If I were to guess about a book like Fatty Arbuckle, based on "Permanent Midnight," it probably has pervasive drugs, some pornography, profound self-doubt, absent parents, the desire to do right but the overbearing compulsion towards self-destruction, and, maybe, a flash of light at the tunnel's end. Sounds good to me.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
"Permanent Midnight" by Jerry Stahl
My brother gave me this book for my birthday (along with a shea butter and lanolin shampoo and cream rinse; don't worry, they're for Louie). "Permanent Midnight" is a memoir of a one-time TV writer's drug addiction. Shooting heroin and writing for the family-friendly "Alf" and the baby boomer hijinks of "Moonlighting"--good stuff. Since the memoir he's published several novels. It's interesting to read a memoir from a writer whose creative work you aren't familiar with (except as manifest in the quirks of planet Melmac).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I'm glad you liked it. I think the moral of the story is - If you want to succeed, do enough heroin to kill an elephant.
Do enough heroin to kill an elephant--wasn't that part of the Scout motto?
Glad you enjoyed Permanent Midnight. No elephants were harmed in the making of my book - or, for that matter, the movie. Sincerely, Jerry Stahl
Post a Comment