Christiane F: Autobiography of a Girl of the Streets and Heroin Addict Review

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Christiane F: Autobiography of a Girl of the Streets and Heroin Addict ReviewI first read Christiane F over 20 years ago, & it's been re-read at least annually since then. This book is fascinating on so many levels.
For those unaware of the background of this book, in the mid 70's two young German journalists did a photo-essay of the teenage prostitutes (male & female) that hung out in a subway station in Berlin, the Baunhoff. The magazine that ran it (Stern) received such an outpouring from the public that the authors decided to expand the piece to book length; to do so, they chose to focus on one particular girl they had interviewed, Christiane. At the time of the interviews, Christiane was 15 & had already spent 2 years on the "Baby Line" in Berlin, as well as having been a heroin addict since 12. Ostensibly clean at the time, she is brutally honest in her description of the years in question.
Told in Christiane's own words with almost no interference from the authors (at least in the English translation), her story is revalatory on many counts. To an American reader, life in Berlin circa 1973-5 sounds wildly different from our own teens lives; legal adulthood is reached at the age of 14. School classes are jammed college-lecture style with as many as 100 young students per class, so teachers never have any direct contact with their charges. Life is lived in high-rise tenement blocks, where children playing outside in the concrete alleys have no chance to make it back to their flats to relieve themselves; the stairways are foul with the result. Young teens are never given a chance to develop intellectually, but are herded into vocational schools with no chance of a higher education. Etc, etc.
Faced with the gloomy prospects & no recreational outlets, is it any wonder so many adolescents were drawn to the glitz of the glam discos where English rock stars such as David Bowie were idolized? Even on school nights, the group Christiane runs with are out til the morning trains come to take them to school where they can sleep it off. With over the counter amphetimines & downers easily available, it isn't hard for a 12 year old girl to take the next step to heroin when she sees the older friends she idolizes do so.
Detlef, Christiane's boyfriend, first provides heroin for both of them thru gay prostitution. But soon their needs overwhelm his ability to earn; since she's hanging at the subway station with him anyway, what could be more reasonable than to do a few easy tricks herself? And so the downward spiral continues...
Christiane describes her friends vividly & their deaths with a clearness of vision. Although the book ends on a hopeful note, the prospective reader should know that Christiane did return to her life as an addict in her 20's. Now in her 40's, she is a mother & claims to have cleaned up. But anyone familiar with the chemical changes wrought in the brain by heroin will understand how someone habituated to it at 12 could find it impossible to stay away long.
If you are easily offended, this is not a book you should buy. Some of the sex Christiane participated in is graphically described & of the kinky variety. The author's make no attempts to sugar-coat her reality. It's a harrowing read, but well worth it!Christiane F: Autobiography of a Girl of the Streets and Heroin Addict Overview

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