A review by anniecase45
Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp

5.0

Caroline Knapp comes from a seemingly "perfect" home: educated, affluent, successful, stable. She's not like "those people" who become alcoholics - she has nothing to point to for why she needs a bottle of vodka at the end of the day. But then, she's not really that bad of a drunk. She has a good job, she's attractive, she has so much going for her, unlike those fall-down drunks on the streets. The beauty of Knapp's memoir, aside from the gorgeous writing, is the way she breaks down what people imagine they know about alcoholism and puts it into perspective about what it's like inside the mind of an alcoholic. How she hides her own insecurities behind drinking, how it serves as a solace and also a source of strength. How it's always "just this once," how she swears whatever behavior will never happen again, how the demons will creep in if she doesn't have the alcohol to numb the pain. There are so many amazing insights in this book, oddly applicable no matter what the addiction, even something as seemingly benign as sugar or social media usage. I was so sad to hear that Knapp had died very young of cancer, but she left a hugely important legacy with this book. I'll be thinking about it for a long time.