Requiem for a Dream: A Novel

Tyrone learns from Brody that the two men who had been distributing the strong heroin had stolen it from the Jefferson Brothers. The Jefferson Brothers killed them, and now the heroin Tyrone buys from Brody is hardly enough to just get Harry and Tyrone high, let alone to sell for a major profit. Sara, meanwhile, falls deeper into amphetamine addiction. She continues to lose weight, but she is no longer happy, afflicted by a deep paranoia. Brody’s supply of dynamite heroin runs out. Harry, Tyrone, Marion, and Alice can barely sustain their own habits. They make excuses to themselves about being able to quit whenever they want.

Sara begins taking all of the day’s diet pills in the morning, trying to ignore the onset of withdrawals. She begins to hallucinate, imagining herself on the quiz show in her red dress, then seeing herself walk out of the screen and disappear into her apartment. Eventually, her own apartment is broadcast, and she is afflicted by a horrible sense of shame and paranoia at the shabbiness of it.

Brody gets murdered. With no drug hookup, Harry and Tyrone are in trouble. Sara has to go to the store, fighting through intense paranoia and hallucinations.