Salant, James 1984–

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Salant, James 1984–

PERSONAL:

Born February 9, 1984, in New York, NY; son of a psychotherapist and an acupuncturist/therapist. Ethnicity: "White." Politics: "Secular Liberal." Religion: "Agnostic." Hobbies and other interests: Reading, fitness, food.

ADDRESSES:

Home—West Windsor, NJ. Agent—Paul Bresnick Literary Agency, 115 W. 29th St., 3rd Fl., New York, NY 10001.

CAREER:

Writer. Comprehensive Educational Resources, office manager, 2005-07.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir was named one of the Best Books for Teens, 2007, by the American Library Association.

WRITINGS:

Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir, Simon Spotlight Entertainment (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

James Salant's autobiography, Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir, tracks his descent from upper-middle-class suburbanite in Princeton, New Jersey, to petty street criminal and methamphetamine addict on the streets of California. The journey started when Salant was eighteen, having already been dubbed Dirty Jersey by his friends (and had the moniker tattooed on his forearm), and became seduced by the world of drugs. He rejected his comfortable upbringing in favor of heroin, cocaine, and LSD. His parents, both therapists, helped their son to the best of their abilities, sending him to a hardcore rehabilitation program in Riverside, California. But the only thing hard core about the program were the people Salant became acquainted with—meth-heads who turned him on to the most dangerous drug he had ever known. A former nurse is the first to inject Salant with the dangerous drug, and a fast-blooming, full-throttle addiction launches him into a deadening routine of drug abuse, sex, violence, flop houses, and petty crime. He spirals downward as his meth habit makes him paranoid, ferociously energetic, and finally psychotic. Only at rock bottom is he able to start digging himself out of the hole in which he was trapped. Completely recovered, he turned his ordeal into a memoir.

Elizabeth Brinkley, writing in Library Journal, compared Leaving Dirty Jersey favorably to William S. Burroughs's Junky, perhaps the first classic drug memoir. New York Times Book Review contributor Nicholas Kulish appreciated the author's low-key style of storytelling; "he makes his mark by telling his tale plainly and well; there's no self-aggrandizing." Elizabeth Hand, reviewing the book on Salon.com, said the book possesses the "terrifying energy and harsh, overlit violence of a Tarantino movie" and concluded that as "a dirty bomb lobbed from the trenches of crank addiction," it is "not for the weak of heart or stomach."