I am not a huge lit fic girlie these days but damn this book has some of the most compelling and beautiful sentences that I have ever read

About a girl and her sister. One lost, figuratively, and one literally missing. Writing is sharp but plot felt a little too meandering. Marketed as Lynchian, which is a pretty large claim. I think if I read this without seeing all the hype for it first, I would have enjoyed it more, but I went in with high expectations.

The synopsis for "All Night Pharmacy" describes Ruth Madievsky's prose as "pulsing like a neon sign," and her writing definitely lived up to that descriptor! The novel's depictions of queerness, sisterhood, and codependence were riveting to me, and the use of Jewish mysticism to explore Jewish diaspora and generational trauma was gripping. Excited to see what Madievsky does next!

"All-Night Pharmacy" by Ruth Madievsky is a captivating collection of poetry that takes readers on a journey of introspection, emotion, and the intricacies of the human experience. This collection is a beautifully crafted blend of language, imagery, and the exploration of life's complexities.

Madievsky's writing style is lyrical and evocative, inviting readers to delve into the depths of her thoughts and emotions. The poems in the collection are a mix of personal reflections, observations, and moments of introspection that resonate on a deeply human level.

At the heart of the collection is a poetic exploration of themes such as love, loss, identity, and the search for meaning in the everyday. The author skillfully weaves together words and emotions, creating a tapestry of feelings that evoke both contemplation and connection.

"All-Night Pharmacy" successfully balances the personal with the universal, offering readers a chance to reflect on their own experiences while also immersing themselves in the author's unique perspective. The themes of vulnerability, growth, and the beauty of fleeting moments add depth to the poems.

In conclusion, "All-Night Pharmacy" is a thought-provoking and beautifully written collection of poetry that captures the essence of life's complexities. If you're looking for a book that offers a poetic journey of self-discovery and emotional resonance, this collection provides an exquisite and moving exploration of the human soul.

This is like 3 books in one, but for me, it never really followed through on any of them. On the one hand it is an unhinged female narrative (trigger warning for drug abuse and addiction). It began here and was really hard to get through. On the other it’s a coming out queer narrative. And on the other, it’s an ancestral trauma narrative. I guess all together it’s a coming of age narrative. But overall, the narrative was messy. And the style or mood wasn’t chaotic enough for that to be on purpose. I think I was most interested by the discussion of Jewish ancestral trauma and grief reverberating into the lives of descents and the things we deal with might be a reminder or extension of them. I’ve never read or heard anything like that, but it seemed shoehorned into this story. To me, the ending was unsatisfactory. Which is probably the point in the sense that our narratives live on beyond us in our ancestors. But the messy sister relationship was just magically fixed, like the author ran out of time quickly needed a resolution. I also feel like Sasha’s storyline and purpose was not adequately tied up.

But the more I sit with it, the more I realize that despite the above, I did like it. It’s a thinker for sure. Overall, it had some interesting tidbits and I enjoyed the writing style.
Thank you, Ruth Madievsky. #AllNightPharmacy and #NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book

I'm so late to this, but I wanted to write something about this book, even if I struggled for some time about what to say. All-Night Pharmacy is one of those almost indescribably books. It's such an experience.

It's sad and exquisite and heavy and funny. Read it!

This book was an incredibly insightful look at sisterhood and intergenerational trauma that made me laugh and cry in equal measure. We need more odd neo-noir. So fair this has been my top book of 2023.

Based out of los angeles, we got 2 sisters who absolutely need to get some help. rachel and debbie. their relationship strained due to the toxic activities that debbie has introduce to rachel, and after saying NoMORE to her sister, rachel is left to fend for herself in the lonely streets of LA. frequenting a club regularly to tend to her illegal business, she meets a young psychic who teaches her about herself, love, and to learn to let go. a tale so messy, you will remember to take your own meds.

A propulsive and sad read, this reminded me a little bit of the early works of Michelle Tea. The main character drifts along after her older sister and then her boyfriend, until her sister disappears into thin air. She meanders around the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles, never quite managing to get a foothold anywhere as she searches. I read most of it while killing time waiting for a friend in the park and it made the minutes go by quite nicely.

Exquisitely written and compelling. This has everything I want from a book. Ruth I hope you write a thousand more books — I will read them all.

Such a wild and dreamlike novel about women trying to forge through a world that is confusing and disappointing at times.

The main narrator looks up to her sister Debbie and allows her older sister to dictate where they go and what drugs they’ll take when they get there. That is, until her sister disappears.

As she continues to fall farther into the dark underbelly of the club scene, she finds work as an overnight receptionist in an emergency room. Using her new job to steal pills and sell them on the side, she feels she’s finally figured things out for herself without her sister’s help, that is, until she meets Sasha, who claims to be her new spiritual guide. As the friendship grows into something almost unrecognizable, she begins to feel a connection to the world around her that she failed to experience with her sister.

This novel was so unique with its twists and turns. I loved how I never knew what the narrator would do next or the story's direction. It depicted a young woman finding herself after accidentally being released from the confines of her sister’s seedy world.
Each character held me captive with their clever dialogue and quirks. And while I was waiting for everything to fall apart, the author would throw something else into the mix. I was one hundred percent invested.

Overall a very well-thought-out novel with an intelligent plot, likable characters, believable drama, and a storyline so unique yet so true to life at times.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had a hard time with this at the beginning, For me personally, the casual drug-taking of our times is frustrating to me (as someone who has had someone's addiction effect me). It felt slow and like it wasn't going anywhere. BUT, once I got about a quarter of the way through, once Debbie disappeared, I was hooked. I loved this book. I am so glad I didn't put it down. It is incredible, the conversation around identity, the writer's language usage,... I would definitely recommend it and read more from this author.

An absolutely gorgeous journey into the darkest corners of the narrator's mind as we experience her fraught relationship with her older sister and its subsequent implosion. I definitely went into this book expecting more of an action-packed thrill ride, and while the story is intense, vivid, and unique, the actual progression is much more understated and internally violent. The unnamed narrator finds herself untethered and volatile in the wake of her chaotic sister Debbie, and her resulting impulsive spiral leads us into her insularity. I loved the way we experience her identity as an immigrant from the former Soviet Union and her emboldened queerness amidst LA nightlife. The setting is so rich, the characters fascinating, and the prose stunning, and the resulting story heavily impactful. A new favorite!

This book does INDEED slap! I inhaled it. A coming of age story that is reminiscent of Ottessa Moshfegh's novels.

Madievsky manages to effortlessly balance so much within this novel; both a story of a dysfunctional and codependent relationship between the unnamed narrator and her sister and a journey of self-realization to how she wants her life to be. Within this journey, the narrator navigated through an opioid addiction and debauchery in general, sobriety, falling in love with a psychic, and befriending an iguana named Apple.

This is wonderful, entrancing, beautifully written and you should absolutely read this and be exposed to the masterpiece that this book is 🌟

This should be the Sad Girl book of the summer.

All-Night Pharmacy is a book about the affects of generational trauma and how it manifests. About healing and falling back on codependant relationships. It's about getting better.

This main character broke my heart so many times through her choices. She and the people she cares for are so vivid that you forget you're reading fiction. Madievsky was able to take simple phrases and make them feel profound.

I do worry that some of the marketing could have a negative impact on some readers, because this is not a thriller or a story about trying to find a missing person in a traditional sense. Instead the unnamed narrator is trying to find herself and the horror of growing up too fast.

An electric novel that reads like a fever dream. With themes of sisterhood, family dysfunction and trauma, addiction, recovery and queerness, ruth madievsky’s debut novel pacts a punch.

All-Night Pharmacy feels like reading the diary of your most off-the-rails friend— the one who’s so unpredictable that it’s almost frightening to be around her, but so fun and endearing that you would never leave her side. The friend who you’re always surprised to hear from on Monday because you were certain she died over the weekend.

The book begins with our unnamed narrator following her older sister, Debbie, into a divey LA bar, and from there the novel unravels at a breakneck pace, flying nonstop down a steep street until the final page. Along the way, Debbie goes missing, our narrator falls into a pill addiction, our narrator is helped out of her pill addiction with the help of a hot psychic, gay things happen (yes, with the hot psychic), trips to the former Soviet Union are taken, an iguana is begrudgingly adopted, family trauma is unearthed, and the bonds of sisterhood are questioned.

The book covers about a year in our narrator’s life as she navigates sobriety, queerness, trauma, healing, and family. It doesn’t shy away from the difficult moments, the unexpected moments, the sexy moments. It’s a book about how hard it is to be a person, how it feels to navigate a life.

This book was slow-going for me at the beginning--tales of debauchery and the toxic relationship between the narrator and her sister Debbie fill the early pages. It was after Debbie disappeared that the story got going for me, mostly because the characters gained more depth. What started out as a book about a dangerous, codependent relationship between sisters became a tale of generational trauma, healing, and the realization that sometimes you have to break away from those you are closest to in order to grow.

If you read the summary expecting a whodunit, that's not what this is, nor do I understand the comparison to David Lynch. The book isn't surreal or strange--it's rather straightforward. This isn't a mystery about what happened to Debbie; it's a coming-of-age story of a young woman pulling herself out of a toxic environment.

another book that just makes me wanna write

I truly feel seen in so many ways. I cannot wait to highlight moments that made me love Los Angeles and the familial grief.

Heady and fearless, All-Night Pharmacy takes us through Los Angeles and beyond on a journey to find family, love, and self-reclamation. From Apples to Sasha to Salvation, the bar that starts it all, Madievsky crystallizes each image into poetry and imbues her characters with both yearning and humor. I wish I could go back in time and spend another weekend falling for these characters for the first time. If you’re looking for a book to capture you, devastate you, resuscitate you (basically, all the feelings), look no further!