Portrait Of An Addict As A Young Man: A Memoir (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
This is a shocking and truthful account of crack addiction. I’m glad to have read it and admire the author’s courage to share such difficult moments with the world. It has left me questioning the nature of addiction and wondering how helpful compassion can be when it is offered to a person who no longer cares about anything beyond getting high. After hundreds of pages of suffering, the ending felt too sudden and incomplete. Although it was both moving and believable, I was left wanting to know much more about how Bill Clegg managed to get over his addiction and go forward to reclaim his life. I really liked the poetic language the book was written in. It made this terrible way of life sound almost beautiful, in a terrible way. I did find it a little bit repetitive though. Although I do acknowledge that the repetitive structure shows how addiction is an endless cycle, it did get old to read him moving from hotel to hotel, geting money, calling his dealer, having sex, getting paranoid, and leaving to start all over again. Also I am personally not really clear on how he got into all of the drugs. There was never a defining moment for me in his childhood section of the story where I realized "Oh that's what set all of this up". It sounds terrible, but not extremely bad to drive someone to drugs and drinking the way he went. It just felt like "Okay..? And how exactly is this relevant?".
What do You think about Portrait Of An Addict As A Young Man: A Memoir (2010)?
i couldn't put it down but i can't say i sympathized with the guy.good writing though...
—staceyherrr
