A review by tildahlia
Wasted: A Story of Alcohol, Grief and a Death in Brisbane by Elspeth Muir

4.0

A gritty and thoughtful book on society's relationship with alcohol, viewed through the lens of the author's own life and the tragic death of her younger brother. More memoir than non-fiction, the author uses a timeline of grief over her brother's death as a tethering point to reflect upon her own drinking - which sits somewhere on the oft-overlooked margins between 'acceptable' middle-class overindulgence and full-blown alcoholism. It's thoughtful and not gratuitous (capturing the fact that grief is more an enduring, boring grind rather than the melodrama it is often portrayed as) and has some interesting (and sometimes confronting) travel narrative woven in. Highly recommend.