A Life in Smoke: A Memoir

Hansen, an editor of health books, wanted to quit smoking and realized that it would take drastic measures to stop. In November 2003, she and her husband, John, bought a 40-pound, 72-foot steel chain—the rasp of its dragging links intended to underscore her battle with nicotine—and he shackled her to a radiator in their Pennsylvania home every day for a week. In seven chapters marking each of her days enchained, Hansen explores her experience of withdrawal and delves into her memories of the life that led to this self-imposed bondage. She describes her mother's daily cigarette, her father's abandonment, her stepfather's reticence, her time writing porn and health advice, her battle with alcoholism, her son Daniel, her divorce and a lifetime of friends and lovers. As the title alludes, each memory floats in a haze of smoke, punctuated by flashbacks to the burn and beauty of individual cigarettes. Hansen's writing is skillfully rich in detail, but for readers, the very premise of chaining herself to a radiator is itself like inhaling that first cigarette—to some the very idea is distasteful, to others intriguing. (Nov.)