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Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man : A Memoir by Bill Clegg (2010, Hardcover)

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About this product

Product Information

Bill Clegg had a thriving business as a literary agent, a supportive partner, trusting colleagues, and loving friends when he walked away from his world and embarked on a two-month crack binge. He had been released from rehab nine months earlier, and his relapse would cost him his home, his money, his career, and very nearly his life. What is it that leads an exceptional young mind want to disappear? Clegg makes stunningly clear the attraction of the drug that had him in its thrall, capturing in scene after scene the drama, tension, and paranoiac nightmare of a secret life--and the exhilarating bliss that came again and again until it was eclipsed almost entirely by doom. He also explores the shape of addiction, how its pattern--not its cause--can be traced to the past. Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man is an utterly compelling narrative--lyrical, irresistible, harsh, honest, and beautifully written--from which you simply cannot look away.

Product Identifiers

PublisherLittle Brown & Company

ISBN-100316054674

ISBN-139780316054676

eBay Product ID (ePID)79832771

Product Key Features

Book TitlePortrait of an Addict As a Young Man : a Memoir

Number of Pages240 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2010

TopicPersonal Memoirs, Psychopathology / Addiction

GenreBiography & Autobiography, Psychology

AuthorBill Clegg

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight13 Oz

Item Length8.5 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

Dewey Edition22

ReviewsMesmerizing...reading it is like letting the needle down on a Nick Drake album. [Clegg] tells his story in short, atmospheric paragraphs, each separated by white space, each its own strobe-lighted snapshot of decadent poetic memory.... Portrait of an Addict as a Young Manis the lightly narcotized sensorium of Mr. Clegg's prose., It turns out there is room on the shelf for one more addiction memoir....Clegg spares no one's feelings, least of all his own; it's not the brutality that makes this worthwhile but rather the strange beauty of the stream-of consciousness prose. We're voyeurs, as helpless to stop the carnage as the author himself., PRAISE FOR PORTRAIT OF AN ADDICT AS A YOUNG MAN : "Bill Clegg's Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man stands up to Frederick Exley's great memoir of alcoholism, A Fan's Notes . . . . But really, forget comparisons. Read the book.", PRAISE FORPORTRAIT OF AN ADDICT AS A YOUNG MAN: "Bill Clegg'sPortrait of an Addict as a Young Manstands up to Frederick Exley's great memoir of alcoholism,A Fan's Notes.It is perhaps even higher praise to think ofPortrait of an Addict as a Young Manas Salinger'sThe Catcher in the Ryeon crack. But really, finally, forget the comparisons. Read the book.", Portrait of an Addict as a Young Manis an instant classic. Anybody who knows anything about addiction will feel morally altered by this book. To an extraordinary degree, it has both beauty and truth. It goes beyond its own revelations to become a book for everybody, a work of art. I suppose we live for the magic of these things., Mesmerizing...reading it is like letting the needle down on a Nick Drake album. [Clegg] tells his story in short, atmospheric paragraphs, each separated by white space, each its own strobe-lighted snapshot of decadent poetic memory....Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man is the lightly narcotized sensorium of Mr. Clegg's prose., Clegg...cuts through the addiction-memoir noise, recounting the glamour and pathos of self-destruction with efficiency and disturbing clarity., Bill Clegg... has written a streamlined, hair-raising, high-torque memoir...Even though we know how the story must end, it's hard to believe Clegg will survive the ordeal he describes in such horrific detail., Bill Clegg's memoir is a startling, hair-raising, and compulsively readable account of one man's descent into the hell of addiction. That Clegg lived to tell his story is amazing. That he has captured the details of his experience with such beauty is even more so. Unforgettable., You won't be able to stop reading until it's all gone - and you will crave more...what makes Clegg's book especially riveting is the remarkable speed of his vertiginous fall from grace.... Portraitis a spare, elegant book, one that shows admirable restraint in the face of extreme, even pathological behavior ( A Million Little Piecesthis is not.) Clegg may not have been able to control his demons, but he is utterly in charge of this material, with a voice that is knowing and self-deprecating in exactly the right measure., I devoured Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man , couldn't put it down. The writing throughout is beautiful, and all the while it is reportorial and efficient and honest--a rare combination of feats!, Bill Clegg's memoir is a startling, hair-raising, and compulsively readable account of one man's descent into the hell of addiction. That Clegg lived to tell his story is amazing. That he has captured the details of his experience with such beauty is even more so. Unforgettable., Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man is an instant classic. Anybody who knows anything about addiction will feel morally altered by this book. To an extraordinary degree, it has both beauty and truth. It goes beyond its own revelations to become a book for everybody, a work of art. I suppose we live for the magic of these things., For all the literary musings on drugs, the business of literature is a rather sober and cerebral place. That fact may explain why the memoir of literary agent Bill Clegg, which recounts a nosedive not so very long ago into crack addiction, seems as shocking as his ability to construct gorgeously poetic scenes seems intuitive.... Clegg barrels full force into a spiraling Manhattan phantasmagoria of hot-boxed hotel bathrooms, more-than-willing drug dealers, boyfriend betrayal, insane paranoia, days gone missing, and the endless hunger of wanting just one more taste of the very thing that's eating you whole., It turns out thereisroom on the shelf for one more addiction memoir....Clegg spares no one's feelings, least of all his own; it's not the brutality that makes this worthwhile but rather the strange beauty of the stream-of consciousness prose. We're voyeurs, as helpless to stop the carnage as the author himself., You won't be able to stop reading until it's all gone - and you will crave more...what makes Clegg's book especially riveting is the remarkable speed of his vertiginous fall from grace.... Portrait is a spare, elegant book, one that shows admirable restraint in the face of extreme, even pathological behavior ( A Million Little Pieces this is not.) Clegg may not have been able to control his demons, but he is utterly in charge of this material, with a voice that is knowing and self-deprecating in exactly the right measure., It's a remarkable achievement when a writer can evoke the most desperate episodes of addiction with the unflinching honesty required to make such a memoir worth reading, yet somehow manage to completely transcend sleaze, sordidness, and vapid self-justification. Bill Clegg's story of a man-largely locked in hotel rooms, engaged in a desperate, heart-wrenching battle with himself--is destined to become a cult classic of writing on drug addiction., PRAISE FORPORTRAIT OF AN ADDICT AS A YOUNG MAN: "Bill Clegg'sPortrait of an Addict as a Young Manstands up to Frederick Exley's great memoir of alcoholism,A Fan's Notes. . . . But really, forget comparisons. Read the book.", I devouredPortrait of an Addict as a Young Man, couldn't put it down. The writing throughout is beautiful, and all the while it is reportorial and efficient and honest--a rare combination of feats!, Mesmerizing...reading it is like letting the needle down on a Nick Drake album. [Clegg] tells his story in short, atmospheric paragraphs, each separated by white space, each its own strobe-lighted snapshot of decadent poetic memory.... Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man is the lightly narcotized sensorium of Mr. Clegg's prose.

Lccn2009-024014

Dewey Decimal362.29092 B

Lc Classification NumberHv5805.C595a3 2010