14 書香人物 P E R S O N A L I T Y & B O O K S SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2009 • TAIPEI TIMES

[ HARDCOVER: US ] SUNDAY PROFILE A candid look inside some troubled lives A radio DJ who overeats, a grandmother addicted to crack, a bisexual bodybuilder — just three of millions of This is it. This is the final people living with the blight of addiction curtain call.

— Michael Jackson, pop megastar by JOHNNY DIAZ Ny times new service, Boston

Meet Bobby, Marvin, Janice, Todd, Ellen, Jody, Sean, and Kate. They are addicts living with various forms of addiction: food, gambling, alcohol, sex, shoplifting, crack and steroids. Their stories of survival Michael Jackson addresses a press conference at the and recovery serve as the O2 Arena in London on Thursday, when he announced illuminating narrative of that he will play a series of comeback concerts in America Anonymous: Eight London in July. photo: reuters Addicts in Search of a Life, by Boston freelance journalist Benoit Denizet-Lewis. Through his protagonists, the author examines how society tends to misinterpret what it means to be an addict. He offers a candid look at each of these individuals’ struggles, relapses, and hopes for a sober, stable and healthy life. As Denizet-Lewis drops in AMERICA ANONYMOUS: Eight Can the fallen ‘King of Pop’ on each of his subjects over the Addicts in Search of a Life course of three years, he weaves By Benoit Denizet-Lewis in tales of his own sex addiction. He reconstructs what a typical 352 pages day was like for him when he Simon & Schuster thrill one last time? couldn’t tame his sexual urges and blew off his friends and jobs. In revealing his story and those After a decade marked more by scandal than song, of his eight subjects, Denizet- Then there’s Todd, the 40- Lewis produces an intimate year-old bodybuilder and male Michael Jackson is returning to the spotlight for a ‘final curtain call’ journal that reveals the different escort who wants the perfect forms addiction takes. He shows body and abuses steroids and AFP, LOS ANGELES us how gambling and food ephedra to get it. Denizet- disorders can be just as physically Lewis meets up with him as and emotionally debilitating as he prepares to meet clients ichael Jackson was a child By 1969, the group had signed with lucrative contract ever for a recording Jackson then married Debbie Rowe, a addictions to alcohol and drugs. in various cities. The author prodigy, a musical genius Motown Records and became one of artist. Although Jackson’s share was not 37-year-old nurse he met while undergoing The book’s subjects are captures Todd’s emotional and one of the most idolized the last great acts to emerge from the disclosed, Sony estimated the potential surgery in 1997. They had two children, as varied as their addictions. seesaw as he experiences the M artists on earth. legendary label. in sales at a billion US dollars. Prince Michael and Paris Michael Among them: an 80-year-old highs and lows of his drug use, But for all his iconic status, the The Jacksons produced seven But in 1993, a 13-year-old boy made Katherine, before divorcing in 1999. alcoholic, a housewife who shop- which combine to affect his 50-year-old pop megastar — who singles for Motown that each sold sex abuse allegations against his former Jackson had custody of the two lifts, a radio DJ who overeats, a sense of self-worth. Denizet- announced his first concerts in more more than one million copies and three pal Jackson and prosecutors launched children and of a third, Prince Michael grandmother addicted to crack, Lewis questions whether Todd than a decade on Thursday — risks albums which each sold more than an investigation. II, born to an unknown woman, when a bisexual bodybuilder, and a 34- really wants to break free: seeing his legend overshadowed by two million. They moved to CBS’s Epic A year later, Jackson struck an out- in November 2002 he came under year-old South Boston man who “Todd has talked a lot about pedophilia accusations. Records in 1976. of-court agreement with the family under fierce public criticism for dangling his wrestles with cravings for heroin taking action to improve his life, While Jackson reigned as the “King of Despite the success, Jackson recalled which he paid out US$23.3 million, a deal youngest child from a fourth-floor hotel and alcohol. but he’s rarely followed through Pop” in the 1980s, his once-stellar career those years as unhappy and lonely ones. which Jackson has said he now regrets. balcony in Berlin for photographers. Although each person had a ... Todd is an active addict, has been overshadowed by his colorful Eventually the family act broke up and The deal halted the criminal case, Adding to his woes Jackson has also compelling story, two characters and addiction routinely trumps public behavior, his startling physical Jackson went solo. which was being pursued by Tom been hit by a flurry of lawsuits from stood out. One of them is the commitment.” transformation and multiple allegations In 1979, Quincy Jones produced Sneddon, the chief prosecutor in former aides, promoters and others crack-addicted grandmother, Throughout America of child abuse. Jackson’s first solo album for Epic, Off Jackson’s trial. over alleged unpaid bills. In November, 55-year-old, unemployed Janice. Anonymous, the author provides Jackson has lived as a virtual recluse the Wall, a huge disco-oriented success As Jackson’s life became more Jackson and a Bahraini prince struck an The author shadows her as historical and sociological since he was acquitted in 2005 on that sold 10 million copies. complicated, he also started undergoing “amicable” deal to avoid a London court she returns to her Harlem context, noting, for example, charges including child molestation and They teamed up again in 1982 for a dramatic physical transformation. case over a US$7-million-dollar lawsuit. neighborhood after she receives that “in 1841, the Washingtonian plotting to kidnap his young accuser. Thriller, which became the top-selling Over the years, his skin has become A treasure trove of Jackson memora- a 24-hour pass from her recovery Society of Boston offered Despite his acquittal, the trial was a album of all time, with sales exceeding much lighter and he appears to have bilia, including a wrought iron gate from center. Passersby and drug rooms under its meeting hall for body blow from which the pop music 41 million. had extensive plastic surgery on his his Neverland Ranch and his famous dealers welcome and applaud struggling alcoholics” and that superstar has yet to recover. According to Robert Thompson, an face. Vanity Fair magazine reported in white glove, are to be auctioned off her for staying clean. “Janice is “nearly 23 million Americans Four years later, the 50-year-old is still expert in pop culture at the University 2003 that the tip of his nose is actually in Beverly Hills, reflecting the singer’s kind of a grandmotherly rock — 9.2 percent of the population worshipped by fans for revolutionizing of Syracuse, New York, Jackson’s a prosthesis. change in circumstances. star, and our stroll through the twelve or older — are hooked music, dance and music videos at the later problems can be traced to the In 1994, he stunned the public by But on Thursday, four years after area feels like her reunion tour,” on alcohol or drugs.” peak of his success. phenomenal success of Thriller. marrying Lisa Marie Presley, the 26-year- his infamous child abuse trial, Jackson Denizet-Lewis writes. At the end of the book, the The attention however paid to him “He got to the point that he was so old daughter of Elvis Presley. announced he will play 10 gigs at the In scenes like this, he draws reader learns who has succeeded in recent years has been less flattering, rich, so powerful and so famous, that he The marriage lasted less than two giant London O2 arena starting in July. the reader into Janice’s private or relapsed. “Where are the focusing on apparent cosmetic surgery was allowed to kind of withdraw from years and was a hot topic for the Wearing his trademark sunglasses and public recovery as she works millions of addicts in this country — which he denies — his baby dangling any kind of reality,” Thompson said. tabloids. However, the renewed interest and a silver-embroidered black military- toward a General Educational who are sober and have turned antics and a decade of swirling child Thriller was followed by Bad in in Jackson’s love life did not spark style jacket, Jackson, appearing Development and a full-time around their lives? They need to abuse allegations. 1987 (20 million sold) and Dangerous interest in his music. frail and unsteady, told some 2,000 job. Her chapters crackle with be on the front lines of this war,” Born on Aug. 29, 1958, Jackson made in 1991 (21 million sold) with videos In June 1995, he released the double screaming fans at the O2 concert venue: street dialogue and insights from Denizet-Lewis writes, daring his show business debut with four of his whose autoerotic dance contrasted with album HIStory, Past, Present and “This is it. This is the final curtain call. family and counselors who tell other recovering addicts to share older brothers in the Jackson Five pop Jackson’s sweet, childlike personality Future — Book I to negative reviews See you in July.” us more about her former life their stories on a larger stage. group, and went on to lead the stage offstage. and weak sales — despite Sony Music’s “I love you so much,” he said, as he and how Janice is forging a path And in writing this book, he clan with a piping soprano and dazzling In 1991 Jackson signed a deal with US$40-million investment. Jackson’s swayed and spoke indistinctly, his face of healing and transformation. has done just that. dance moves. Sony Music described as the most next album, Invincible, flopped. hidden behind his pair of sunglasses.

[ HARDCOVER: U S ] The many faces of Yoshiko Yamaguchi In his second novel, ‘The Lover,’ takes readers on a tour of Japanese cinematic history through the life of one of its most colorful actresses

By BRADLEY WINTERTON in 1930s ; the second Japanese herself was carefully for other activities. These insights are welcome, and dissatisfied by the prospect, which Contributing Reporter as a film critic on the post-war concealed, and her efforts, His second narrator is a young the fact that the three different the narrator finds so alluring, of This is only the second work Japan Evening Post; and the third especially her 1940 film China gay American who finds the land of narrative voices are not always young Japanese males, however of fiction that Japanophile through his involvement in making Nights, led to a brief enthusiasm his heart’s desire in the devastated made as distinct as a seasoned — “Just look at their thumbs, and polymath Ian Buruma has soft-core romantic movies in for all things Chinese back in of 1946. He works initially novelist would have made them honey. It never fails.” published, and it isn’t hard to Tokyo before going to the Middle Japan, following the inevitable censoring films, is sent back home scarcely matters. They’re distinct Yamaguchi is treated with imagine the thought processes that East as a convert to the cause of vilification of China in general that in disgrace after director Nobuo when Buruma remembers to make respect, and even affection. led him to opt again for the form. Palestinian militancy. I counted had accompanied Japan’s military Hotta’s film Time of Darkness them so, but when he’s delivering Her short-lived marriage to the He’s always been an enthusiast 41 films mentioned by name in incursions into the country earlier is passed for distribution, but what are clearly his own Japanese artist , for Japanese cinema, and the long the book, and in addition several in the decade. manages soon after to return, this judgments on Japan and Japanese for instance, is evoked with career of the Japanese actress illustrious film directors appear in After World War II, Yamaguchi time as a film critic. This job leads affairs there’s rarely any doubt as discretion. She’s seen in essence Yoshiko Yamaguchi must have cameo roles. returned to Japan before emigrating to his extending his contacts with to who’s talking. as an example of humanity’s seemed like an ideal subject for his This device allows Buruma to to the US where, as Shirley Japanese cinema celebrities of the Nevertheless, this is a ability to make itself new, just talents. But there may have been follow the career of Yamaguchi Yamaguchi, she starred in several day, Yamaguchi included. fascinating and highly readable as the Japanese nation remade problems of accountability and through its many phases in a way Hollywood productions. Back in In order to cover Yamaguchi’s book, informative about a whole itself after 1945. In a way it’s her confidentiality that led Buruma that would have been impossible Tokyo in the 1960s she re-invented exploits as a political TV journalist range of topics from perceived innocence that saves her, and to reject his usual non-fiction using a single narrator. She herself again as a TV talk-show beginning in the 1960s, Buruma Jewish involvement in 1930s Buruma’s own humanity and approach. The good news, however, is a real-life figure, of course, hostess, traveled to Vietnam and THE CHINA LOVER invents his third narrator, this Manchuria to such landmarks of wide-ranging cultural sympathies is that he’s managed to come up and Buruma informs us that the Middle East as a TV reporter, By Ian Buruma time a Japanese passionate about Japanese cinema as its first are the perfect tools for depicting with an exceptionally absorbing she “graciously allowed me to and finally entered politics where the cause of the Palestinians. on-screen kiss (given and so many attitudes, decades, and enjoyable novel instead. interview her on several occasions she served 18 years in the upper 392 pages He goes to the Middle East to received by Yamaguchi in Ichiro characters and locations. Buruma could write a history in Tokyo.” Now called Otaka house of the Japanese parliament. Penguin New York train in guerilla techniques and is Miyagawa’s Sounds of Spring). This fine novel is yet another of Japanese cinema with ease, and Yoshiko, her birth name, she There can’t be many people imprisoned in Lebanon after his There’s a hilarious chapter opportunity for the author to The China Lover is in many ways grew to fame in 1930s Manchuria today possessed by the romance involvement, as a member of the describing a visit to Tokyo, display his love for a country that an attempt at just such a project as Li Xianglan (李香蘭, Ri Koran of , Tokyo’s puppet Pu Yi (溥儀). Buruma imagines just Japanese Red Army, in the Lod and request for guidance from is so endlessly intriguing, so richly without the necessity of being in Japanese) playing Chinese state in Manchuria that flourished such a romantic, however, as the Airport Massacre of 1972. Buruma’s second narrator, by exotic and yet, inevitably, not all-inclusive. It has thee different roles in films that presented the from 1932 until the end of Japan’s first of his three narrators, a man It will be obvious that this Truman Capote. “I thought you without its faults — for which, as narrators and they’re all film buffs: Japanese presence there in an imperial ambitions in 1945 and who ran an organization there scenario allows Buruma to share might be my Cicerone in this Buruma would be the first to argue, the first in his official capacity almost invariably favorable light. was ruled over by the last scion for the promotion of New Asian his insights into huge swathes of garden of vice, or should I say it has suffered so disproportionately as promoter of Japanese culture The fact that she was actually born of China’s Qing Dynasty, Emperor Culture, albeit in part as a cover Japanese 20th-century history. my Mephistopheles?” He proves and so hideously.