Health and Safety

A Breakdown

De: Emily Witt

Narrado por: Emily Witt

A NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR: TIME, NEW YORKER, PITCHFORK, LITHUB, AND NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • From the New Yorker staff writer and acclaimed author of Future Sex comes a memoir about drugs, techno, and New York City

"The first great book about what it was like to live through the Trump presidency"—Emily Gould, The Cut

In the summer of 2016, a divisive presidential election was underway, and a new breed of right-wing rage was on the rise. Emily Witt, who would soon publish her first book on sex in the digital age, had recently quit antidepressants for a more expansive world of psychedelic experimentation. From her apartment in Brooklyn, she began to catch glimpses of the clandestine nightlife scene thrumming around her.

In Health and Safety, Witt charts her immersion into New York City’s dance music underground. Emily would come to lead a double life. By day she worked as a journalist, covering gun violence, climate catastrophes, and the rallies of right-wing militias. And by night she pushed the limits of consciousness in hollowed-out office spaces and warehouses to music that sounded like the future. But no counterculture, no matter how utopian, could stave off the squalor of American politics and the cataclysm of 2020.

Affectionate yet never sentimental, Health and Safety is a lament for a broken relationship, for a changed nightlife scene, and for New York City just before the fall. Sparing no one—least of all herself—Witt offers her life as a lens onto an era of American delirium and dissolution.

©2024 Emily Witt (P)2024 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

A Most Anticipated Book by Vulture ∙ Bustle ∙ Lit Hub ∙ The Millions ∙ That Eric Alper

"Haunting . . . [Witt] writes with such cool precision . . . . By turns, disdainful, cleareyed, playful, serious, adventurous and terrified . . . it’s a testament to Witt’s skills as a writer that this book is enhanced, and not diminished, by her refusal to reconcile such contradictions."—Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

"Witt’s directness and sincerity are disarming . . . . She is pursuing hard introspective truths with a neutral, unsentimental rigor."—The Atlantic

Under the rave blanket

The only book which accurately depicts the after hours deep Brooklyn scene. From the characters, types of drug use, and emotions which arise. And what/why people are attracted to it. Riveting journey from pre pandemic dance parties, to pandemic, race riots, election, and this woman’s journey through those years also dealing with age and relationships. Highly recommend

Wit, beautiful descriptions, deep feeling

Loved it! She brings you to places you never dreamed of going. She makes sharp, deeply felt, highly sensitive observations chronicling a difficult time in her life and in our collective history. Highly recommended

Bored voice

I recognize that this is what passes for good writing these days but I don't find it interesting. The author narrated her own book which was a mistake. She sounds very bored . I don't blame her. I have to respect that she writes for the New Yorker but I feel abundantly fortunate not to live her life even though I enjoy reading about all kinds of people via Audible. I think the author needs to get out of her head, go live in the Yukon , kayak glacial lakes , raise feral cats....her writing is too much New York Review of Books. A little mountain-climbing would be equally mind-blowing.

Brilliant

There was nothing I disliked! Ok, the first 2 minutes I was annoyed by Witt's voice but by minute 3, I can't imagine anyone else reading. Brilliant

A world previously untold

Emily Witt is a terrific writer, of course. She writes for The New Yorker, for goodness sake. And in this book Witt tops herself, carefully, precisely, and with enormous heart. A world heretofore not ever fully described comes to life, and within that fantastic world of scores of drugs and raves, the author's inner world and closest relationship are also plumbed. Oh yes, and much of this during Covid, with heinous killings of Black people, and the awful first trump presidency. National crises and crimes are expertly interwoven with the author's personal story and always interesting analysis. Highly recommend.

Such a sad book!

Beautifully written and honest chronicle of the last few years in one small corner of the world. Made me very glad to be old.

Solid read about a time and a place and a culture

Beautiful and heavy and powerful and silly. Play at 1.2x and the pace works. Made me emotional for a time and a place and friends and also the effect of Covid and politics of the pandemic era.

Insightful and Captivating

This was unexpectedly good. I thought the author was really able to capture in essence a "moment" in time in terms of her experience being under the spell of the enchantment of a certain segment of the club scene and its enhancement when combined and tweaked with certain drugs. There's no moralizing or repenting here. It happened, she bears witness and gives us a little window into the experience. It was oddly voyeristic reading about some of her nights out, nights that lasted over the course of two days at times and the skill required to make certain substances jump and perform in a way that helped her and those around her reach that "sweet spot" where it was pure joy and oneness with the music and the environment. Lovely descriptions of the scene (especially the flapping red cloth covering a window behind a certain deejay in the early hours of an all-nighter). It isn't all cookies and cream and the story she tells can be chilling and a bit harrowing to imagine investing so much in something so ephemeral. Highly recommended.

Poignant

Powerful story of coping through the first Trump term and Covid. Sharp, unsettling, and darkly funny exploration of the slow erosion of a relationship and a way of life.

Sex, Drugs, and Bad Decisions!

Clearly, I'm the wrong demographic for this book. Sure, we had plenty of debauchery in the 1980s, but if someone gave you a venereal disease, you would show them the door. This is a book about getting high, writing, having unwise sex, and making poor decisions, all under the guise of being "cool."

The "I'm so bored" narration is both snobby and sleep-inducing. The book was so affected that I gave up after about 1/3rds of the way through. Maybe it gets better? Maybe she gets some self-respects and dumps VD dude? At that point, I couldn't bear to hear a smart, educated, adult woman drone on about doing acid, wasting herself on a jerk, and going to raves.

The author is a talented writer and has a way with language. Sadly, her talent is wasted on this one.