Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction
| Author | Luke Davies |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Romance, Drama |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
|
Publication date
|
16 June 1998 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 304 pp (Paperback edition) |
| ISBN | (paperback edition) |
| OCLC | 37947403 |
| 823 21 | |
| LC Class | PR9619.3.D29 C36 1998 |
Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction (1998) is a novel by Luke Davies.
Davies has admitted the novel is based on his experiences as a heroin addict in the 1980s, the "worst years" being 1984 to 1990. Sydney and Melbourne were the epicentres of a "severe" heroin problem during this period. Davies has also emphasised that the novel is "fiction rather than memoir".
Following the release of the film based on the book, also called Candy (2006), Melbourne painter Megan Bannister was identified as the woman who is portrayed as Candy in the novel. She and Davies were married for six years during the 1980s and confirms that key events in the film (and novel) really did happen except that "living it was 50,000 times worse".
Davies put the story together over the course of the early 90's, stating in interviews that "chapters were written separately and out of sequence". The first edition was published on 16 June 1998.
In Luke Davies' Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction, the unnamed narrator falls in love with Candy, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
As with the movie version, the book is divided into three sections, excluding the prologue and epilogue - Part one: Invincibility, Part two: The Kingdom of Momentum, and Part three: The Momentum of Change. In the beginning, everything seems perfect for the unnamed narrator and Candy,(the name for both the girl and the drug); things are new and exciting. Of course, in both relationships and addiction, things do not remain so perfect or beautiful. Candy is introduced to heroin very gradually by snorting it, but soon she decides she wants to try it his (the narrator's) way. This excites him, as he believes it means she doesn't want "second best", and they truly are "soul mates". Candy nearly dies of an overdose, but it does not prevent her from wanting to do increasingly more.
Eventually, the mounting hunger leads to the pair's making horrible choices to feed their addiction. When they try to get money by pawning a necklace, Candy is offered a very small amount, but the pawnbroker thinks they can "work something out", and Candy has sex with him for a pitiful sum. The narrator regrets this action, but he also recognizes it's helped the couple hold off the demons of withdrawal another day. From there work in a brothel, as an escort, and as a finally street prostitute becomes part of daily life. They try to get clean several times, and Candy does in fact get detoxed early in the story, but that lasts a very short time. After their attempts they "reward" themselves with a "blast", figuring it isn't really a bad idea after how far they have come. In one of their attempts to achieve normal lives, they get married and - in the narrator's words - "Obviously it was a big dope weekend. You want to be relaxed at your own wedding". Candy and the narrator really do seem to love each other, but the big question is: it only a heroin-fueled illusion?
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