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Jerry Stahl
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PERMANENT MIDNIGHT : A Memoir Paperback – 1 July 2005

by Jerry Stahl (Author)
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A searing confessional infused with the darkest humour, Permanent Midnight chronicles the opiated abyss of a Hollywood screenwriter and his formidable climb into society. Made into a major motion picture starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, Permanent Midnight is revered by critics and an ever-growing cult of devoted readers as one of the most compelling contemporary memoirs. From the author of the hugely popular I, Fatty.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    380 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    PROCESS
  4. Publication date
    1 July 2005
  5. Dimensions
    13.97 x 2.54 x 21.34 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    9780976082200
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0976082200
  8. See all details
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Product description

About the Author

Jerry Stahl was born in Pittsburgh. He is author of the novels, I, Fatty, Perv: A Love Story, and Plainclothes, Naked. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0976082209
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ PROCESS; 1st Edition Thus (1 July 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 380 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780976082200
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0976082200
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 2.54 x 21.34 cm
  • Customer reviews:

About the author

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Jerry Stahl

Jerry Stahl

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Pushcart Prize-winning author Jerry Stahl has written six books, including the memoir Permanent Midnight (made into a film with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson), and the novels Pain Killers and I, Fatty (optioned by Johnny Depp). Former Culture Columnist for Details, Stahl’s widely anthologized fiction and journalism have appeared in a variety of places, including Esquire, The New York Times, Playboy, The Rumpus, and The Believer. He has also written extensively for film and television, including the highest rated episodes of CSI and, most recently, the HBO film Hemingway & Gelhorn, with Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
339 global ratings

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Anastacia Serrano
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 May 2017
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Brutally honest and exceptionally well written.
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TJ Heneghan
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 January 2015
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Amazing amount of reliance on drugs, not sure if I want to be glamorising this kind of lifestyle.
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fridge magnet
2.0 out of 5 stars Drugs hell
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 September 2018
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A bit disjointed
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Top reviews from other countries

Dan McFarland
5.0 out of 5 stars Jerry Stahl’s best book.
Reviewed in the United States on 26 June 2023
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I’ve read most of Jerry Stahl’s books and I have to say this one was the best. The most layered and intricate. If ever there was a case of “The book is better than the movie “, it’s this one. Anyone who loves the movie would be missing out big time to not read the book. For me as a recovering addict and father who was active during my children’s births and early years. This book hit home in many ways. All of Stahl’s best writing qualities, all of his witty cynicism and sarcasm are on display here. Definitely his masterpiece in my opinion. If you wanna learn about what it’s like to be addicted to heroin and opioids read this book.
4 people found this helpful
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rad
4.0 out of 5 stars Memoir Unbound
Reviewed in the United States on 19 September 2016
Verified Purchase
I've read this book a few times. It's funny, disturbing and as many note,a little too hip for it's on good. That said, l like the fact that it is not preaching to me or too didactic, as he admits he isn't completely sober even after he sobers up. His quick wit and ability to manipulate the reader is stellar. You empathize with his compulsive need to devour any and all drugs in his path, even if you don't fully understand it. One of the reasons the book is so moving is stahl's willingness to expose some very dark secrets. The way he drives by his landlady when she flags him down for help because her elderly husband is succumbing to a heart attack is just one. Dragging his infant daughter into a shooting gallery even unnerves a skeletal junkie as she mad dogs him for his lapse in decorum, shooting uo in his neck while living in his vintage caddie, ignoring the creepy child porn in his dealer's closet, uncomfortable scenes of his excess as he pitches an outrageous yet brilliant story line for his puppet from outer space sit com, stealing his kind friend's pills and the end which begins with the Rodney King riots, a sort of moment of truth for anyone who lived in LA for the sh** is burning show. When you read a book more than once, as I often do, each time is a different experience. I realized my third time in that Stahl was a skillful manipulator not unlike my player beaus from back in the day. If you go to a reading or event where Stahl is featured, you'll note a bevy of bookwormmy women in all shapes, colors, ages and demographics are watching him with adoration and hopelessness because they intuitively understand he is unavailable to them. Maybe this is part of his appeal. But he seduces you. You fall for the.narrator, and you're probably going to confuse him with the writer no matter what book you read. One assumes PM, a memoir, is the closest to who he truly is. I'm not so sure. Having read him since he was a Hustler hack churning out Penthouse Forum letters
( I was like 11 and raiding my old mans collection of gentleman rags as I prepared for my first career as a stripper) and later latching on to his voice in the LA weekly as I stripped in preparation for my destiny as a writer, I truly responded to his style because I never connected the dots until much later when a student in my HS English class ( he had a heroin jones at 17 and asked me to help him-- he's a nurse who married the girl I chose for him these days) brought me this book and insisted I read it. Next thing I knew I had the Stahl collection circulating in my underground book club as kids latched on to Perv, Fatty and Love Without. Ultimately Paradoxia by Lydia Lunch beat him out. But I dragged kids to Stahl's readings and he ended up shipping us books so I could keep up. I know I was a great teacher because my students were always stealing my books.
So is PM perfect? Not really . It's legendary though as Stahl admits the tome originally started out as a nearly 1000 page embarrassment his mentor Cubby wisely advised him to edit with this advice : Write with love. I try to heed these words myself but it's not as easy as it sounds. However, I suspect it is the guiding spirit in this memoir which opened the door, for better or worse, to many a drug addled memoir. In grad school I wrote a paper on the history of drug memoirs which was just around the time Stahl's was getting a lot of attention for this book. I had DeQuincey, Crowly and Irvine Welsh but something about Hollywood hipster put me off. I clearly recall reading an article about Stahl in the LAT and considering going to his reading that night at Skylihght Books. It was 1998 or 99, I didn't go, but I alluded to Stahl in my conclusion as the beginning of a trend. When it comes to literary matters my insights tend to be uncanny. Sadly my own life tends to be less available for such penetrating scrutiny.
I would like to Say Bukowski is my biggest influence as he's a much better writer than Stahl. But I know that Stahl's manic and cartoonish excess has been the Template for the writer I am today. His been a part of my Writng life since I knew I was a writer and always in an illicit and scary way. As such he's made me a little dishonest, something Hank's influence dissuades. But that's the nature of fiction, and like it or not memoir is fiction because none of us are willing to tell everything . Stahl just makes it look that way.
Customer image
rad
4.0 out of 5 stars Memoir Unbound
Reviewed in the United States on 19 September 2016
I've read this book a few times. It's funny, disturbing and as many note,a little too hip for it's on good. That said, l like the fact that it is not preaching to me or too didactic, as he admits he isn't completely sober even after he sobers up. His quick wit and ability to manipulate the reader is stellar. You empathize with his compulsive need to devour any and all drugs in his path, even if you don't fully understand it. One of the reasons the book is so moving is stahl's willingness to expose some very dark secrets. The way he drives by his landlady when she flags him down for help because her elderly husband is succumbing to a heart attack is just one. Dragging his infant daughter into a shooting gallery even unnerves a skeletal junkie as she mad dogs him for his lapse in decorum, shooting uo in his neck while living in his vintage caddie, ignoring the creepy child porn in his dealer's closet, uncomfortable scenes of his excess as he pitches an outrageous yet brilliant story line for his puppet from outer space sit com, stealing his kind friend's pills and the end which begins with the Rodney King riots, a sort of moment of truth for anyone who lived in LA for the sh** is burning show. When you read a book more than once, as I often do, each time is a different experience. I realized my third time in that Stahl was a skillful manipulator not unlike my player beaus from back in the day. If you go to a reading or event where Stahl is featured, you'll note a bevy of bookwormmy women in all shapes, colors, ages and demographics are watching him with adoration and hopelessness because they intuitively understand he is unavailable to them. Maybe this is part of his appeal. But he seduces you. You fall for the.narrator, and you're probably going to confuse him with the writer no matter what book you read. One assumes PM, a memoir, is the closest to who he truly is. I'm not so sure. Having read him since he was a Hustler hack churning out Penthouse Forum letters
( I was like 11 and raiding my old mans collection of gentleman rags as I prepared for my first career as a stripper) and later latching on to his voice in the LA weekly as I stripped in preparation for my destiny as a writer, I truly responded to his style because I never connected the dots until much later when a student in my HS English class ( he had a heroin jones at 17 and asked me to help him-- he's a nurse who married the girl I chose for him these days) brought me this book and insisted I read it. Next thing I knew I had the Stahl collection circulating in my underground book club as kids latched on to Perv, Fatty and Love Without. Ultimately Paradoxia by Lydia Lunch beat him out. But I dragged kids to Stahl's readings and he ended up shipping us books so I could keep up. I know I was a great teacher because my students were always stealing my books.
So is PM perfect? Not really . It's legendary though as Stahl admits the tome originally started out as a nearly 1000 page embarrassment his mentor Cubby wisely advised him to edit with this advice : Write with love. I try to heed these words myself but it's not as easy as it sounds. However, I suspect it is the guiding spirit in this memoir which opened the door, for better or worse, to many a drug addled memoir. In grad school I wrote a paper on the history of drug memoirs which was just around the time Stahl's was getting a lot of attention for this book. I had DeQuincey, Crowly and Irvine Welsh but something about Hollywood hipster put me off. I clearly recall reading an article about Stahl in the LAT and considering going to his reading that night at Skylihght Books. It was 1998 or 99, I didn't go, but I alluded to Stahl in my conclusion as the beginning of a trend. When it comes to literary matters my insights tend to be uncanny. Sadly my own life tends to be less available for such penetrating scrutiny.
I would like to Say Bukowski is my biggest influence as he's a much better writer than Stahl. But I know that Stahl's manic and cartoonish excess has been the Template for the writer I am today. His been a part of my Writng life since I knew I was a writer and always in an illicit and scary way. As such he's made me a little dishonest, something Hank's influence dissuades. But that's the nature of fiction, and like it or not memoir is fiction because none of us are willing to tell everything . Stahl just makes it look that way.
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14 people found this helpful
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A reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous writing, regardless of the subject matter
Reviewed in the United States on 1 March 2014
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I first read this book two years ago, and it still feels stuck in my head as though I finished it yesterday. I don't have any real experience or understanding of hardcore drug addiction, but this book is so phenomenally written that it doesn't matter. Stahl may have struggled though a litany of personal issues and may have never achieved the success in Hollywood that he could have, but he's a fantastic spinner of poignant, funny, and captivating prose.

A gut-wrenching depiction of his life through the very worst scenarios imaginable (seriously, many of these anecdotes will absolutely stop you in your tracks), Permanent Midnight doesn't ask for your sympathy, but the quality of the writing--plus that undercurrent of thought that, deep down, you know he's a good guy--makes you pull for him at all times. Highly recommended.
4 people found this helpful
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Tony Mirabel
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
Reviewed in the United States on 19 September 2021
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This is among the best written books I ever read. Jerry Stahl is a master of the English language and a true artist who knows how to keep the reader engaged. Jerry also has a rich sense of intellectual sarcasm that will have you rolling on the floor, I am now a Jerry Stahl fan.
2 people found this helpful
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Glen Johnson
3.0 out of 5 stars it is nice to know he has overcome his past and found ...
Reviewed in the United States on 6 May 2015
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I had to read the book after seeing and enjoying the movie the book is based on. You'll get lots more detail about Jerry Stahl hellacious struggles battling heroin addiction, but the book is fairly dry compared to the movie. After all he has gone through, it is nice to know he has overcome his past and found renewed success in writing.
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