I enjoy learning about secrets, never mind that by the time I’m hearing about them, they are, assuredly, no longer secret. The CIA black site was abandoned years ago, Skull & Bones has no more influence on the upcoming election than do the Whiffenpoofs, and that “speakeasy” has a thousand reviews on Google Maps. In Health and Safety, Emily Witt has given the reader a peek into one of these secret worlds, one that I knew next to nothing about: New York City’s rave scene. I would recommend this refreshingly frank account of Witt’s experiences in this world, provided the interested reader knows what they are getting themselves into.

I had a mental image of a rave — loud music, lasers, molly, and plenty of sweat — but the reality of the thing is so much more interesting than I ever would have guessed. While those elements are still present, Witt shines a light on how the scene functions: eticketing systems and wristbands, buses from Brooklyn to a vacant summer camp in the Catskills, a party inside an abandoned office building.

I liked the book, but I expect it to be divisive. The chief complaint, I think, will be the thing that initially disappointed me: for a book by a reporter, it contains next to no reportage. While I didn’t like this choice at first, I grew to understand it. The scene was the author’s escape from the bleak world of her journalism, where she covered school shootings and BLM protests. Who can blame her for keeping these worlds separate? That said, I still would like to read a deeper dive into how this world operates, including and especially its finances.

I also suspect that people may gripe about “likability” and, indeed, it seems that at least one of the early reviewers on Goodreads has done so. I couldn’t care less. Witt presents a story of basically pure hedonism in a remarkably even-keeled, matter-of-fact manner. This is, perhaps, the book’s most laudable quality. She’s neither an evangelist for psychedelics who found God in ayahuasca, nor a scared-straight player in a morality tale warning the audience away from emulating her life. As she says towards the end of the book:

People my age had been conditioned to mystify drugs; we were so heavily cautioned against them that maybe we gave them too much power, when in fact they were banal.

Banal or not, I’m glad to have read this book. Thanks to Pantheon and NetGalley for the advance copy.

I wanted to read this book as I read an essay/excerpt in The New Yorker recently and found it very intriguing. This is an interesting book overall, but I would not use it for teaching. I wish it had a tighter focus and narrative drive.

This is a wonderful book, which contextualizes and historicizes a rich musical and intellectual tradition. It is also an engrossing read which touches on subjects such as music history, urban studies, and social history, while offering readers a window into the discourse that took place in many liberal spaces during the years of the Trump presidency and the pandemic.

Emily Witt’s Health and Safety: A Breakdown is a raw and unflinching memoir that captures the chaotic and transformative period of 2016 through the COVID-19 pandemic, blending personal exploration with broader sociopolitical commentary. Known for her introspective writing, Witt takes readers on a journey through New York City's underground techno scene, her experiences with psychedelics, and the turbulent political landscape that shaped her life during these years.
Witt, a New Yorker staff writer, presents a dual existence in her memoir—by day, she’s a journalist covering heavy topics like gun violence and climate catastrophes, and by night, she delves into the world of techno music and psychedelic experimentation. This juxtaposition of the mundane and the extraordinary forms the core of her narrative, offering a vivid portrait of a woman seeking to expand her consciousness while grappling with the harsh realities of contemporary America.
The book excels in its portrayal of New York City's nightlife and the subcultural scene that Witt immerses herself in. Her descriptions of the music and the effects of drugs are vivid and evocative, capturing the allure and intensity of the techno scene. Witt's writing is elegant and precise, painting a picture of a city—and a life—on the brink of transformation.
However, Health and Safety is more than just a memoir of nightlife and personal exploration. Witt also delves into the political and social upheavals of the time, weaving her experiences into the larger narrative of a country in crisis. The book touches on the rise of right-wing rage, the divisive 2016 presidential election, and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which serve as a backdrop to her personal journey.
One of the strengths of Witt’s memoir is her ability to explore complex and often contradictory emotions. She writes candidly about her struggles with mental health, the end of a significant relationship, and the disillusionment that comes with living through a tumultuous period in history. Her reflections on these experiences are both introspective and relatable, offering readers a glimpse into the emotional landscape of a woman navigating a world that seems to be falling apart.
Health and Safety is a compelling and thought-provoking read. It’s a memoir that captures the zeitgeist of a particular moment in time, blending personal narrative with broader social commentary. Witt’s writing is sharp and insightful, making this a book that will likely resonate with anyone who has lived through or reflected on the past several years.
For those who are interested in exploring the intersection of personal and political turmoil, Health and Safety offers a unique and engaging perspective. Whether you’re drawn to the memoir for its exploration of New York’s underground scene, its reflections on the Trump era, or its candid portrayal of a woman’s search for meaning in a chaotic world, Witt’s book is sure to leave a lasting impression.

Emily Witt can definitely write. This is a memoir about her taking psychedelic drugs, surviving the Trump years, and the COVID pandemic. If you like unflinching and raw memoirs then "Health and Safety" is for you. Even though I enjoyed Witt's writing style and brutal honesty, overall, I don't think this book was for me. I really can't relate to all the drugs she took, but I do appreciate that Witt wasn't afraid to describe her experience under drugs in such an animalistic kind of way. She doesn't hold back, and she doesn't sugarcoat her life during this chaotic period of time. A solid and well written read.

I love techno music, so when I saw the cover in the list of available titles to request I was so excited. I was even more excited when my request to read it was granted. The author captured what I love about techno music, explored her relationship with drugs, featured her life in the time of transition in New York, and highlighted the traumatic end to a relationship during a period of civil unrest. Each of these three things could have taken up very complex books on their own but Emily Witt managed to do them all in one very tight volume.

I was familiar with Emily Witt's work -- I'd read Future Sex when it came out -- and when I came across an excerpt of her latest, I was enthralled. HEALTH AND SAFETY is a thrilling piece of nonfiction. I found Witt's account of music, nightlife, drug culture, and how a decision to live life to the fullest, and how that diverged from her previous mode of living, one marked by caution, creating a distance between her old life and her new, her old community and a new one, riveting. I think a previous reviewer noted this, but so much of this book rang true for me. And the book doesn't end there, becoming a love story, a COVID story, and a kind of coming-of-age into adulthood, all of it rich with sociopolitical analysis. Really remarkable work.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley.

In the four years since the Covid summer of 2020, we can now all start to look back and examine just how deeply we all lost our minds. Witt's book, a memoir of partying and raving in Bushwick and a relationship that went horribly wrong, is compelling but at times veers into score-settling. While her ex clearly had a breakdown and that doesn't excuse the way he treated her, it does sometimes feel like she wants to publicly shame him. It's still a worthwhile examination of just how bad things got a few years ago, and how we need to make sure we never go back to the place again.

An elegant, spare, elegiac recounting of life in a vanishing a subcultural scene, with the pandemic approaching throughout the book like a looming cloud that finally bursts. The descriptions of Witt experienced music and drugs are particularly fresh and rich; they're also the most likely to get sorely misunderstood or stereotyped by reviewers in a way that's as predictable as it is frustrating.

Loved this so much. I haven't read anything like this, a book that specifically focused on the way we all felt over the past 8-10 years. The story really resonated with me

I've read many pieces by Emily Witt over the years but have never read her first book, Future Sex. When I read the blurb for Health and Safety, I thought to myself, "I went to journalism school, I have a fascination with house music, and I've certainly had my fair share of consciousness-altering substances. This memoir has to be for me!" I must say that I am not disappointed with the result. It feels somewhat odd to read the memoir of someone who is barely into their 40s, but the thing is that this memoir is both Emily Witt's life and much more. She captures the zeitgeist of the 2016-now wonderfully that does not feel manufactured or trying. Real life is only as reflective as the quality of the consciousness doing the reflecting. Emily Witt's is high. 

I will say that for an American like myself, who is deeply into politics and also even lived in NYC at some points during that time, much of the reporting that she did, which she weaves into the memoir, is something I acutely remember, lived through, and put close attention. Thus, it didn't make too much of an impact on me. I did think this could be the case going in, but it wasn't in a way that detracted from the book. If you are someone who followed politics/civil unrest closely during that time, you'll get no new information. That is OK!

I found myself focusing on this relationship that drives a lot of the narrative of her life, and I felt way more attuned to that than I thought I could be. I don't want to spoil her life in this review, but I will say that it was both sad and gripping and perfectly captured the emotional turmoil and haze of the pandemic that blanketed all aspects of our lives on top of a very fraught relationship.

For Americans, and I think especially for non-Americans, Health and Safety presents an intricate and developed accuracy of the U.S. during the pandemic, as well as touching on the radiant and microcosmic nightlife of NYC, music, and "underground" drug culture here and in Germany.

4.5 Stars

Thank you so much to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

Health and Safety: A Breakdown debuts on September 17th, 2024