Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man

It's incredible to think that Bill Clegg was a crack addict from looking at his book jacket photo. He appears to be a golden boy: dirty blond hair, handsome, successful literary agent. This book shows the dark side to being wealthy but insecure in a city where nothing seems impossible to obtain.
Clegg's memoir details his years as an addict, discussing events that led to his disease and the relationships he ruined on his path of destruction. He ran through his $70,000 checking account in a two-month binge, lost his almost obnoxiously patient boyfriend, threw away his boutique literary agency, and lost more than 40 pounds during the years he smoked crack and guzzled vodka. Throughout the memoir, Clegg sprinkles in recollections of his frustrating childhood, with mental/physical issues, and a verbally abusive father.
The book is broken up into chapters, and each paragraph stands on its own, no indentation and a lot of white space, making the reading go by quickly and easily.
To be honest, that's kind of a good thing. There doesn't seem to be a real reason for Clegg to have written this book; he's since recovered, picked up his literary career, and nothing special happens in this piece of nonfiction that hasn't already been recounted in other recollections of addiction. There is not one major event that centers the narrative, but rather little bits of his life, meaning you don't have a lot of self-reflection or explanation. I couldn't help but feel frustrated by the way Clegg threw away every opportunity-at love, at redemption, at happiness- simply because his dad didn't love him enough as a child. While the prose is simple and understated, I was glad when the 222 pages were up so I could pick up something more upbeat and perhaps inventive. I hesitate to recommend this wholeheartedly, but it's been written up in several magazines and newspapers, making it very of-the-moment. At least it's got a lot of people talking, so you would have other sources to compare your opinion with. Hey, and the cover's pretty great.