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Idiot Wind

A Memoir

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Idiot Wind

By: Peter Kaldheim
Narrated by: Kerry Shale
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Summary

In 1987 a massive snowstorm hits New York as Peter Kaldheim flees the city, owing drug debts to a dealer who is no stranger to casual violence.

Leaving behind his chaotic past, Kaldheim hits the road, living hand-to-mouth in flop-houses, pan-handling with his fellow itinerants. As he makes his way across America in search of a new life, the harsh reality of living hand-to-mouth forces him to face up to his past, from his time in Rikers prison, to relationships lost and lamented.

Kaldheim hikes and buses through an America rarely seen, and his encounters with a disparate collection of characters instils in him a new empathy and wisdom, as he journeys on a road less travelled.

 Memoir

Critic Reviews

"A warm-hearted and witty mix of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road and George Orwell’s Down and Out In Paris and London"
"Idiot Wind is an utterly compelling memoir – the story of a life squandered and ultimately reclaimed. For all his self-confessed debauchery, Kaldheim is an acute observer and a great storyteller: the chapters on his nights as a homeless coke dealer in downtown Manhattan in the eighties are harrowing and hilarious. And his descriptions of his subsequent hobo peregrinations are rich in gritty detail. Kaldheim channels Orwell, Kerouac and Frederick Exley as he stumbles across America and finally finds his unlikely way to redemption" (JAY MCINERNEY)
"Idiot Wind gives the definitive, harrowing, and often grimly hilarious answer to the question of what happens to a person when he “drops off the map”, his old life no longer viable and his new life nowhere in sight" (WALTER KIRN)
"The smart, easygoing voice, personal honesty, and downright humility I found in Peter Kaldheim's memoir, Idiot Wind, grabbed me from the very first page, and I ended up never wanting it to end" (DONALD RAY POLLOCK)
"Although it is a memoir set in the Reagan years, the milieu still feels so contemporary . . . For those vulnerable and stranded in the US, certain things appear to have remained unchanged"
"Peter Kaldheim's honesty and optimistic persistence in every circumstance make for a powerful and compelling narrative . . . Idiot Wind provides a unique and important insight into homelessness in the US and is engaging from start to finish"
"Idiot Wind recounts Kaldheim's very human efforts to swim to shore with compassion and gratitude"
"A very readable, even superior, addition to the addiction memoir genre"
"Compelling and gutsy"
All stars
Most relevant
If you have ever wanted to know how to jump a freight train, earn a few dollars from a stab lab, bum a handful of coins from Mexicans or turn your meal tickets into real cash then this book will show you how. Even if you haven't but just love road trip books then this is for you. Kaldheim is constantly teetering on the edge of disaster in a book that is both gripping and entertaining. Well-written despite the author's penchant for finding twenty different synonyms for 'said', the book has heart and is excellently read by Kerry Shale. Ignore all negative reviews.

Tips for hobos: a self-help guide

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