The last week or ten days have been brutal, so the old blog is about two books behind schedule. Hopefully this long weekend will make up for it.
First up, Sarah Hepola's Blackout. To be honest, I don't read many memoirs. They tend to be navel gazers by definition, and addiction memoirs tend to be even more self-obsessed than the rest. Blackout, though, was worth the read. Hepola started drinking at about 13 years old, sneaking sips of beer from the fridge before working up to stealing cans. In her 20s and 30s, it wasn't unusual for her to finish a bottle of wine and a six-pack a night. She began losing hours after each binge, hours after which she would wake up next to a stranger, or to the landlord banging on her door because her smoke alarm had been going off for thirty minutes. Hepola takes some time to explain the science behind an alcohol-induced blackout, but she doesn't wallow in the science long enough to lose those not interested in the whys and wherefores of the brain's shut down.
Hepola writes mostly about the arc of her addiction, but she does spend some time (maybe the last third of the book) on her recovery. She could've spent more time here, I think. It almost seems too easy. She never relapses, or at least she never recounts it if she does, and besides a few phone calls to her AA sponsor when she binge eats, she makes recovery seem like the work of a couple months of willpower. I can't imagine that's the truth, but that's all she feels comfortable giving us. She doesn't harp on the faith angle of AA either, which for me was ideal, although I can see other readers having an issue with it. Other people's faith is rarely a territory I want to stray (or be forced) into, and Hepola touches on it just briefly before moving on.
Hepola writes clearly and succinctly, and--more importantly--she never seems to be drowning in her own angst or preening over her bravery for overcoming her addiction. She simply tells it as it happened. Excellent reading for anyone struggling with an addiction or trying to live with someone who is.
Title: Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
Author: Sarah Hepola
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Buy, Borrow, Skip: Buy
Bonus: Cheaper than therapy
First up, Sarah Hepola's Blackout. To be honest, I don't read many memoirs. They tend to be navel gazers by definition, and addiction memoirs tend to be even more self-obsessed than the rest. Blackout, though, was worth the read. Hepola started drinking at about 13 years old, sneaking sips of beer from the fridge before working up to stealing cans. In her 20s and 30s, it wasn't unusual for her to finish a bottle of wine and a six-pack a night. She began losing hours after each binge, hours after which she would wake up next to a stranger, or to the landlord banging on her door because her smoke alarm had been going off for thirty minutes. Hepola takes some time to explain the science behind an alcohol-induced blackout, but she doesn't wallow in the science long enough to lose those not interested in the whys and wherefores of the brain's shut down.
Hepola writes mostly about the arc of her addiction, but she does spend some time (maybe the last third of the book) on her recovery. She could've spent more time here, I think. It almost seems too easy. She never relapses, or at least she never recounts it if she does, and besides a few phone calls to her AA sponsor when she binge eats, she makes recovery seem like the work of a couple months of willpower. I can't imagine that's the truth, but that's all she feels comfortable giving us. She doesn't harp on the faith angle of AA either, which for me was ideal, although I can see other readers having an issue with it. Other people's faith is rarely a territory I want to stray (or be forced) into, and Hepola touches on it just briefly before moving on.
Hepola writes clearly and succinctly, and--more importantly--she never seems to be drowning in her own angst or preening over her bravery for overcoming her addiction. She simply tells it as it happened. Excellent reading for anyone struggling with an addiction or trying to live with someone who is.
Title: Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
Author: Sarah Hepola
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Buy, Borrow, Skip: Buy
Bonus: Cheaper than therapy