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Wasting Talent
ALL AUTHOR PROCEEDS FROM KINDLE VERSION WILL GO TOWARDS STARTING A NON-PROFIT TO HELP OPIOD ADDICTS GET NARCAN FOR FREE (a life saving drug used to reverse overdoses and save lives.) Ryan Leone's Wasting Talent stands out as a shining example of survivor literature. Ryan's prose evokes lost giants like Hubert Selby Jr and Eddie Little. As art, and as inspiration, Wasting Talent delivers. Ryan Leone is the real deal!" - Jerry Stahl, bestselling author of Permanent Midnight "I feel I should write a disclaimer about Ryan Leone's Wasting Talent, like 'Don't try this at home.' So, I Don't read this at home. Go to a dark place where nobody knows you and read it by candlelight or by the flashing red lights of a police car. You'll find yourself falling off a cliff, right behind the author of this savagely honest journal that's both nihilistic and frighteningly, beautifully human. It's a seamless, masterful blend of substance and style that will scar you -- like the best writing does." - Jim Uhls, screenwriter of Fight Club " Wasting Talent is a book that grabs you by the neck and squeezes, written by a man who is that rarest of a capital-W-writer. Now, there's a lot of people out there with books, but let's face few of them can write. Ryan Leone, I'm pleased to say, can Write. His sentences come at you like bullets, blasts of hard-bitten, hard-won poetry - the kind of poetry that can only be written after risking a few rounds with the devil himself. Wasting Talent isn't a drug memoir, it's way more than that - its a man bearing his soul... and very few writers are brave enough to ever attempt that." -Tony O'Neill, author of Sick City "In the opening pages of his compelling and addictive new novel, Wasting Talent, Ryan Leone "I didn't even have to say anything--true junkies have that sense." His needle-sharp prose is a relentless testament to the fact that Leone indeed "has that sense." Written from the dark underbelly of a society in desperate need of repair, Leone offers readers an authentic, rat's-eye view of the human condition. Told with a voice that refuses to be ignored, Wasting Talent is a courageous demonstration of a survivor's crucial talent never going to waste - even in the bottomless human wasteland it so brilliantly depicts." - Jonathan Shaw, author of Narcisa "Like describing your band as "funk with an edge," there are generally few labels worse than "defies definition." In the world of writing, it is only the rarest, most special of books that can pull this off. Wasting Talent by Ryan Leone is such a book. You can't call it a recovery memoir, and it's not exactly junkie lit. Crime? Thriller? Experimental? The bottom the work exudes enthralling, and the mutherfucker can flat-out write. From the opening bell, you know you are in the presence of greatness. Like his protagonist, Damien Cantwell, you can feel the abundance of talent (there's so much here that "wasting" a little becomes almost excusable). Leading a band of drug-addled misfits, Cantwell becomes the stand-in for every dreamer and exceptional screw-up forced to square peg these mundane round holes. Leone captures what addiction is really like.” His music could have made Damien Cantwell the star of his generation. But living fast has its consequences, and Damien soon finds himself spiraling into a dark world full of unfettered debauchery and brutal violence The horrors of drug addiction are painted in sharp, biting prose in this novel about throwing away everything and finding that some things are too precious to lose.
239 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2014
284 people are currently reading
2225 people want to read
About the author
Ryan Leone
5 books99 followersRyan Leone is a cult-celebrated novelist, film producer, and television writer. He wrote his first novel, Wasting Talent, while serving a five year sentence in federal prison for his involvement with an international heroin ring. Wasting Talent is currently in development as a feature film entitled LOVE IN VEIN. Will De Los Santos (Spun) is attached to direct the script that he wrote. Chris Hanley (American Psycho, The Killer Inside Me) is attached to produce and Nick Stahl (Terminator 3, Bully) is signed on to play the lead.
IDIOT SAVANT: THE SAVAGE LIFE OF RYAN LEONE, A feature length documentary about Leone's life and career is in production. Jim Uhls (Fight Club) wrote the script and Zack Warren is making his directorial debut. Nick Stahl is attached as the narrator with Will De Los Santos as Executive Producer again.
Ryan has written and produced several television shows and has a number of novels slated for 2018. He lives in Santa Barbara with his girlfriend, who he is expecting his first son with next April.
@ryanleone85
IDIOT SAVANT: THE SAVAGE LIFE OF RYAN LEONE, A feature length documentary about Leone's life and career is in production. Jim Uhls (Fight Club) wrote the script and Zack Warren is making his directorial debut. Nick Stahl is attached as the narrator with Will De Los Santos as Executive Producer again.
Ryan has written and produced several television shows and has a number of novels slated for 2018. He lives in Santa Barbara with his girlfriend, who he is expecting his first son with next April.
@ryanleone85
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
May 26, 2015
Wasting Talent is quite simply one of the greatest addiction stories I've ever read. The urgency and authenticity of Keruoac, a style unique as Palahnuik, dark comedy of Welsh, heroin-induced surrealistic nihilism of Burroughs.
As reader and writer who is in recovery from addiction, I approach such books with a bit of trepidation, but found Wasting Talent to exist in a different realm than many others. There's none of that fake sentimentality that so many drug memoirs have, or the "i'm a bigger bad-ass dope fiend than you" bullshit. Just as any addict can sniff out someone who’s high or someone who’s shooting a move trying to get high, they can sniff out a writer who does not know his material. In this case, the author has opened up addiction to the marrow. The self-centeredness, what it means to be tripping balls, using one substance to constantly counter-act the effects of another substance. The book travels down the untrodden roads that the addict mind travels to, and always with the constant visceral pounding of the body.
Part of what sets this book apart is the writing. The style is poetic, the pace frenetic, and it is ‘never afraid to go there’. There is an economy of words and rhythm to how it is written that I find amazing (and which makes me envious). The style hit me as unusual the first few pages, but once I got a taste of it, it was craved.
As always, the biggest test of any book is how eagerly I grab the kindle to dig back into the story. In Wasting Talent, I devoured it fast and furious, and I snorted each sentence like the next line of coke from the oft-used Metallica CD cover.
So, yeah, a really good, unique book with Five Stars tattooed on its eyelids for all to see once you kill the damn thing.
As reader and writer who is in recovery from addiction, I approach such books with a bit of trepidation, but found Wasting Talent to exist in a different realm than many others. There's none of that fake sentimentality that so many drug memoirs have, or the "i'm a bigger bad-ass dope fiend than you" bullshit. Just as any addict can sniff out someone who’s high or someone who’s shooting a move trying to get high, they can sniff out a writer who does not know his material. In this case, the author has opened up addiction to the marrow. The self-centeredness, what it means to be tripping balls, using one substance to constantly counter-act the effects of another substance. The book travels down the untrodden roads that the addict mind travels to, and always with the constant visceral pounding of the body.
Part of what sets this book apart is the writing. The style is poetic, the pace frenetic, and it is ‘never afraid to go there’. There is an economy of words and rhythm to how it is written that I find amazing (and which makes me envious). The style hit me as unusual the first few pages, but once I got a taste of it, it was craved.
As always, the biggest test of any book is how eagerly I grab the kindle to dig back into the story. In Wasting Talent, I devoured it fast and furious, and I snorted each sentence like the next line of coke from the oft-used Metallica CD cover.
So, yeah, a really good, unique book with Five Stars tattooed on its eyelids for all to see once you kill the damn thing.
February 10, 2015
I’ve said before that you can’t go wrong with stories about Nazis, zombies, or junkies. This one definitely has the junkies, focusing on the downfall of a talented musician who chooses drugs, and especially heroin, over everything good (fame, money, love) that life has to offer him. This is a downward spiral where nothing ever gets better, and just when you think it can’t get worse, more shit is heaped on the protagonist.
I always kind of cringe when I see that a fiction book is about a “rock star” because those books usually glamorize the rock and roll lifestyle and seem like they are written by somebody who has never played in a band. Those kinds of books give me the douche-chills with their cheesy attempts at portraying how the music is supposed to sound, or how fucking cool the characters are with their rockin’ styles. Wasting Talent avoids all of that fake shite almost entirely and focuses on the destructive force of drug addiction. Yeah, sure, there are some almost unbelievable amounts of consumption and some pretty far out there situations, but Leone handles it all well and keeps the story moving along, making the reader want to see where it all goes.
This is not a feel good book. It is a dark glimpse into the destructive force of heroin and how it can eclipse everything else good in a user’s life. It shows the sleazy depths that a user is willing to sink to. From the little that I know about Ryan Leone, much of this book seems to come from the “write what you know” school. From what I understand, Leone is a recovering heroin addict. And it takes guts to write shit that seems so close and personal, even if it is fictionalized and not necessarily an autobiography. I remember the looks that I got from some of my loved ones after they read my first book, and that I kept having to remind people, “Hey, that character is not me, it’s just a character in a story I wrote.” And though my stories are not as dark (or maybe they are, I don’t know), I get how it feels to put yourself out there with such creative output. Wasting Talent is a deeply disturbing, well written piece of work that is not a waste of talent.
I always kind of cringe when I see that a fiction book is about a “rock star” because those books usually glamorize the rock and roll lifestyle and seem like they are written by somebody who has never played in a band. Those kinds of books give me the douche-chills with their cheesy attempts at portraying how the music is supposed to sound, or how fucking cool the characters are with their rockin’ styles. Wasting Talent avoids all of that fake shite almost entirely and focuses on the destructive force of drug addiction. Yeah, sure, there are some almost unbelievable amounts of consumption and some pretty far out there situations, but Leone handles it all well and keeps the story moving along, making the reader want to see where it all goes.
This is not a feel good book. It is a dark glimpse into the destructive force of heroin and how it can eclipse everything else good in a user’s life. It shows the sleazy depths that a user is willing to sink to. From the little that I know about Ryan Leone, much of this book seems to come from the “write what you know” school. From what I understand, Leone is a recovering heroin addict. And it takes guts to write shit that seems so close and personal, even if it is fictionalized and not necessarily an autobiography. I remember the looks that I got from some of my loved ones after they read my first book, and that I kept having to remind people, “Hey, that character is not me, it’s just a character in a story I wrote.” And though my stories are not as dark (or maybe they are, I don’t know), I get how it feels to put yourself out there with such creative output. Wasting Talent is a deeply disturbing, well written piece of work that is not a waste of talent.
May 6, 2014
There have been a few books in my life that, upon finishing them, I had to take stock of my life and give thanks for all the good fortune I've had. For example, after reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, I immediately got up and ate a piece of bread, thanking God that I had the power to do so whenever I wished.
After reading "Wasting Talent", I had to take a few minutes to let my heart rate slow down. This book was like a bad acid trip, in the best possible way. Leone skillfully leads us through the life of Damien Cantwell, a young guitar virtuoso whose entire life is a giant "fuck you" to the world. As I read, I felt an overwhelming sense of chaos and fear, the feeling that you're losing your grip on reality, that you don't even know what matters anymore and wouldn't care if you did. I felt every punch Damien took, every bump of heroin, every bout of withdrawal. And when it was done, I thanked God that my own battles with drug use never rose to this level of utter bedlam.
"Wasting Talent" is the story of a young man, brimming with potential, being un-made by drugs, sex and apathy. Watching Damien's decline is as heart-breaking as it is foreboding; it asks each of us how close we really are to destroying ourselves.
If you are afraid of what lurks in the deepest, darkest parts of the human psyche, I beg you do not read this book. If you have demons that you cannot face, don't read this book. But if you, like me, are fascinated with the darkness that lurks within us, and strong enough to withstand the hooks and barbs it sends upon you, then this is the one book you should read this year.
After reading "Wasting Talent", I had to take a few minutes to let my heart rate slow down. This book was like a bad acid trip, in the best possible way. Leone skillfully leads us through the life of Damien Cantwell, a young guitar virtuoso whose entire life is a giant "fuck you" to the world. As I read, I felt an overwhelming sense of chaos and fear, the feeling that you're losing your grip on reality, that you don't even know what matters anymore and wouldn't care if you did. I felt every punch Damien took, every bump of heroin, every bout of withdrawal. And when it was done, I thanked God that my own battles with drug use never rose to this level of utter bedlam.
"Wasting Talent" is the story of a young man, brimming with potential, being un-made by drugs, sex and apathy. Watching Damien's decline is as heart-breaking as it is foreboding; it asks each of us how close we really are to destroying ourselves.
If you are afraid of what lurks in the deepest, darkest parts of the human psyche, I beg you do not read this book. If you have demons that you cannot face, don't read this book. But if you, like me, are fascinated with the darkness that lurks within us, and strong enough to withstand the hooks and barbs it sends upon you, then this is the one book you should read this year.
March 25, 2018
Wow this book is f***** up!
It is so difficult to give a review of this book.
You could feel that things were gonna get dark and nasty but I wasn't expected this.
The treatment of cops was pretty funny but that was the end of the laughing.
This book is not for everybody, but is a really good insight into the world of drugs, I can't believe I was never taught the ice cube trick whilst learning first aid in the scouts.
Damien is the star of this show and he knows it. He is so egotistical that all you really get to see is his bad sides, you do get glimpses of what he used to be but the drugs soon smother them.
One unanswered question for the author.... what happened to Felony?
Blog review is HERE> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
It is so difficult to give a review of this book.
You could feel that things were gonna get dark and nasty but I wasn't expected this.
The treatment of cops was pretty funny but that was the end of the laughing.
This book is not for everybody, but is a really good insight into the world of drugs, I can't believe I was never taught the ice cube trick whilst learning first aid in the scouts.
Damien is the star of this show and he knows it. He is so egotistical that all you really get to see is his bad sides, you do get glimpses of what he used to be but the drugs soon smother them.
One unanswered question for the author.... what happened to Felony?
Blog review is HERE> https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2018...
July 28, 2019
Meh...
I read the first 20% and then flicked through the remainder. This is a very silly book indeed, essentially a farcical journey around California with a bunch of extreme drug abusers. I don't think there's a single scene in the story which doesn't involve the characters doing bucketloads of drugs.
Unfortunately the book does feel a bit like a teen fantasy at times. The protagonist has a truly ridiculous amount of good luck. He's unemployed, never had a job in his life, yet he's also not short of friends and money. As a boy he picks up a guitar and is immediately able to wow the pants off people. He's been an out-of-control addict for ten years, reduced to shooting heroin into his hand and neck, but beautiful women still want to have sex with him. Ok...
The presentation of the book is quite original. The sentences are spread down the page somewhat like a poem. There are a lot of parentheses and notations inserted into the text. However despite this format which resembles poetry, the writing is mostly devoid of description. So I wondered what the point of all this was. The style makes the story difficult to read and it doesn't seem to add anything.
It also appears that this doesn't have anything new to say about drugs or addiction. We don't really get any insight into what drives the protagonist or what his feelings are. We don't even get much description about what he experiences on the drugs. For example in one scene he smokes DMT while sitting on a bus but there's only a few lines devoted to this. After a while the excessive drug use in the book gets boring.
I read the first 20% and then flicked through the remainder. This is a very silly book indeed, essentially a farcical journey around California with a bunch of extreme drug abusers. I don't think there's a single scene in the story which doesn't involve the characters doing bucketloads of drugs.
Unfortunately the book does feel a bit like a teen fantasy at times. The protagonist has a truly ridiculous amount of good luck. He's unemployed, never had a job in his life, yet he's also not short of friends and money. As a boy he picks up a guitar and is immediately able to wow the pants off people. He's been an out-of-control addict for ten years, reduced to shooting heroin into his hand and neck, but beautiful women still want to have sex with him. Ok...
The presentation of the book is quite original. The sentences are spread down the page somewhat like a poem. There are a lot of parentheses and notations inserted into the text. However despite this format which resembles poetry, the writing is mostly devoid of description. So I wondered what the point of all this was. The style makes the story difficult to read and it doesn't seem to add anything.
It also appears that this doesn't have anything new to say about drugs or addiction. We don't really get any insight into what drives the protagonist or what his feelings are. We don't even get much description about what he experiences on the drugs. For example in one scene he smokes DMT while sitting on a bus but there's only a few lines devoted to this. After a while the excessive drug use in the book gets boring.
April 14, 2020
SO GOOD I READ IT TWICE! --Jen from Quebec :0)
July 15, 2014
It's been a few weeks since I finished Wasting Talent, and Damien Cantwell feels like a bad dream I can't shake. This book was written in such an up close and personal way it is hard to break away from it without feeling as if the main character is someone you know, someone you wish you didn't have to know and watch struggle. The depiction of drug addiction was so accurate, I at times felt the need to check my hands to see if they were shaking because my own memory of withdrawal was brought with such force to the front of my mind - I couldn't stop nodding my head along with the main character, mouthing the words 'I get it, man'. Let me be clear, I absolutely loved every minute of this book and I identified with the main character so strongly it made it difficult to put down. Leone perfectly captures the inner dilemma and lack thereof when faced with an addiction that quiets all other aspects of self- there is no such thing as a moral compass anymore, yet in brief moments you see a glimmer of the person Cantwell could have been, started out to be, and it becomes even more heartbreaking than it already was. It is impossible to stop rooting for him, despite everything he does, which is what I find the most accurate of all. Cantwell is that best friend in your life you just want to get better, who you believe in and support against all odds, fighting for them because you see the immeasurable talent within them that could provide them a life of happiness and freedom if only they were willing to let it, if only they could begin to fathom a life without drugs. I love this book, and while it is a fictional novel, I have yet to come across something more honest and accurate to the drug addicted lifestyle, and how it changes people. I found it impossible to not understand Damien, his sense of humor, and his reasoning behind all actions. The urgency in which he administers drugs in situations with heightened stress and danger, as well as situations with virtually none at all- how they parallel, how he acknowledges that this is no longer a desire it is a NEED, that there is something inside him that he needs to kill and that can only be accomplished with a complicated series of drugs and alcohol that he understands the effects of too well. Damien is an excellent example of what it is to be a drug addict, to love a drug addict, and to have your heart broken by a drug addict - over and over and over again.
September 27, 2015
I've had a stint of drug problems many years ago and fortunately stopped short at getting in to heroin. Let's face it, however, it's probably good shit. But be prepared to watch your life spiral down the plughole as this book shows...
I also tend to gravitate towards stories about drug use and drug addiction because you know that to write this sort of stuff, the author will have been to some messed up places. Nobody is going to tackle this subject without some first-hand experience because it will just come across as unbelievable to all those who have.
Wasting Talent has pretty much pushed the portrayal of drug use and addiction to the absolute limits with what Damien goes through. And what struck me was the authenticity. The narrator's voice was that of a tortured but almost apathetic soul. This is all down to his addiction and an almost masochistic inability to act on his own potential (or talent might be the better word). There was also strokes of absolute genius throughout it. Like; that babbling stream of consciousness which users often display coming and going at random. And analysing all those ridiculous details in life; like the part when Damien's recording the answer machine message and he's going out of his mind over things which, when sober, really don't matter.
I also loved all the punk rock music references and the portrayal of rave culture; this made the whole thing so much more real and dirty. I used to go to similar places here in the UK years ago, ringing up answer machines for directions and then setting out as high as a kite with mates and not stopping until we're sitting in a squat, listening to some jungle music and gassing to strangers. It brought it all back!
In sum it was a tough read, a great journey and an ultimately touching example of the consequences of addiction. Up there with Train Spotting and Junkie, and everyone should get on it.
I also tend to gravitate towards stories about drug use and drug addiction because you know that to write this sort of stuff, the author will have been to some messed up places. Nobody is going to tackle this subject without some first-hand experience because it will just come across as unbelievable to all those who have.
Wasting Talent has pretty much pushed the portrayal of drug use and addiction to the absolute limits with what Damien goes through. And what struck me was the authenticity. The narrator's voice was that of a tortured but almost apathetic soul. This is all down to his addiction and an almost masochistic inability to act on his own potential (or talent might be the better word). There was also strokes of absolute genius throughout it. Like; that babbling stream of consciousness which users often display coming and going at random. And analysing all those ridiculous details in life; like the part when Damien's recording the answer machine message and he's going out of his mind over things which, when sober, really don't matter.
I also loved all the punk rock music references and the portrayal of rave culture; this made the whole thing so much more real and dirty. I used to go to similar places here in the UK years ago, ringing up answer machines for directions and then setting out as high as a kite with mates and not stopping until we're sitting in a squat, listening to some jungle music and gassing to strangers. It brought it all back!
In sum it was a tough read, a great journey and an ultimately touching example of the consequences of addiction. Up there with Train Spotting and Junkie, and everyone should get on it.
June 24, 2014
Well I must honestly say that this is a first for me, a first in that it is the first time a book has been so outstanding that I feel the need to post a review while I am still reading it! Right from the Acknowledgements it has you hooked.
I made the mistake of starting the book before bed one night.... lets just say I only got a couple hours sleep because I could not put the book down! So well written, everything about this book is unique.
A HUGE success in my opinion!
**
This book really makes you think about the life you live, the people you interact with on a day to day basis and of coarse the mistakes we make which make us who we are.
I made the mistake of starting the book before bed one night.... lets just say I only got a couple hours sleep because I could not put the book down! So well written, everything about this book is unique.
A HUGE success in my opinion!
**
This book really makes you think about the life you live, the people you interact with on a day to day basis and of coarse the mistakes we make which make us who we are.
January 27, 2015
Wasting Talent is not a safe book. It will stay with you. It will haunt you. It will take you down back alleys, beat you up, steal your money, leave you for dead, and never let you forget it. The wonder of this book is the way it manages to make you embrace horrible things, despicable things, things that you can’t imagine, things that you hope are only true in Hollywood even though, somewhere in your very soul, you know the devil resides in all men. It’s just as the narrator, Damien Cantwell, tells us, “The toilet is blotchy gold from urine but I hug it anyway.”
That is what this book is. It’s a urine-stained porcelain alter that, no matter how hard you try, you can’t help wrapping your arms around and clinging to. This book is not safe.
Ryan Leone’s debut novel is a down-the-rabbit-hole drug trip that becomes ever more fantastical and even—dare I say it—romantic as his protagonist, Damien Cantwell, submits irresistibly to his addictive lusts with the inevitable spiraling of consequences. The language Leone uses perfectly conveys the squalor and filth that are Cantwell’s world, a world the character created. The book is dark, vulgar, disgusting and violent in all the best meanings of those words.
The real beauty of Wasting Talent is that there are so many different ways to read it. Being that the narrator is constantly abusing drugs, you have to question how reliable his tale is. Damien even points out from time to time that his judgment is less than ideal. And as such, it is up to the reader to take this account as reality, imagination, metaphor, the character’s own misinterpretation, a deliberate lie in the attempt to gain the fame that eluded Damien as a musician, or a mixture of these and any other possible interpretations. I would guess a completely “straight” reading of the book would be the least satisfying and the least interesting. It is when you question the perspective that the book really comes to life. And with really endless ways to filter the writing, this book is one of the few that truly deserves repeated readings.
The narrative style Leone uses—choppy, disjointed sentences often reminiscent of text message shorthand—combined with the vulgarities and violence of the subject matter often left me taking some of Damien back with me into the real world. After putting down the book, I would be fuzzy and irritable, a bit out of body, watching the world through eyes that had seen things that can’t be unseen, and I desperately wanted my next fix of Damien’s story. Even now, the story is over and the book is closed and I’m a bit anxious that I’ve run out and can’t get anymore. Like I said at the beginning, this book is not safe.
The most surprising triumph of Wasting Talent is actually Leone’s crafting of song lyrics and poetry. They are used sparingly, but when Damien does grace us with a verse, it is actually good, and that is to the author’s full credit. Many readers probably don’t realize the difficulties writers face in crossing into other forms of writing. It is a rare poet who makes a successful novelist and vice versa. They are two completely different sets of literary muscles, but Leone manages to flex them both.
And even now, I am longing to go back to the beginning of the book and start all over again, back to Transgender Thursdays at the needle exchange and the pee-stained toilet doubling as a puke receptacle, knowing this time how it all will end. This book is definitely not safe.
That is what this book is. It’s a urine-stained porcelain alter that, no matter how hard you try, you can’t help wrapping your arms around and clinging to. This book is not safe.
Ryan Leone’s debut novel is a down-the-rabbit-hole drug trip that becomes ever more fantastical and even—dare I say it—romantic as his protagonist, Damien Cantwell, submits irresistibly to his addictive lusts with the inevitable spiraling of consequences. The language Leone uses perfectly conveys the squalor and filth that are Cantwell’s world, a world the character created. The book is dark, vulgar, disgusting and violent in all the best meanings of those words.
The real beauty of Wasting Talent is that there are so many different ways to read it. Being that the narrator is constantly abusing drugs, you have to question how reliable his tale is. Damien even points out from time to time that his judgment is less than ideal. And as such, it is up to the reader to take this account as reality, imagination, metaphor, the character’s own misinterpretation, a deliberate lie in the attempt to gain the fame that eluded Damien as a musician, or a mixture of these and any other possible interpretations. I would guess a completely “straight” reading of the book would be the least satisfying and the least interesting. It is when you question the perspective that the book really comes to life. And with really endless ways to filter the writing, this book is one of the few that truly deserves repeated readings.
The narrative style Leone uses—choppy, disjointed sentences often reminiscent of text message shorthand—combined with the vulgarities and violence of the subject matter often left me taking some of Damien back with me into the real world. After putting down the book, I would be fuzzy and irritable, a bit out of body, watching the world through eyes that had seen things that can’t be unseen, and I desperately wanted my next fix of Damien’s story. Even now, the story is over and the book is closed and I’m a bit anxious that I’ve run out and can’t get anymore. Like I said at the beginning, this book is not safe.
The most surprising triumph of Wasting Talent is actually Leone’s crafting of song lyrics and poetry. They are used sparingly, but when Damien does grace us with a verse, it is actually good, and that is to the author’s full credit. Many readers probably don’t realize the difficulties writers face in crossing into other forms of writing. It is a rare poet who makes a successful novelist and vice versa. They are two completely different sets of literary muscles, but Leone manages to flex them both.
And even now, I am longing to go back to the beginning of the book and start all over again, back to Transgender Thursdays at the needle exchange and the pee-stained toilet doubling as a puke receptacle, knowing this time how it all will end. This book is definitely not safe.
December 8, 2014
Young guitar virtuoso Damien Cantwell is a member of a band in Southern California. Damian is talented, popular and good looking, but has a drug problem. He started drinking and smoking at a tender age, and his substance abuse now consists of a dizzying array of drugs, most notably a fully-fledged heroin addiction, which dominates his life.
Damian is constantly searching for his next fix to ward off the ever-present threat of dope sickness. Along the way there are numerous sordid amorous encounters, and interactions with a plethora of characters, including gay neo-Nazis with some remarkably offensive yet imaginative tattoos, raver chicks, a pregnant junky and countless drug dealers. Later there is a passionate and turbulent relationship with a party girl called Blair.
Wasting Talent is a raw, visceral, amoral and intensely personal tale about the dark side of drugs, in which the reader is able to empathise with the protagonist despite his relentless self-destructive, irresponsible and egoistical behaviour, due to his humour and intelligence.
Ryan Leone utilises innovative writing techniques and a frenetic and at times poetic prose style to adeptly weave this graphic and poignant story. Though this derelict, intense and depressing book is not for everyone, this reader would highly recommend Wasting Talent to fans of the transgressive genre.
Damian is constantly searching for his next fix to ward off the ever-present threat of dope sickness. Along the way there are numerous sordid amorous encounters, and interactions with a plethora of characters, including gay neo-Nazis with some remarkably offensive yet imaginative tattoos, raver chicks, a pregnant junky and countless drug dealers. Later there is a passionate and turbulent relationship with a party girl called Blair.
Wasting Talent is a raw, visceral, amoral and intensely personal tale about the dark side of drugs, in which the reader is able to empathise with the protagonist despite his relentless self-destructive, irresponsible and egoistical behaviour, due to his humour and intelligence.
Ryan Leone utilises innovative writing techniques and a frenetic and at times poetic prose style to adeptly weave this graphic and poignant story. Though this derelict, intense and depressing book is not for everyone, this reader would highly recommend Wasting Talent to fans of the transgressive genre.
June 11, 2015
Junkie memoirs are tough. You don't want to glamorize the drug lifestyle, but you also don't want to bog it down with joylessness, because if drugs were terrible all the time, no one would ever use them. That said, this isn't a junkie memoir. I don't know what it is. Besides great, great writing. It reads true, with insights only a survivor of the lifestyle garners, but it's also wildly, delightfully outrages with a liberal dose of fiction. All I know is Leone takes you on that addiction roller-coaster, the ups and downs and WTF moments, showing the reader death and wretchedness, while still infusing a sense of fun. One of the best in the genre I've ever read.
June 19, 2014
Wasting Talent is an intense, gut-churning read that is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. This book was hard to put down!
It doesn't glorify anything, just shows the grubby, heartbreaking sadness of heroin addiction in much the same way Irvine Welsh does in Trainspotting & Skagboys.
The first person narrative makes it hard not to empathise with the main character, Damien, while he travels down a path of self destruction that just keeps getting worse & worse.
Not for the faint hearted! A very impressive first novel by Ryan Leone - I look forward to seeing more from him!
It doesn't glorify anything, just shows the grubby, heartbreaking sadness of heroin addiction in much the same way Irvine Welsh does in Trainspotting & Skagboys.
The first person narrative makes it hard not to empathise with the main character, Damien, while he travels down a path of self destruction that just keeps getting worse & worse.
Not for the faint hearted! A very impressive first novel by Ryan Leone - I look forward to seeing more from him!
February 28, 2018
This book is insane! I was on a trip myself as I soaked up all the vivid images in the book. The Notes section - under passages which could have been indecipherable- were absolute words of wisdom. Unless one has been through such hallucinating phases, it is impossible to conjure up the excellent novelty in narrative. The apt language at a time when one is copped, the expression when you bleed from your injection induced infections, the description of pain when ice cubes are inserted into anal cavity- are all breathtaking. If that was not all, there’s a cute addiction-filled love story brewing amid this mess. The images are etched in mind and aren’t going to go away from my mind anytime soon.
Damien, the pivot of this story is so egotistical that he won’t commit to writing poems and be disciplined and be on time to meet his prospective producer. Why? Because everyone else expects him too! Weird logic, but I totally relate to this. He knows he is good, with or without the advice. So, he is not going to do what others expect him to do. He should feel, act and express that he is in charge and not the other way around. Absolutely loved this part.
The book is is also a glossary of hundreds of chemicals, their effects, after-effects and the unique responses different people have to each of them, is as detailed as possible. It will be criminal to term this as “research” because it is not. It is what the author’s been through and that’s what makes this book an MDM! Should I say ecstasy?
Kudos Ryan Leone!
Damien, the pivot of this story is so egotistical that he won’t commit to writing poems and be disciplined and be on time to meet his prospective producer. Why? Because everyone else expects him too! Weird logic, but I totally relate to this. He knows he is good, with or without the advice. So, he is not going to do what others expect him to do. He should feel, act and express that he is in charge and not the other way around. Absolutely loved this part.
The book is is also a glossary of hundreds of chemicals, their effects, after-effects and the unique responses different people have to each of them, is as detailed as possible. It will be criminal to term this as “research” because it is not. It is what the author’s been through and that’s what makes this book an MDM! Should I say ecstasy?
Kudos Ryan Leone!
August 3, 2018
Well written, but awfull
February 19, 2015
I may be alone in this but I found Wasting Talent to be hysterically funny. I don’t mean that in a condescending way. There is no getting around the comedic irony inherent in writing this kind of internal monologue from the POV of a typically delusional junkie. Dear sweet Damian, about to meet with an A-list producer (and this is of course his very last chance, man, because he keeps letting everyone down, but he’s so amaaaazingly brilliant, the talent of his generation) gets his friend high, many lines of coke, then his very first shot of heroin (this is the guy who was sent to babysit Damian so he doesn’t fuck up this opportunity like he fucked up all the other ones), then...this is the hilarious part…the friend OD’s, but Damian is A) too calloused by the constant fatal and near-fatal overdoses of those around him and B) too fucked up himself and C) JUST REALLY TOO INTO GETTING HIS BANDANNA PERFECTLY ADJUSTED OVER HIS EYEBROWS AND WONDERING IF IT MAKES HIM LOOK BI AND PONDERING WHETHER HE’D SELL MORE RECORDS IF HE LOOKED BI to help his dying friend until his girlfriend (with the black eyes from when he was tweaked and POSITIVE she was cheating on him because he lined up her four cosmetic mirrors so he could spy on her from the bathroom while she masturbated to tan guys on TV) screams at him to do something, so they drag the friend into the hallway outside their hotel room in order to shove ice cubes up his butt and save his life.
The meeting with the producer is kind of irreparably damaged by Damian punching him, and Damian’s reaction............this is classic.......is “I am the rock star, because it is my fucking destiny to be one…man!”
Oh Damian.
Self-pitying, infantile, narcissistic, BRILLIANT at extricating himself from trouble and from druglessness, with a gleeful disregard for personal integrity, his blazing hotness marred by stomach-churning personal hygiene—in short, he’s everything you want in a literary junkie. I loved him, the voice Leone gave him, the all too dreadfully real scraps of poetry which marked him the talent of his generation, man, his girlfriend’s dog Felony who is constantly showing up at the worst possible times to lick up the worst possible fluids…I couldn’t stop reading it and now that I’m done I kind of want to start over and read it again. But maybe I’ll let myself detox first.
The meeting with the producer is kind of irreparably damaged by Damian punching him, and Damian’s reaction............this is classic.......is “I am the rock star, because it is my fucking destiny to be one…man!”
Oh Damian.
Self-pitying, infantile, narcissistic, BRILLIANT at extricating himself from trouble and from druglessness, with a gleeful disregard for personal integrity, his blazing hotness marred by stomach-churning personal hygiene—in short, he’s everything you want in a literary junkie. I loved him, the voice Leone gave him, the all too dreadfully real scraps of poetry which marked him the talent of his generation, man, his girlfriend’s dog Felony who is constantly showing up at the worst possible times to lick up the worst possible fluids…I couldn’t stop reading it and now that I’m done I kind of want to start over and read it again. But maybe I’ll let myself detox first.
July 1, 2015
A lot of works claim to be drug fueled.
Your Fear and Loathing this, your Confessions of a that. But none of what you've read compares to Wasting Talent. That's a promise.
It's high octane. A blizzard of drug activity that's on another level from the pretenders. Written in a free format, like a Ferlinghetti poem on speed, the prose is loose, funny, and conversational, as though it was being delivered by a close confidant. The story drives one narcissist through a gauntlet of drug abuse and misadventure that is jaw-dropping. Our hero is a talented musician throwing away his god-given talents for a steady stream of chemical bliss. We find him at the bottom and follow him as he digs himself farther in. As a former drug addict who has some experience as a failed musician, the detail and depiction is spot-on. Some of its accuracy left me with chills. Real chills. For me though, it was the inner dialogue that frightened me most, the absolute truth of those darkest moments when any and all judgment leaves you and you're acting on pure addictive instinct. There were moments in this book that I actually howled. Sometimes with laughter, sometimes with horror, sometimes with both at once. There's a raw honesty in Leone's voice that is quite special. The kind of honesty we don't even allow ourselves. Do yourself a favor and experience this book.
Your Fear and Loathing this, your Confessions of a that. But none of what you've read compares to Wasting Talent. That's a promise.
It's high octane. A blizzard of drug activity that's on another level from the pretenders. Written in a free format, like a Ferlinghetti poem on speed, the prose is loose, funny, and conversational, as though it was being delivered by a close confidant. The story drives one narcissist through a gauntlet of drug abuse and misadventure that is jaw-dropping. Our hero is a talented musician throwing away his god-given talents for a steady stream of chemical bliss. We find him at the bottom and follow him as he digs himself farther in. As a former drug addict who has some experience as a failed musician, the detail and depiction is spot-on. Some of its accuracy left me with chills. Real chills. For me though, it was the inner dialogue that frightened me most, the absolute truth of those darkest moments when any and all judgment leaves you and you're acting on pure addictive instinct. There were moments in this book that I actually howled. Sometimes with laughter, sometimes with horror, sometimes with both at once. There's a raw honesty in Leone's voice that is quite special. The kind of honesty we don't even allow ourselves. Do yourself a favor and experience this book.
November 25, 2014
This book was twisted, that's for sure. It reads in a tone just as dark as Naked Lunch (William Burroughs) but in a much more coherent fashion. I loved Naked Lunch, but this book achieves a level of darkness in a much more accessible way. I couldn't stop reading this book, and felt my heart race as I road along for the ride the narrator, Damien, took me through. Some scenes gruesome and sickening, and other scenes so reminiscent of opiate use that you feel like you're there taking the shot with him. There is a dark humor in this book that makes itself apparent too. I would recommend this to plenty people, but I think that most people would think me crazy for having enjoyed this book so much.
May 21, 2014
Amazing read. Most likely the darkest drug novels I have ever run across. Leone writes in a present tense which brings you into the story and allows you to experience life from a true down and out junkies perspective. I find myself getting sucked into my old thinking patterns as this re-hatches my old ways. Coming from me, an ex junkie I can honestly say it's hard to decipher fact from fiction in this lager than life manifesto. Anyone struggling with their own addictions I warn that this might not be the best reading material. Those who want to better understand the hard core drug sub culture of today's society I say this is a piece of excellence.
October 29, 2016
I was locked up with Ryan in Federal Prison and I can remember him at the education building pecking away at this book.
Wasting Talent is a strange story. Strange being that the characters in the book could be anyone of us. The book seems to find humor in every situation which helps guide the story along. My favorite scene is when Damien shows the reader the clinic waiting room full of transvestites waiting to perticipate in HIV testing. "I'm here for the needle exchange program" he admites.
A great read and a learning lesson to all, drug addict/criminal or not, that drug addiction and the horrors it brings, is a serious problem. Way to go Ryan!
Wasting Talent is a strange story. Strange being that the characters in the book could be anyone of us. The book seems to find humor in every situation which helps guide the story along. My favorite scene is when Damien shows the reader the clinic waiting room full of transvestites waiting to perticipate in HIV testing. "I'm here for the needle exchange program" he admites.
A great read and a learning lesson to all, drug addict/criminal or not, that drug addiction and the horrors it brings, is a serious problem. Way to go Ryan!
August 4, 2015
As addictive as the drugs it so eloquently describes, I couldn't put it down, even when I was disgusted - because in the next few paragraphs came payoff.
Smart, funny, darker than most anything I've ever read, (and I'm addicted to junkie stories) and cleverly written in the frenetic half prose that is an addicts thoughts, a must read.
Smart, funny, darker than most anything I've ever read, (and I'm addicted to junkie stories) and cleverly written in the frenetic half prose that is an addicts thoughts, a must read.
March 14, 2016
This is one of the best if not THE best novel I have read so far this year. Definitely the best drug novel I have read to date. Spot on with pacing, narration, and humor. I can't believe this is Ryan Leone's first novel--talk about setting the bar high!
I am looking forward to Ryan's future publications.
I am looking forward to Ryan's future publications.
September 9, 2014
Wow! This is a raw look at what drug addiction is all about.
It really shows how addicts only really care about getting high.
I couldn't believe how they just casually went about their ways when someone overdosed or died. Wow, just wow.
It really shows how addicts only really care about getting high.
I couldn't believe how they just casually went about their ways when someone overdosed or died. Wow, just wow.
April 4, 2015
Definitely a book that grabs hold of you. I was home sick and read this in a day. I could not put it down. I only wish I read this sooner when I was in school getting my degree in chemical dependency.
November 6, 2015
Exciting funny sad addicted to this book
Best book I've read since a million little pieces by James Frey hoping I'm able to find a book a fraction as good as this one was you know a books good when your devastated that you've read it all.
Best book I've read since a million little pieces by James Frey hoping I'm able to find a book a fraction as good as this one was you know a books good when your devastated that you've read it all.
May 3, 2023
Wow!
This had me feeling all sorts of things . Definitely a roller coaster ride and that's why I'm glad to be sober
This had me feeling all sorts of things . Definitely a roller coaster ride and that's why I'm glad to be sober
October 14, 2014
When talking about "Wasting Talent" you almost have to consider other junkie novels in its class such as "Requiem for a Dream", "Trainspotting", "Candy", and "Dead Babies", just to name a few. These novels are drug-addled, often violent, sexual, with a constant tease of hope. The characters are always flawed and their choices are never the right ones...so to bring any originality to this very niche genre is a challenge in itself, and Leone succeeds here in this regard mostly by giving an original style to established substance.
The writing is...wow...almost lyrical, I'd say. Very minimalist. Lots of punching sentences. It shows the influence of Bret Easton Ellis without crossing into derivative territory. It's a very well-designed page-turner in both its structure and narrative. Damien, our resident protag, goes through cycles of criminal activity, f***ing girls, getting wasted on a myriad of substances beyond junk, and just generally being in bad situations. Rare are there periods of reprieve...so there's this feeling of constant motion/action/danger happening. It makes sense when you think about it because the junkie is all about the next score, the next high, the next batch. The addict is always chasing, and as a reader, you feel right there with him.
The big thing I want to applaud Leone for is his command of the details as they relate to actually doing drugs: prepping them, using them, how they make you feel and think, the bad comedown, the paranoia. Rule #1 of writing a drug novel is to know how to write about drugs, and I can tell the difference between a writer faking it and a writer who actually knows their sh*t. Leone knows his sh*t.
If I have one gripe about the novel it's that I never bought the musical genius aspect of Damien's character...and it's a fairly important thing considering this story is predicated on a man who throws away his talent for drugs. That part fell short for me. My emotional investment was never fully realized, but that doesn't make Damien any less entertaining to watch or the story any less gripping.
A fan of Selby Jr. or Welsh should definitely check this out.
The writing is...wow...almost lyrical, I'd say. Very minimalist. Lots of punching sentences. It shows the influence of Bret Easton Ellis without crossing into derivative territory. It's a very well-designed page-turner in both its structure and narrative. Damien, our resident protag, goes through cycles of criminal activity, f***ing girls, getting wasted on a myriad of substances beyond junk, and just generally being in bad situations. Rare are there periods of reprieve...so there's this feeling of constant motion/action/danger happening. It makes sense when you think about it because the junkie is all about the next score, the next high, the next batch. The addict is always chasing, and as a reader, you feel right there with him.
The big thing I want to applaud Leone for is his command of the details as they relate to actually doing drugs: prepping them, using them, how they make you feel and think, the bad comedown, the paranoia. Rule #1 of writing a drug novel is to know how to write about drugs, and I can tell the difference between a writer faking it and a writer who actually knows their sh*t. Leone knows his sh*t.
If I have one gripe about the novel it's that I never bought the musical genius aspect of Damien's character...and it's a fairly important thing considering this story is predicated on a man who throws away his talent for drugs. That part fell short for me. My emotional investment was never fully realized, but that doesn't make Damien any less entertaining to watch or the story any less gripping.
A fan of Selby Jr. or Welsh should definitely check this out.
October 5, 2014
Wasting Talent is another of those genre of what I would call "My Drugged Out Experience, and I Survived to Write About It". It's a pretty common genre these days, but this book did have some things that made it stand out a little more than most books of this type. I actually read it twice, because I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about it the first time.
A few things up front, this book has a lot of slang that if you are not relatively familiar with drug culture, you won't get it. It's also somewhat raw, so, probably not for those who don't want to read anything that's at least "R" rated. Not a problem for me, but thought I'd put that out there.
What makes this book stand out from most of these types of books, are a couple of things, first, the author actually is a talented writer. (I especially liked in the forward his comment about his freshman English teacher- many of us would like to say just that). What makes this author's writing stand out is the style. It is written somewhat like a Twitter feed, little bits of short pieces of information that move the narrative along. This may be somewhat disconcerting to some readers, I found it refreshing, and what makes this book different.
Secondly, along with all of the gory details that come with a memoir about heavy drug use, there actually are some very poetic/poignant/insightful things that are said along the way, I'll quote one here as an example (from page 95)
"But this generation lacks their purity (My note: discussing the hippies of the 60's)
Idealism has been bought off by materialism.
We live in an era where ecstasy has replaced acid.
There's an insatiable need for more on an individual basis.
Our great contradiction is our fear of isolation.
(And our absolute need to be left alone.)"
An interesting read, not always thought provoking because of the subject matter, but because of the little side thoughts that the author throws in about the meaning (or lack of) of life, our existence, and the world around us.
A few things up front, this book has a lot of slang that if you are not relatively familiar with drug culture, you won't get it. It's also somewhat raw, so, probably not for those who don't want to read anything that's at least "R" rated. Not a problem for me, but thought I'd put that out there.
What makes this book stand out from most of these types of books, are a couple of things, first, the author actually is a talented writer. (I especially liked in the forward his comment about his freshman English teacher- many of us would like to say just that). What makes this author's writing stand out is the style. It is written somewhat like a Twitter feed, little bits of short pieces of information that move the narrative along. This may be somewhat disconcerting to some readers, I found it refreshing, and what makes this book different.
Secondly, along with all of the gory details that come with a memoir about heavy drug use, there actually are some very poetic/poignant/insightful things that are said along the way, I'll quote one here as an example (from page 95)
"But this generation lacks their purity (My note: discussing the hippies of the 60's)
Idealism has been bought off by materialism.
We live in an era where ecstasy has replaced acid.
There's an insatiable need for more on an individual basis.
Our great contradiction is our fear of isolation.
(And our absolute need to be left alone.)"
An interesting read, not always thought provoking because of the subject matter, but because of the little side thoughts that the author throws in about the meaning (or lack of) of life, our existence, and the world around us.
August 5, 2018
I just can’t with this one. From the very start, the sentence structure felt like reading a paper from a child in 5th or 6th grade. It was agonizing, and then you add in the run-on sentences or those without any subject matter. I can’t say enough how much it pained me to read this book. So, I’ll summarize by saying I stopped at the fourth chapter. I’ve read a lot of books and it takes a pretty bad one for me to not at least finish it. Sadly, I simply couldn’t read any more of this.
November 9, 2014
One of the best, if not my favorite, drug addiction novel I have read. From the start, I was pulled hard into this book. I would open this up and before I knew it, I had read for an hour or more. The pacing was great and the storytelling was executed perfectly.
Damien is a disaster, yet somehow manages to keep going through his own self-created chaos. There is often an imminent danger of losing it all lurking, as he walks a thin line, carelessly rationalizing his actions with egotistical junkie logic. All of the raw details of the drug culture are presented with insight and intelligence.
I should just say that Leone is a talented writer that I want to read more of. Definitely recommended.
Damien is a disaster, yet somehow manages to keep going through his own self-created chaos. There is often an imminent danger of losing it all lurking, as he walks a thin line, carelessly rationalizing his actions with egotistical junkie logic. All of the raw details of the drug culture are presented with insight and intelligence.
I should just say that Leone is a talented writer that I want to read more of. Definitely recommended.
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