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A review by vivienong
Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp
3.0
I honestly did not love this… reading this memoir I can see that she truly felt helpless with her substance abuse, and this might not be a nice thing to say but I couldn’t help but wonder if she romanticises pain and thus her writing about it felt indulgent. It was honestly a little off-putting especially because after all reading one drunk story after another drunk story after yet another story, I still didn’t really get a sense of who she was.
That said, some of the book was honestly informative. It’s filled with statistics, history, explanations, and questionnaires from the National Council on Alcoholism. It also does a good job of showing that alcoholism (or any other type of addiction) could happen to just about anybody of any demographic, especially if you’ve not found effective, non-destructive self-soothing techniques before experimenting with alcohol or other forms of escapist/obsessive behaviour leading to addiction.
That said, some of the book was honestly informative. It’s filled with statistics, history, explanations, and questionnaires from the National Council on Alcoholism. It also does a good job of showing that alcoholism (or any other type of addiction) could happen to just about anybody of any demographic, especially if you’ve not found effective, non-destructive self-soothing techniques before experimenting with alcohol or other forms of escapist/obsessive behaviour leading to addiction.