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lottiegasp's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
This book details Stark's journey of a year without alcohol and navigating the social and emotional pressures that came with it. Alongside her own experiences she writes about the role that alcohol plays and the impact it has on Australian (and Scottish) society, as well as the nature of alochol addiction and problem drinking. I read this in my first month of taking a year off drinking, and it is motivational to see through the year and be much more intentional about drinking in future. To be honest, I wonder if I even want to return to drinking after just finishing the book, but we'll see.
My main critiques of the book were that I sometimes found it a bit irritating in its "both sides" approach (e.g. presenting the perspectives of alcohol industry executives alongside public health experts) and the author's somewhat centrist politics came through in ways that I don't agree with (e.g. celebrating Australia Day, focusing on weight loss, saying that she was afraid to be viewed as a health freak vegan for not drinking as though veganism is something to dismiss the exact way she doesn't want to be dismissed as a non-drinker). Otherwise I found it very easy to read, interesting and comprehensive, and at times very poignant.
My main critiques of the book were that I sometimes found it a bit irritating in its "both sides" approach (e.g. presenting the perspectives of alcohol industry executives alongside public health experts) and the author's somewhat centrist politics came through in ways that I don't agree with (e.g. celebrating Australia Day, focusing on weight loss, saying that she was afraid to be viewed as a health freak vegan for not drinking as though veganism is something to dismiss the exact way she doesn't want to be dismissed as a non-drinker). Otherwise I found it very easy to read, interesting and comprehensive, and at times very poignant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Child death and Alcoholism
Minor: Fatphobia
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