Julie Myerson - why am I not surprised that a book has materialised concerning her own son's drug issues?

[glasjam]

Read this is in today's Observer www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/01/julie-myerson-novel-drug-addiction

Does anyone else have the uncomfortable feeling that I have on learning that she is writing about her son's drug problems? I know that writers often mine their own personal experiences for material but I think she's putting her literary endeavours ahead of her son here. From what I can gather, he is still young, his drug issues are ongoing, and although he is out of the family home, surely this is risking any possible future reconcilliation? I also baulk at the way she "weaves historical research about Yelloly with her disturbing account of her son's ejection from the family home" It just smacks of middle-class-writer angst.

My cynicism is further fuelled by my very strong suspicion that Julie Myerson is the author of Living with Teenagers - but that's another story...

I agree morningpaper. While any writer will draw on their own life experiences, there are far more subtle ways of doing it!!

LOL at "posh kids are the only ones who can afford drugs after all"

Rich kids are the ones who can afford drinks. Most drugs are quite incredibly cheap.

True - but he was miserable at his state school so hung out with chidlren into drugs out of school. If he had gone to a decent private school he might not have been miserable at school.

But that's a side issue. They've certainly done what they can to alienate him. Teenagers hate this kind of attention. they couldn't have a better blueprint for future family alienation than this.

"He is the eldest child of acclaimed author Julie Myerson and her partner Jonathan - the couple have never married - an Oxford-educated screenwriter, journalist and magistrate. But home these days for Jake is a grotty shared flat in Camberwell, South London, where he struggles to pay the rent, let alone feed himself.

When he's desperate for money he takes to the streets and busks with his guitar. He can make £20 an hour on a good day.

'I'm down to my last penny,' says Jake, 20, who is studying at a music college in London. 'I have a student loan, but I owe money. I don't owe money to any crazy drug dealers. Not yet, anyway. Give me about a year.'

This last remark is delivered with a biting sarcasm. Last Sunday, Jake was outed as a drug addict by his own mother, who lays bare the 'traumatic' experience of losing her beloved first-born to cannabis in her forthcoming book, aptly titled The Lost Child. "

i actually never thought LWT was the kind of unsympathetic portrayal of her children some posters are claiming. I thought it was disarmingly honest and refreshing for it, but her resilient love and affection for her kids was always evident.

Just wondering whether anyone on here has actually read the book in question? Or just newspaper reviews/summaries?

He could have been miserable at a private school too Xenia.

I would definitely look closely at the reasons why if a child of mine was miserable at school, and if they wanted to move to another school then I would listen seriously to their view. But as I said, life is far more complex. Some children (and IME exceptionally bright teenage boys perhaps more than other categories) find it really hard to fit into the structures of school anyway.

My overall feeling after reading Jake's piece is that he's arrogant and was no doubt a nightmare to live with, but he sounds as though he's getting on with his life, achieving academically. So he's obviously learned some self reliance!!

It is interesting that Jake comes across as articulate and clever to some people. To me, he comes across as a typical spoilt middle class kid.

I think he's a bit of both dustbuster - not mutually exclusive surely?

No, of course you are right!

Yes, I think to a certain extent he is a spoilt middle class kid. But whose fault is that????

I still feel sorry for him because he was a CHILD when all this started.

Yes, I agree with you all, I do feel sorry for the spoilt little blighter too.

But notoriety isn't necessarily seen as a negative thing nowadays. During the brief time i had a facebook profile, i remember being quite surprised at the sheer amount of what i would have called embarassing personal information being freely posted all over peoples profiles, not to mention the photos etc, and the worst of it was people in their late teens and early 20s. They seem to live their lives a lot more publicly (at least in cyberspace) than my generation (who are only a few years older really) so i shouldn't think the contrast would be all that great.

yes, dittany, i read it avidly. why do you mention it?

He comes over really well to me and I pity the way his parents have treated him. May be he should write a book about living with his parents.

I've read it - I was given a proof copy. But I had never read the LWT column or read any of her other things. I don't know if that has made me look at it differently but I just felt sadness when I read the book. I didn't really think about how she may be crossing the line by telling the story about her son.

Do you think if it hadn't been Julie Myerson who wrote it there wouldn't be such strong reactions to it?

I am fairly new to Mumsnet but she doesn't seem to be too pooular here!

That would be the best revenge.

I read the interviews about this with total disgust. In my opinion Myerson has done a completely unforgiveable thing to her son in 1) writing about him in this way and 2) explicitly using that fact to get publicity for her book!

Jake does come across as a spoilt, moody teenager even in his own account - but the key word in that is TEENAGER. It's a time in life when we make mistakes and we need to be allowed to learn from them and move on to become better people.

His mum has now effectively removed that chance from him - it's almost like she doesn't want him to be able to move on and resolve his problems - just as he's growing up and putting all this behind him, she does this.

Dittany: urgh. So much wrong!

The thing about notoriety on facebook etc, is that it's completely different when you are in control of the information being disseminated.

Not only did Myerson broadcast deeply personal information about her son without his consent, she did it for money. Nice.

Dittany, I read that thinking, is this what happens when your dc become teenagers?

Mine are only 3 and 2. Does it happen like that? Please someone tell me no.

I argued quite early on in the thread that loving your children is not enough to keep them from making mistakes, which is how I felt about JM's son in the book, but reading that column, I feel my sympathy drain away a little.

Dittany, that episode was horrible wasn't it? I felt deeply uncomfortable about LWT for some time before it was axed, and my sympathy was almost always with the kids even when they were allegedly behaving "outrageously".