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Me and the Devil: A Novel Audiobook
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(2.05) - 201 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
An aging New Yorker, a writer named Nick, feels life ebbing out of him. The world has gone to hell and Nick is so sick of it all that he can't even have a glass of champagne. Then one night he meets a tantalizing young woman who agrees to come back to his apartment. Their encounter is the most strangely extraordinary of his life. Propelled by uncontrollable, primordial desires, he enters a new and unimagined dimension of the forbidden and is filled with a sexual and spiritual ecstasy that is as intense as it is unholy.
Suddenly Nick's senses are alive. He feels strong, unconquerable, beyond all inhibition and earthly morality. He indulges in life's pleasures, pure and perverse, sublime and dangerous, from the delicate flavors of the perfect tomato to the fleshy beauty of a woman's thigh. But Nick's desire to sustain his rapture leads him to a madness and a darkness far greater and dreadful than have ever ridden the demon mares of night. Writing in a lineage that includes Dante, William S. Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Hubert Selby, Jr., and Hunter S. Thompson, Nick Tosches may be America's last real literary outlaw -- a fearless, uncensorable seeker of our deepest secret truths and desires, from the basest to the most beautiful.
Me and the Devil is outrageous, disturbing, and brilliant, a raw and blazing novel truly unlike any other. Like the man said: Read him at your peril.
"A raw and blazing novel by "the single, most brain-searingly dangerous man of letters. Read him at your peril." -- Anthony Bourdain
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"OK. This book has pages of brilliance, and also a lot of terrible writing about vampiric sex (Time for a moritorium on this theme). I think if you're an over-50 male, you'll love it - but if an under-40 male, you'll find it laughable. (And no, I can't see any women liking this). It's Tosches's meditations on the general rot of American culture, and his bracing description of the decrepitude that is aging that make the book, um, relevant. A very weird read - I can't really defend it, but it will stick with me, I'm sure."
— Bob (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“This is the best, from one of the best writers around. Nick Tosches knows the devil as well as any man has.”
— Keith Richards -
“Words and wisdom that I shall carry with me into the f***ing dirt.”
— Johnny Depp -
“If there was ever any doubt that Nick Tosches is the Dark Prince of literary fiction, Me and the Devil should settle the matter. The single most brain-searingly dangerous man of letters. Read him at your peril.”
— Anthony Bourdain -
“Tosches has created an erotic asphalt odyssey that takes him on a subcutaneous awakening, drifting through a world of hallucinations, dark secrets, and dangerous desires.”
— Peter Wolf -
“Another chapter in Tosches’ unflinchingly perverse literary output.”
— The New Yorker -
“Brilliantly bizarre…Disturbing yet compelling, and as such doubly disturbing…But the poignancy of this remarkable story is about fine lines—between love and hate, pleasure and pain, genius and madness, good and evil, and, alas, fact and fiction. Not surprisingly, Tosches, who inserts himself into his fiction, concludes there are no fine lines. But there are fine books, and for the right reader this is one.”
— USA Today -
“During his long career, Toshces has earned a reputation as a writer who doesn’t mess around…Me and the Devil is Tosches touching his outer limits. It’s a compulsively readable tale of sadomasochistic obsession and Faustian misbehavior: a meta-rumination on aging, sex, and the nature of art.”
— Tony O’Neill, BlackBook -
“A dark narrative that cleverly blurs the lines between reality and fantasy…Tosches takes readers on an unpredictable journey through disturbing and erotic desires…Excellent.”
— Booklist -
“By turns profane, obscene, perhaps even blasphemous, Tosches’ fictional account of ‘the most diabolically f***ed-up year of my life’ is like a cross between William S. Burroughs and J. K. Huysmans.”
— Shelf Awareness Pro -
A novel that happily breaks every rule it can....The sheer audaciousness of Tosches's writing makes most other fiction seem phony by comparison.
— David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle -
Part hard-boiled crime story, part medieval tale of transcendence.... Tosches's powerful, unruly writing is often beautiful.
— Elizabeth Bukowski, Wall Street Journal -
Splendid, passionate....A strange, wild hybrid of a novel...with a moral fervor far exceeding most novels of better grooming.
— Will Blythe, New York Times Book Review -
Tosches writes like a dark angel.
— Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution -
It's more than a book. It's a living thing. Unbelievable. I read everything by Nick Tosches.... A modern masterpiece. Utterly superior to almost everything published within the last 50 years. I won't bother trying to describe it. Just go get it.
— Johnny Depp -
Astounding...A staggering work of genius
— Chauncey Mabe, South Florida Sun-Sentinel -
An incendiary novel....A blindingly brilliant and joltingly weird work of art.
— Entertainment Weekly -
ACCLAIM FOR IN THE HAND OF DANTE:
Awards
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An Amazon Best Book of the Month, December 2012
Me and the Devil Listener Reviews
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" this is not for everyone, but tosches in the real deal. what's mysterious about this book is how he sustains interest through very discursive, dreamlike, philosophical/historical rambles. packs a punch, and the cameo appearances of keith richards and peter wolf are...priceless. "
— Darrell, 2/19/2014 -
" Took me awhile to finish this. Guy kind of reminds me of Wm. Burroughs. About an older author named Nick who lives in Tribeca and haunts various bars and AA meetings. Goes on aggressive binges, picks up young, attractive women who seem drawn to him (hey it happened to Burroughs) drinks their blood (yep!) and experiences well-being and youthfulness. He has a conversation or two with the devil hence the title, but mostly about expensive apparel. There are some beautiful, poetic passages and long periods of what seemed like journaled overspending. Some odd S&M stuff. All in all, not my cup of...tea. Some fascinating descriptions of opium experiences, ruminations about esoterica from the ages. I could go on. Or maybe I couldn't. Anyway, I read it. And I'll read him again, though probably his nonfiction from the past. He's a poet too. Might even read some of that. "
— Guinotte, 2/9/2014 -
" I liked, but did not love this book. That is, I loved the parts of the book that involved the main character, Nick, interacting with other characters. And I put up with the over-wrought self analysis Nick put himself through the rest of the time. Love+Meh=Like, I guess. "
— Jake, 1/28/2014 -
" Some great writing about AA, the changes to NYC, falls apart a bit at the end. Overall, not sorry I read it. "
— Linda, 1/22/2014 -
" A drunken agro ramble, but I liked it. A peek inside the mind of a writer and an alcoholic. "
— Tina, 1/19/2014 -
" Read my review next week on bookreporter.com . "
— Ray, 12/29/2013 -
" Tedious ravings of a dry drunk. "
— BJ, 12/25/2013 -
" This author tries so hard to make himself "cool". Really obnoxious voice and writing style - telling stories about hanging out with his buddy "Johnny" (Johnny Depp) or "Keith" (Keith Richards), trying to make himself seem real relevant. "
— Tyler, 12/10/2013 -
" This is not a book for everyone, or for most. It is dark and cuts deep into our societies blood lust in all its forms. I have long been a fan of Mr. Tosches, and this book did not disappoint. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate. "
— Brad, 10/26/2013 -
" Every character in this book is insane. Plot was extremely weak. Occasional glimpses of good writing.... "All of life they will ever know lies in the moment; all of infinity they will know lies in the present breath they are granted..." Unfortunately, this book goes nowhere. "
— Rachel, 6/4/2013 -
" Old Scratch! And coffee! And buttermilk! "
— Reacher, 5/25/2013
About Nick Tosches
Nick Tosches is from Newark, New Jersey. He is the author of four previous novels, Me and the Devil, In the Hands of Dante, Cut Numbers, and Trinities. His nonfiction works include Where Dead Voices Gather, The Devil and Sonny Liston, Dino, Power on Earth, Hellfire,Country, and Unsung Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll. He lives in New York City.
About Rick Zieff
Rick Zieff has been immersed in the entertainment industry for over twenty-five years. His dynamic and entertaining coaching style makes him a sought-after lecturer throughout the country. He is a regular speaker at both the Showbiz Expo and Actorfest, and is a guest teacher at many popular LA acting workshops. He has narrated several audiobooks, including The Road to El Dorado and Toy Story.