Book cover of Permanent Midnight: A Memoir

Book description

Jerry Stahl's seminal memoir of drug addiction and a career in Hollywood, Permanent Midnight is a classic along the lines of Hubert Selby, Jr.'s Last Exit to Brooklyn. Illuminating the self-loathing and self-destruction of an addict's inner life, Permanent Midnight follows Stahl through the dregs of addiction and into sobriety.…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Permanent Midnight as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The gold standard of recovery books. I found this gem literally in the gutter when I was homeless. Changed my life by showing me if I could get my shit together, I, too, could write a book about my experience, and, in the process, maybe help someone else who was suffering as well.

This is the Holy Grail of addiction memoirs, as far as I’m concerned. It came out years before memoirs about addiction became a “thing” and remains the darkest and funniest addiction memoir in existence. I read it years before I was able to face my own issues with addiction and it did the perfect job of entertaining me so that I didn’t even consciously realize it was teaching me lessons that would save my life.

From Anna's list on addiction from a former party girl.

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