[Ad-gifted] The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life of Rosemary Woodruff Leary by Susannah Cahalan is Yeah Lifestyle’s latest book review and unlike our more common novel reviews, here we take a side step and get to read a biography of The Psychedelic Life of Rosemary Woodruff Leary. You might not be familiar with the name, however, Rosemary is classed as the Acid Queen and was a particular infamous character, along with her husband/lover of many years Timothy Leary, within the 1960s LDS movement.
Published by Cannongate Books, the book goes through her life, starting with her first mystical experience as a child, her teen marriage and subsequent divorce, on to her life as an adult moving from lover and job and her ultimate discovery of LDS and the profound impact it had on the rest of her life.
The book, The Acid Queen is written by the acclaimed writer Susannah Cahalan, who wrote the iconic and best-selling book Brain on Fire, about her own life with a misdiagnosed neurological illness – having later been made into a film starring Chloë Grace Moretz. She has also written The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness.
Her books are notably deep and cover the often untouched topics. Equally, the connection she has to the topics she writes about give her a profound awareness most of us couldn’t begin to imagine, unless we had some experience of it. Keep reading to find out what I thought of this unusual biography.
What I thought of The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life of Rosemary Woodruff Leary
Reading the book, you may feel as though Rosemary flitted through life making rash decisions that constantly changed the path she was on. However, you learn that the choices she made, each led her to a new chapter in her life.
One thing that is clear throughout the book is Rosemary’s connection to LDS created the person she became. She felt as though her freedom through sex and the exploration of hallucinogens created the value in her life that she had sought in her youth. But for the reader this strange concept, especially my interpretation, felt as though she was detached from real life and her need for validation through sex could have stemmed from the impact of men who oppressed her in her youth (marrying young) and who made her feel worthless, during her formative years.
When she felt desired, it’s as though she felt loved – and these feelings were exaggerated through the openness she felt when taking LDS. I believe based on reading this book, she would argue that the LDS allowed her to find the ability to be loved and along with it created some crazy and wonderful connections along the way.
One of the main parts of the book is the love story between Rosemary Woodruff Leary and Timothy Leary – their lives were intellectually intertwined through their shared love of new adventures and their experiences of taking LSD together. Their togetherness shaped their futures’ forever, and made their connection powerful yet at the same easily broken. But what’s noticeable is although they were taken on different paths for a number of decades – Rosemary evading capture and Timothy finding new love after being freed from prison – they were eventually magnetised together again during the later years of both their lives.
Rosemary appears to reflect on how LSD was a way to open the mind to new discoveries, she lived her life fuelled by quick decisions – she ultimately lived a complicated and passionate life, making connections with important people in the LDS movement, celebrities of the time, such as, John Lennon and Yoko Ono (amongst some) and friends that would later save her from her past. All of which wouldn’t have happened without her curiosity of psychedelia. The book carefully examines her life and the difficulties she faced all through the consequences of her discovery and love for LSD.
What I found particularly interesting is how the LDS movement, would take seemingly studious academics into an awakening of their minds and transform them into what would have been known as the Hippy era.
The book has been vastly researched which you can tell from Susannah Cahalan’s writing of Rosemary’s life. She explains at the start of her book how she was able to access, letters, calendars, notebooks from Rosemary family and access to library archives, which gave the book richness and depth.
The Acid Queen is beautifully written and for Cahalan the exploration of Rosemary and her long ties to LSD for me felt as though they were connective to her own neurological experiences.
In her 20’s, having suffered with strange hallucinations caused at the time by a misdiagnosed neurological disease – could this experience have allowed her to write such a beautiful account and deep understanding of Rosemary Woodruff Leary. I don’t know for sure but I would encourage anyone to pick up this book if you’re bored of novels but still want some fantastical story – even though this one is true that takes you on wild adventures of love awakenings, then look no further than The Acid Queen. You won’t be disappointed.
This will be a book I go back to and will encourage my children, when they are old enough, to read as a point of history and exploration.
Where can you get your copy of The Acid Queen by Susannah Cahalan and how much is it?
The hardcover retails for £14.23 while the Kindle copy is available for £12.99. We have featured the paperback copy of the book which is available from Amazon for £10.99. Please check for the latest pricing as this may change.
About the Book
Publisher : Canongate Books
Author : Susannah Cahalan
Number of pages : 384
ISBN-13 : 978-1838857424
Dimensions : 15.9 x 3.8 x 24 cm
About Susannah Cahalan
Susannah Cahalan is the author of best-selling autobiographical works Brain on Fire, which she produced into a Netflix film. She is also the author of The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness and her third book The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life of Rosemary Woodruff Leary.
She has resides in New Jersey with her husband Stephen Grywalski and their three children.
Review by : Lex Ward
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* We were given a copy of the book in return for a feature. All opinions are my own.
10 comments
Wow. This sounds like an amazing book! Her journey is so complex and her choices really do create a captivating narrative.
Agree, she has had a complicated life and it was lovely to actually read about it
This book really intrigues me. I love the way sex and drugs are laced into a lifelong journey of self-discovery. I have to grab this one.
Yes it is such a good book to read
Rosemary’s life sounds incredibly complex after she’s made so many rash decisions in her life. This sounds like a great book to read!
It does, she seems like such a unique character
Love the story! I will check the book out. Rosemary’s life seems so intriguing to say the least. I can’t wait to find out more about her.
Yes her life is so interesting and the book is worth a read
I had honestly never heard of this person before – so it sounds like an interesting read. I also do not read many biographies.
I think you would definitely enjoy the book Jupiter