Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir

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Author: James Salant
Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$14.95~~
Buy Used: $3.67
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New (32) Used (16) from $3.67

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1

ISBN: 1416955119
Dewey Decimal Number: 809
EAN: 9781416955115
ASIN: 1416955119

Publication Date: April 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: An excellent book in wonderful like new condition...may have a remainder mark....ships from reliable seller in NJ

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
With his nickname, Dirty Jersey, tattooed on the inside of his left forearm, James Salant wanted everyone to know he was a tough guy. PAt 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. PIn 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. PExploring the allure and effects of the least understood drug of our time, ILeaving Dirty Jersey/i is that rarity among memoirs -- a compulsively readable, superbly told story that is shocking precisely because it could happen to almost anyone.

Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Hard to put down November 11, 2008
This was a great book. Very informative. If you closed your eyes it was like you were sitting next to the author of the book. It was hard to put the book down.

5 out of 5 stars

Best memoir I've ever read, couldn't put it down! July 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This was for sure one of the best memoirs I've read, and the best addiction books out there. It stays with you after. I've read A LOT of addiction books to try to understand a friend I had that was an addict. I can't believe how the author got out alive and how honest he is! The things he encounters are not pretty and shamfeful and embarrassing, yet he eloquently describes his experiences without holding back. br /br /This book is well written, a page turner, and extremely graphic and real. He's so young to have gone through so much and I liked at the end how he told the readers how hard it was for his family and gf to read it. Very compelling and a vdifferent from the self pity addiction books like "Blackout Girl" that I've been reading lately.

5 out of 5 stars

incredible read April 28, 2008
i was blown away by how interesting and inspiring a book about the life of guy on drugs could be. He was so detailed in his writing that you can tell that he has a gift as a writer and an amazing story to go along with it. It was a very hard book to put down and there was never any moments in the book that i just wanted to skip ahead because i was being bored with unnecessary details. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read!

5 out of 5 stars

The Downward Spiral..... April 17, 2008
Bored, tired of reading books with facts and statistics? Yes, so was I. br /br /This book is a great, fun read. The main character Jim (the author James Salant) keeps you on the edge of your seat. br /br /James doesnt waste your time trying to give you statistics on drugs, drug use or even how meth is produced. br /br /This is his story of addiction, from beginning to end. Its not a pretty journey through the countryside, but rather a long walk down a dirty, dangerous back alley. br /br /Meth use is a disgusting, but growing problem in the U.S. This book gives you one mans glimpse of what it was like being hooked on it!!!

5 out of 5 stars

Leaving Dirty Jersey : an authentic drug addiction memoir April 17, 2008
Salant's book is by far the best memoir of drug addiction I've ever read.br /br /It's precisely the relative absence of shock-for-shock's sake that made this book such a satisfying read. As described by Salant, a drug addict's world isn't exciting; it's just sordid (which Salant acknlowedges in recounting some of the gross and/or unsavory things he did while addicted. Those of us who like to read about unsavory things done by other people - and I'm one of them - do get their money's worth in this memoir). But it's his writing that struck me as singular.br /br /Told by a less talented writer, this story could have been ho-hum. But Salant writes with great clarity and economy, and seems objective as he can be in a book about himself. He does talk about writing poetry in the book, though sometimes he lied about that so his parents would send him money, so I'm not sure how much poetry he actually wrote!br /br /But as for his prose, Salant writes as if he's been writing forever - he's that good. He's an extremely talented young writer, and thanks to that, this book wasn't the cobbled-together addiction exploitation book it very easily could have been.br /br /Another reviewer said he (or she) would have liked more about his recovery. I think that might have been too much; I think Salant was right in leaving off where he did. And for an addict or alcoholic, there is always the chance of relapse; it's risky talking about your "recovery" when you're still in your early 20s. That's just my view, of course.br /br /But this one's absolutely well worth reading. br / br /

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