry is a raw, unsparing, and incredibly timely novel about the horrors of war, the harrowing effects of addiction, and the rush of robbing banks. In theaters on February 26, 2021 and exclusively on Apple TV+ March 12. A young medic returns from deployment in Iraq to two things: the woman he loves and the opioid crisis sweeping across the Midwest. Soon deep in the thrall of heroin addiction, he arrives at what seems like the only logical solution: robbing banks. Written by a singularly talented, wildly imaginative debut novelist, Nico Walker's Cherry is a bracingly funny and unexpectedly tender work of fiction straight from the dark heart of America.

Cherry (Movie Tie-In)

Emma Bickford

Brutal. This book is just horrible enough that you should read it. I’m a firm believer people should be able to write what they want, tell the story they want. I’m not sure how to feel about “Cherry.” This misogyny and sexism in this book is intense, but the story is important, and I’m happy it wasn’t censored to fit a certain audience. Veterans’ PTSD is a story that needs to be shared as well as the opioid crisis in the Midwest. The war stories section of this book is horrific, but it’s important for people to understand the true trauma and sacrifice of war and the cost paid. This book is raw in terms of addiction, violence, identity loss, and the overall environment of drugs and crime. I found the dynamic between the main character and Emily excruciatingly painful to watch yet so captivating at the same time. 

The context in which this book was written really pulled me in. I’ve seen a lot of reviews critiquing the writing - and no, you aren’t reading Steinbeck or Fitzgerald here - but the way the writing is does a great job of reflecting the main character’s narrative, so to me, it gets a pass. Honestly not mad I read this, but you really have to be cautious when picking it up and know what you’re getting into.

Gaby Flores

Darren S. Layne

Worth your time, even if just to get a feel for how the other side lives. Nico Walker's Cherry is dark, hopeless, fast, and human. It doesn't matter how much of it is autobiographical and how much is fictional, but I nonetheless wondered as I wandered through the entire fever-dream of a tale. That the Acknowledgments are written in the selfsame style as the story extends the immersion for three whole pages – a brilliant touch.

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Cherry by Nico Walker

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