History Literature / UglyMemories

* : Soon before the [[spoiler: breakdown that gets her kicked out of rehab]], Paula refers to dope as "German cough medicine". That's a reference to the drug's original purpose. In the 1890s, Bayer marketed Heroin as a cough medication and morphine addiction cure.

* Main/AddictionDisplacement: Mentioned. According to one of Paula's mini-rants, junkies sometimes crave chocolate after detoxing. It's apparently a good enough replacement.
* Main/AmbiguousDisorder: Mason seems a bit too childlike, for an adult.
* Main/BrutalHonesty: In the prologue Paula ''claims'' to exhibit this.
* Main/ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere: Even when she's sober Paula can't stop thinking about dope. Everything reminds her of it.
* Main/CurseOfTheAncients: When upset, Paula says things like "Gadzooks!", "ye Gods", or "by Jove". This might be a reference to Shakespeare.
* Main/ExpospeakGag: Soon before the [[spoiler: breakdown that gets her kicked out of rehab]], Paula refers to dope as "German cough medicine". That's a reference to the drug's original purpose. In the 1890s, Bayer marketed Heroin as a cough medication and morphine addiction cure.
* Main/FunctionalAddict: Paula sees herself as this. We do know she's able to work as a freelance writer whilst using drugs on a daily basis.
* Main/GoingColdTurkey: Paula's parents force her to quit heroin cold turkey.
* Main/GratuitousGerman: At one point, the main character uses this.
-->'''Paula''':''I’m a junkie, a druggie, eine fixerin.''
* Main/HollywoodAutism: Averted, thankly. ML Lanzillotta herself actually has autism. Paula's "odder" behaviors (the meltdowns, her inability to say specific words, and so on) are all based on things the actually author does.
* Main/ParentsAsPeople: Mr. and Mrs. Fenice are far from perfect.
* Main/NailedToTheWagon: Paula's parents force her to detox.
* Main/ReferenceOverdosed: Paula keeps bringing up movies and books and bits of history - some more obscure than others. Also, fragments of song lyrics occasionally appear in the narration.
* Main/SanitySlippage: Both Paula and her mother slowly start to loose it near the end, due to severe sleep-deprivation.
* Main/SpiritualSuccessor: In some ways ''Ugly Memories'' is this to ''Literature/EighteenDaysToGraduation''. Both star young, eccentric women partly named after Creator/HunterSThompson expies that happen to be based on ML Lanzillotta herself. Both contain lengthy, semi-political internal monologues. Both reference pop culture exceedingly often. Even the narration styles seem similar.
* Main/UnreliableNarrator: Judging by certain scenes, Paula might be one.

* Main/ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere: Even when she's sober Paula can't stop thinking about dope.

* Main/ReferenceOverdosed: Paula keeps bringing up movies and books and bits of history - some more obscure than others.

* Main/ReferenceOverdosed: Paula keeps bringing up movies and books and bits of history - some more obscure than others. Even her first name is a reference to something (Paul Kemp from ''Film/TheRumDiary'', to be exact).

* Main/ReferenceOverdosed: Paula keeps bringing up movies and books and bits of history - some more obscure than others. Even her first name is a reference to something (Paul Kemp from Film/TheRumDiary, to be exact).

* Main/ReferenceOverdosed: Paula keeps bringing up movies and books and bits of history - some more obscure than others. Even her first name is a reference to something (Paul Kemp from Literature/TheRumDiary, to be exact).

* Main/ParentsAsPeople: Paula's parents are far from perfect.

-> ''That morning, when I woke up, I’d already begun feeling dopesick. My nose ran and I couldn’t help but shiver. My poor pupils were large and sad, like Marvin the Paranoid Android’s brain. Everything - from the sun’s rays to my beloved bookshelf - annoyed me, for basically no reason. I needed a fix. Badly.''

---> the narrator, Paula

->''Paula'':“I’m a junkie, a druggie, eine fixerin.”

Main/ExpospeakGag: Soon before the [[spoiler: breakdown that gets her kicked out of rehab]], Paula refers to dope as "German cough medicine". That's a reference to the drug's original purpose. In the 1890s, Bayer marketed Heroin as a cough medication and morphine addiction cure.

-->''''Paula'':“I’m a junkie, a druggie, eine fixerin.”''

Main/ExospeakGag: Soon before the [[spoiler: breakdown that gets her kicked out of rehab]], Paula refers to dope as "German cough medicine". That's a reference to the drug's original purpose. In the 1890s, Bayer marketed Heroin as a cough medication and morphine addiction cure.

-->''“I’m a junkie, a druggie, eine fixerin.”''

* Main/FunctionalAddict: Paula sees herself as this. We do know she's able to work as a freelance writer whilst using. Also, she's extremely well-read.

* Main/TheAgrressiveDrugDealer: Averted. Paula's dealer is lazy and fond of sleeping in.

* Main/TheAgressiveDrugDealer: Averted.

''Ugly Memories'' is a novella by Creator/MLLanzillotta. It's about a heroin-addicted freelance writer (Paula Fenice) who gets arrested after the police find syringes in her purse. Her parents find out and send her to rehab. Paula sees herself as [[Main/FunctionalAddict high functioning]] and finds this very upsetting. She also has autism, which complicates matters.

''Ugly Memories'' is a novella by Creator/MLLanzillotta. It's about a heroin-addicted freelance writer (Paula Fenice) who gets arrested after the police find syringes in her purse. Her parents find out and send her to rehab. Paula sees herself as [[Main/Functional high functioning]] and finds this very upsetting. She also has autism, which complicates matters.

''Ugly Memories'' is a Main/RomanAClef by Creator/MLLanzillotta.