About
- December 10th, 2009
Click the book cover to read an excerpt.
Few people who have been slave to an addiction as vicious, as destructive, and as unrelenting as Colin Broderick’s have lived to tell their tale. Fewer still have emerged from the darkest depths of alcoholism—from the perpetual fistfights and muggings, car crashes and blackouts—to tell the harrowing truth about the modern Irish immigrant experience.
Orangutan is the story of a generation of young men and women in search of identity in a foreign land, both in love with and at odds with the country they’ve made their home. So much more than just another memoir about battling addiction, Orangutan is an odyssey across the unforgiving terrain of 1980s, ’90s, and post-9/11 America.
Whether he is languishing in the boozy squalor of the Bronx, coke-fueled and manic in the streets of Manhattan, chasing Hunter S. Thompson’s American Dream from San Francisco to the desert, or turning the South into his beer-soaked playground, Broderick plainly and unflinchingly charts what it means to be Irish in America, and how the grips of heritage can destroy a man’s soul. But brutal though Orangutan may be, it is ultimately a story of hope and redemption—it is the story of an Irish drunk unlike any you’ve met before.
Orangutan Book Trailer
Colin reading at Barnes and Noble, January 14, 2010
Colin reading at Book Revue
Colin Broderick is a writer/carpenter from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He currently resides in Manhattan.
brilliant book….hope everything is working out for you..i have many of the same problems but your book had helped
I am almost finished reading your book. I am truly enjoying it. You are an excellent writer and I look forward to more, more, more from you.
Wilma Ferguson
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
well, I finished your book – I am amazed that you are still alive
you are an excellent writer but the depth of your addiction aghasts me
I read your memoir with fascination, awe, disgust, fear and hope that you can stay away from booze but to be honest I have my doubts…
ah well, it’s none of my business
take care of yourself Colin Broderick – I do wish you the best
cheers
I just finished “Orangutan.” Wow. Great book. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down.
mr. broderick > i recently completed ‘orangutan’ and was affected so profoundly that i needed to contact you directly. your story is so heartbreaking, but inspiring at the same time and i wanted to congratulate you on your amazing accomplishment.
i myself am a recovering alcoholic (3 years sober in march 2010) and reading your memoir brought me back to all of the dark times in my own life. no one understands what it is like to live the life of an alcoholic (except other drunks of course) and i was comforted in your words because i could relate with them on such a deep level. “alcohol had robbed me of my humanity…”, this line completely described what had happened to me in my own battle with the drug. i had worked a string of dead-end jobs that i hated and was miserable with myself. alcohol was the only way that i could cope. over time it took its toll on me and indeed robbed me of my humanity.
the analogy of the orangutan is spot on in my estimation. there is something inside the soul of a drunk waiting to be liberated and an orangutan is the best analogy that i’ve heard in all of my days of treatment and aa.
anyway, i love the work. it was honestly one of the best books that i’ve ever read in my life and i look forward to reading much more from you in the future. congratulations on finally finding happiness for yourself and i wish you nothing but the best that life has to offer.
sincerely > t.w. bacon
Amazing book…changed my life in a way, thanks for sharing.
Sounds odd to say your book was a great read when it was about your difficult journey to sobriety but I was engrossed from the first page. I’m from the Kingsbridge/Riverdale area and thoroughly enjoyed the Irish scene throughout the ’80s. Wild but fun times. I remember when the An Beal Bocht opened as a coffeehouse and I continue to enjoy the Cafe in all its glory. I found your book even more of a good read as I know the cast of “characters.” Dermot and Tony are good people. As horrific as your journey was, I admit to laughing out loud in some spots –the South Bronx gun scene was priceless. Well done. I look forward to future writings. Wishing you continued success on all fronts.
re Wilma’s comment;
You hope he stays away from booze but you have your doubts! Nice.
Nice support. You Irish? I really love being connected to a heritage that’s so critical of so much behavior…especially anything that leads to some kind of improvement. Keep that cold, conditional love flowing! Amen.
@wilma ferguson
Hey Colin ,
I look forward to seeing your documentary in the near future and I just finished your book . It’s good to know that through all that mess and ugliness , you found someone to share your life with and your story .
Good story. Sorry, but I laughed so hard when he tells about having called the CIA while drunk (too funny!!). My mother is Irish and I live in New Orleans, after reading this book I don’t think I’ll ever drink again.
Hope he has seriously stopped drinking and continues to write.
Been down the same road, twice, 13 yrs sober now. Looking forward to reading your tale.
Re Wilma’s comment: You tell him you’re glad he’s done this, then tell him you don’t think he can stay sober.. THEN you end with “cheers” Good job… Number one thing for people in recovery is SUPPORT.
I do not understand why some people come on places like this just to a)start fights b)be mean… You have nothing better to do with your time? Hes doing something with his life, are you?
great read im not a big reader but couldnt let it down as bad as this sounds it takes a real man to make fun of his demons
Hi!
i really liked the book. I finished it this morning at 6 am. your style is very … immediate and has a remarkable ability to convey credible emotion ( or shifting of emotion ..) without melodrama and just the right amount of self deprecation. i am a European brain doctor living in NYC since 1993. I did my internship in Bellevue. I would never live elsewhere. I know 90% of all “landmarks” mentioned in the book.
i don’t think thsi is a book about alcohol( it’s also about cocaine and vicodin..LOL ). it’s a book about the need to belong and escape, respectively; Henry Miller, the writer, says that ” Until we lose ourselves there is no hope of finding ourselves”. i personally believe that very few people are as lucky as to find themselves. Some never go searching, some are afraid to get lost, some stay lost and some are too afraid to really find out who they are. and they keep feeding themselves stories.
it takes guts and sacrifice to find oneself. but i think it’s probably the most worth taking trip in one;s life. and the most satisfying… but one needs to be alive at the end of the journey to savor their new found self…
please write more books….
Ola, what’s up amigos?
I will be happy to get some help at the start.
Thanks in advance and good luck!
Colin,
Fantastic Book… didnt want to put it down, a long journey for you but with success at the end. I wish you and your family continued success and I look forward to reading more of your books.
p.s.
(Found out about your book in the Ulster Herald newspaper).
@Colin Broderick