Son of a French Holocaust survivor, Alan Kaufman was an alcoholic so mauled by his indulgences that it is a marvel that he was alive enough to get into recovery. With his estranged daughter as inspiration, Kaufman cleaned himself up at age 40, taking full responsibility for nearly destroying himself, his work, and so many loved ones along the way. You will be mesmerized by his brutal and beautiful account of his ceaseless, losing battle against his addiction. Fiercely honest, Kaufman minces no words as he looks back on a life pickled in self-pity, self-loathing, and guilt. Reading DRUNKEN ANGEL is like watching an accident to see if any of the victims crawl away barely alive. Kaufman did, and his lacerating cautionary tale of life wasted and reclaimed is brilliant. The novel ranges from the US to Israel to France to Germany to Scandinavia and many points in between.

There are a handful of gut-wrenching, life-changing books and films about the tortures of addiction that probe the consciousness of the addict to expose the true horror: "Hat Full of Rain," "The Lost Weekend," Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs, and The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. Taking its place alongside these classics, DRUNKEN ANGEL is Alan Kaufman's searing and surreal memoir full of stylistic acrobatics that speak to the genius of a writer nearly lost.

Alan Kaufman’s Drunken Angel – Book Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGyMZd205RU

 

Alan Kaufman is the author The New Generation: Fiction for Our Time from America's Writing Programs, the critically acclaimed memoir Jew Boy, a novel, Matches, and a book of poetry, Who Are We? He is the editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, and The Outlaw bible of American Literature. His writings have appeared in the San Francisco Examiner, Tikkun, Tel Aviv Review, Witness, and other publications, as well as in many Webzines, including Tattoo Jew, of which he is the editor. A former editor of Jewish Frontier, he is the founder and editor of the controversial magazine Davka: Jewish Cultural Revolution and has performed extensively as a spoken-word poet in the United States and internationally. He holds American, French, and Israeli citizenship and lives in San Francisco. He teaches classes about memoir writing and journalism at the Academy of Art University and other workshops in San Francisco. Well-established in his literary career, Kaufman is now gaining recognition as a painter of haunting portraits.