As Needed for Pain, Dan Peres
As Needed for Pain, Dan Peres
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As Needed for Pain
A Memoir of Addiction

Author: Dan Peres

Narrator: Joe Hempel

Unabridged: 6 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 02/11/2020


Synopsis

In the vein of Mary Karr’s Lit, Augusten Burroughs’ Dry and Sarah Hepola’s Blackout, As Needed for Pain is a raw and riveting—and often wryly funny—addiction memoir from one of New York media’s most accomplished editors which explores his never-before-told story of opioid addiction and the drastic impact it had on his life and career.Dan Peres wasn’t born to be a media insider. As an awkward, magic-obsessed adolescent, nothing was further from his reality than the catwalks of Paris or the hallways of glossy magazine publishers. A gifted writer and shrewd cultural observer, Peres eventually took the leap—even when it meant he had to fake a sense of belonging in a new world of famed fashion designers, celebrities, and some of media’s biggest names. But he had a secret: opiates.Peres’s career as an editor at W magazine and Details is well known, but little is known about his private life as a high-functioning drug addict. In As Needed for Pain, Peres lays bare for the first time the extent of his drug use—at one point a 60-pill-a-day habit.By turns humorous and gripping, Peres’s story is a cautionary coming-of-age tale filled with unforgettable characters and breathtaking brushes with disaster. But the heart of the book is his journey from outsider to insecure insider, what it took to get him there, and how he found his way back from a killing addiction. As Needed for Pain offers a rare glimpse into New York media’s past—a time when print magazines mattered—and a rarefied world of wealth, power, and influence. It is also a brilliant, shocking dissection of a life teetering on the edge of destruction, and what it took to pull back from the brink.

About Dan Peres

Dan Peres was editor in chief of Details for fifteen years, startingin 2000, when the title relaunched under his leadership. During histenure, the magazine won many awards, including two NationalMagazine Awards. Before taking the editorship of Details, Danspent nine years at W magazine, overseeing bureaus in Paris,London, and Milan. While in college, he worked as a copy boy atthe New York Times and later as a research assistant at Esquire. Heis the author of Details Men’s Style Manual. He lives in New Yorkand has three sons.


Reviews

Goodreads review by John on February 25, 2020

Typically, memoirs are rife with lessons, both implied and explicit...lessons for the author and lessons for the reader. Here, however, the only takeaway is that there's a ton of excess in the the 80s-90s-00s, publishing ranks. The author outlines years of not-showing-up, leaning on subordinates to......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on February 27, 2020

It was a little weird how this book was told in vignettes instead of a straight narrative, which kind of left me hanging in certain parts. (What happened after he got the pink gown?!?)......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on March 24, 2020

Weird relationship with David Copperfield.......more

Goodreads review by Kari on February 07, 2021

As the sister of an alcoholic who died of pancreatitis at age 36, I wanted to root for Dan, to feel some connection to him. Alas, his life, apparently charmed aside from his addiction, and this book, which must have made him hurt his back further from bending to pick up all the names he dropped, mad......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on March 10, 2020

Pretty good book, but the author focused a lot on...ahem...women and their anatomy and it was distracting at times. He also introduced certain plot points that never resolved that I was curious about. Still it was pretty well written and insightful......more