The Light Years

November 1, 2018

From the street, the suburban New Jersey home Rush grew up in during the 1970s looked as if it belonged to any family living the American Dream. Inside, another reality existed: an angry and absent father, a histrionic mother, and kids left to fend for themselves. Introduced to drugs as an 11-year-old by a friend of his beloved older sister, Rush--a sensitive, artistic late bloomer who favored pink capes in a world of jocks and tougher kids--was launched into a terrifying, yearslong odyssey of boarding schools, nearly fatal hitchhiking trips, and life among sketchy entrepreneurs who kept America supplied with a steady stream of hallucinogenics. Intriguingly, Rush, who later became an artist, barely refers to his life after these tumultuous years, allowing them to remain the focus of this clear-eyed and fearless account of his time on the road and under the influence. VERDICT Survival would have been enough of an accomplishment for Rush, but the real triumph here is the artful way he takes us all along for the ride--Thérèse Purcell Nielsen, Huntington P.L., NY

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November 15, 2018

Award-winning artist Rush may have been raised in a strict Catholic family in New Jersey, but by age 12 he had been introduced to LSD by a friend of his older sister, and he rounded out his teenage years by being tossed from art school and heading to Tucson to buy drugs and enter America's flourishing counterculture. A personal story of his search for belonging that also sums up America's transition from sparkly Sixties to darkening Seventies; an FSG reading group selection attracting interest.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2019
A dazzling debut memoir from artist and designer Rush.Growing up in a strict Roman Catholic family in New Jersey, the author felt both trapped and adrift as a child, a feeling exacerbated by his neglectful mother and alcoholic father, who was "a dark planet, exerting only vague astrological influence on his offspring." Introduced to drugs, especially LSD, early on by his loving hippie sister, Donna, Rush continued to chafe under his suburban adolescence before finally setting out on a remarkable journey into the counterculture and across America, from his hometown to the wilderness of the Southwest. By the age of 13, he writes, "I took LSD as often as possible. Taking acid was like entering a painting of a storybook--a glowing dream world, lush and lovely. I felt no conflict between the real and the unreal. It was so easy to slip in between." In sparkling, lucid prose that perfectly captures the joy, depression, anger, and wonder that characterized his adventures, the author recounts the seemingly endless hills and valleys of his unique tale. Among others, these experiences included countless days getting stoned in his parents' basement, avoiding his dysfunctional parents; a stint in boarding school, where he became the primary drug dealer on campus; time living with Donna and a group of her friends on a drug compound in rural Arizona; enduring a shocking act of violence; and some weeks living a feral life in caves scattered around the deserts of the West. Along the way, while struggling with significant substance abuse ("sometimes I'd shoot up with...customers who craved a speechless high, who wanted to grow dim with me, become sputtering candles in the dark") and grappling with his sexuality, Rush continued to draw, an artistic spark that took years to ignite into a career. He also suffered a near overdose. Though the narrative ends on a slight uptick, the author refreshingly avoids tying his story up with a pretty bow, and readers will wish for more from this talented writer.A captivating, psychedelically charged coming-of-age memoir.

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