A Likely Lad

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One of the more shocking revelations in the memoir is that Doherty has recently found God and appears to be largely of sober mind during recent years, which makes the self-imposed tragedy of his life somewhat more bearable when reading.

It is not included in promotions available to our main range products, as stated in our terms of service. I am actually genuinely interested in what life is like as a sober person after so many years as an addict. Drugs naturally feature quite prominently in this biography, but Doherty never seems to glorify or glamorize them; quite the opposite in fact. His lack of reflection then is perhaps understandable given that he likely doesn’t remember a whole lot of what happened. There are the years when Doherty worked as a gravedigger or pulling pints, stealing from the cash register.That sounds like me,” he says, “I think that’s a solid foundation of my character, prone to despair or melancholy. With astonishing frankness - and his trademark wit and humour - he takes us inside decadent parties, substance-fuelled nights, prison and his self-destruction. Hard drugs, tiny gigs on the hoof, huge stadium shows, collaborations, obliterations, gangsters and groupies – Doherty has led a life of huge highs and incredible lows.

It is worth bearing in mind, however, that for much of Pete’s adult life, and thus for much of the book, he was in active addiction, so the repetitiveness and mundaneness mirrors this reality. This stands out as a rock n roll biography that can be enjoyed by hardcore fans as well as people who are have never heard of Doherty pr the Libertines. I enjoyed the book nonetheless, and it nips along at a pace, albeit with a superficiality and fundamental lack of substance. Perhaps this shows the effect such an enormous amount of hard drugs can have on a person – inviting all manner of chaos into their orbit, but diminishing their ability to find meaning outside their addiction, in their passions, their loved ones, or their selves. But that was before he found his drug use move from recreational dabbling, to crippling dependency and an addiction that took many attempts at recovery before finally getting clean.I love the constant references to British film and TV, books and poetry, especially as someone who also lives an imaginary existence. I enjoy a debauched music memoir and enjoyed Pete's musical output with The Libertines, as well as some of his shambolic side projects. Born into a military family, Doherty spent much of his youth moving from place to place across Europe. In the main he offers a fairly unvarnished recounting of his life, and if some of the exploits are carnivalesque, his narration, at least, is free from self-pity. Fans of the Libertines – who formed in 1997 – may hope for a work rivalling the literary merit of Patti Smith’s Just Kids or Bob Dylan’s Chronicles.

He describes one infamously terrible Babyshambles gig – a bandmate had attempted suicide just beforehand and arrived wearing “his long woollen scarf that he’d used to hang himself still connected to the branch that had snapped”. A classic example is when he mentions the birth of his daughter in passing, the way someone would mention eating a Mars bar: 'Oh yeah, my daughter was born around then. A hard listen at times for sure, but it's a good addition to the other existing Libertines titles out there and stands up well! There were some real tragedies along the way as drugs and excess just took people down a very dark route. It’s completely shocking,” he complained, adding that, after being read by Carl Barât, Kate Moss’s lawyers and his wife, “all the good bits” were taken out.What’s incredible is not only his total refusal to stop - despite the extreme pressure from family, friends, and the law - accept on his own terms; plus the fact he is still alive where others (like his friend Amy Winehouse) aren’t; and that he managed to maintain such a strong career throughout it all.

In 2005, Doherty became prominent in tabloids, the news media, and pop culture blogs because of his romantic relationship with model Kate Moss and his frequently-publicised drug addictions. But these strange little references in certain books I picked up intrigued me, especially to opium, which was described in a luxurious sense, associated with a sensation of peace and accomplishment and a mystical, magical land.The real disappointment is anyone who's seen an interview with Peter Doherty knows there's a beautiful natural poetry to the way he speaks and that is missing. Was really looking forward to this one given The Libertines are one of my favourite bands, and Doherty’s story is very poignant. He admits to having romanticized the idea of opiates being something beautiful and a part of the creative lifestyle he read about many of his literary heroes using.