Crooked Smile cover art

Crooked Smile

What It Took to Escape a Decade of Homelessness, Addiction, & Crime

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

Featured in the Wall Street Journal

Crooked Smile details one man's journey that left him homeless on Skid Row, and what it took to escape a decade of addiction.

"Darkly humorous" is an understatement when it comes to this tale of addiction, homelessness, incarceration, and redemption. Jared Klickstein, the child of two heroin addicts who eventually became addicted himself, takes listeners on a raw and personal journey from his unsettling and secretive childhood in the suburbs to the slums of Skid Row. Through tales of violence, relapse, and deep inner struggle, Klickstein provides a harrowing account of his personal encounter with near-death.

But this story is not just about one man's life—it's about the hundreds of thousands of homeless and drug-addicted Americans who are on the streets right now. It's about those who need help the most, and what can be done to address the growing addiction and homelessness problems. Klickstein offers a fresh take and solutions to both epidemics, providing firsthand experience and insight into what policies should be put in place to mitigate the suffering. Crooked Smile recounts one man's escape from a hellish life—and carves a valuable path for others.

©2024 Jared Klickstein (P)2025 Tantor Media Homelessness Politics & Government Poverty & Homelessness Social Sciences Witty
All stars
Most relevant
Loved the honesty of Jared and the "no bullshit" way he tells the story of his demise & rise.

How far addiction can take you and how it is in fact always possible to come back no matter how impossible it might seem.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I just finished Crooked Smile by Jared, and I’m honestly still processing it. It’s one of the rawest, most brutally honest books I’ve ever read. Jared doesn’t hold anything back — not the drug use, the violence, the ego, or the pain. There were moments that made me laugh, others that made me sick to my stomach, and quite a few where I had to just pause and take it all in.

What really got me was how unflinchingly he looks at who he used to be. There’s no sugarcoating or trying to make himself look good. He owns it. And somehow, through all the chaos, you feel this thread of humanity — this desperate search for meaning, connection, and something real.

It’s not a feel-good book. It’s rough. But it’s also real in a way most books aren’t. And by the end, it left me feeling strangely hopeful. Like, yeah, people can go through hell and still find their way back. Not perfectly, not all at once, but they can.

If you’ve ever struggled with addiction, mental health, or just felt completely lost — or love someone who has — this book hits different. It’s intense, but worth it.

One if the realest books I have read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is an amazing and brilliantly written insight into the terrible grip of serious drugs. The author starts with the disadvantage of being born to both parents already addicts.
He then surrenders to half a lifetime of addiction himself, and this book covers that period, explaining in detail, and accepting the blame.
It is incredibly informative and covers both the determination, stupidity and sadness. Although I have no personal experience of drugs myself, I had several friends who were criminal victims, and now I understand them far, far better than I did way back at the time.
The book is almost written as a humorous insight into such failings, but beneath is the heartbreak.
I send absolute admiration and sympathy to the author.

Amazing and and brilliantly deserving

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.