Synopses & Reviews
With his nickname, Dirty Jersey, tattooed on the inside of his left forearm, James Salant wanted everyone to know he was a tough guy. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; At the age of eighteen, after one too many run-ins with the cops for drug possession, he left his upper-middle-class home in Princeton, New Jersey, for a stint at a rehab facility in Riverside, California. Instead of getting clean, he spent his year there shooting crystal meth and living as a petty criminal among not-so-petty ones until a near psychotic episode (among other things) convinced him to clean up. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; In stark prose infused with heartbreaking insight, wicked humor, and complete veracity, Salant provides graphic descriptions of life on crystal meth -- the incredible sex drive, the paranoia, the cravings. He details the slang, the scams, and the psychoses, and weaves them into a narrative that is breathtakingly honest and authentic. Salant grapples with his attraction to the thuggish life, eschewing easy answers -- his parents, both therapists, were loving and supportive, and his family's subtle dysfunctions typical of almost any American family. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; Exploring the allure and effects of the least understood drug of our time, andlt;iandgt;Leaving Dirty Jerseyandlt;/iandgt; is that rarity among memoirs -- a compulsively readable, superbly told story that is shocking precisely because it could happen to almost anyone.
Review
"Normally I hate to tell anyone what to do, or what to think, or read. But I honestly believe every parent should read this book. And every teenager on the verge of a drug trip should read it. And everyone else, too. It's that good, that important." -- Dava Sobel, author of andlt;iandgt;Longitudeandlt;/iandgt;
Review
"If prose were a mind-altering substance, James Salant would be your neighbourhood pusher. Lord knows, the man will make an addict of you."
-- Koren Zailckas, New York Times bestselling author of Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood
Review
"This book stands out. The atmosphere and the detail with which the bit players are brought to life recall William S. Burroughs's classic Junky." -- Library Journal
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