Portrait of an Addict is fresh look at addiction

6/21/2010 11:44:27 AM

"Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man" , by Bill Clegg: Thanks to writers like Augusten Burroughs, Koren Zailckas, Nic Sheff and even James Frey, memoirs about addiction aren't a novel idea. Having said that, don't dismiss Bill Clegg's story as more of the same. "Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man" adds a unique voice to the pack.

Clegg, a successful literary agent with a raging crack cocaine addiction, writes his version of what happened when he relapsed in 1995. He descends into a two-month binge as he spends all of his savings and wastes away to the weight of a teenager.

He also breaks the heart of his live-in boyfriend, Noah, who shows up with food and a smile when Clegg's mother is hospitalized, and who patiently waits and watches while Clegg smokes crack and has a quickie with a male escort in a hotel room.

On his extended bender, Clegg proceeds to squander his money on scoring crack and checking in and out of hotels in Manhattan, regularly calling escorts to party with him. He is extremely paranoid, certain every taxi driver is following him, helping to plot his arrest.

Clegg's writing is very lyrical and almost poetic. He uses extreme detail and matter-of-factly describes the taste of crack, the different ways to make a "scraper" to clean out the last bit of crack, or crumbs, from the stem of a pipe, and his random trysts with strangers.

The story jumps around in time, reflecting on both Clegg's childhood angst and at various points in his adulthood when he relapsed.

When Clegg finally goes to rehab and gets clean, the book seems in a rush to finish. It would be nice to know what happened next — and how Clegg decided to share his story with the world.

Aside from that, "Portrait of an Addict" stands out and is worth reading.