{"product_id":"books-portrait-of-an-addict-as-a-young-man-by-bill-clegg","title":"Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man","description":"This is the story of one of the most gifted, charismatic and successful young literary agents in New York and his catastrophic fall into full-blown crack addiction: a collapse that would cost him his business, his home, many of his friends and - very nearly - his life. An utterly compulsive narrative of extraordinary frankness, we are led through the grimiest back-rooms of Manhattan's underbelly, through scenes of blank-eyed sex and squalor, into the febrile paranoia of a mind gone out of control. The story is intercut with terrifying flashbacks to his childhood, where a secret physical condition triggers shame, psychological abuse, and the beginnings of his hidden life and addictive personality.   This is not a book about a literary agent, or publishing, or New York - nor is it a book about recovery and redemption - it is a completely compelling, brilliantly written account of how a dynamic young middle-class professional can find himself finally exposed as a helpless addict, de-railed and alone, living for months on a steady diet of crack cocaine and vodka. Written with great literary skill and originality, this is a memoir of disarming honesty and huge emotional power, but it is also, at its heart, a manifest of pure terror.","brand":"World of Books ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53674524311825,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780224089074.jpg?v=1781533690","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/books-portrait-of-an-addict-as-a-young-man-by-bill-clegg","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}